Vintage photos

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Feeling knobby

I decided to get creative last weekend and up-cycle my chest of drawers that has been left unpainted for years in my bedroom. You know how certain pieces of furniture just sort of blend in after a while and you tend to forget they're actually not something you'd ever purchase anymore? Well, this was one of those a-ha moments. I realized I never really liked "Chester" unpainted, and what is so hard about painting? Nothing.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of what Chester looked like before. I realized it halfway into painting, and there was no going back. But I managed to find one on Google that looked similar. Ah, the joys of the internet. You can find just about anything.

This is what "Chester" looked like.
I knew I wanted to paint it white, so choosing paint colors was a piece of cake. My goal was to have it mesh easily with my bedroom and continue to match other surroundings in future homes.

Commence to sanding, priming, and painting! The bulk of it took two afternoons - not too shabby. I unscrewed all the drawer pulls, and painted those as well, however I had planned ahead of time to switch those babies out for some vintage knobs. You know, to make it aesthetically pleasing. 

After painting, it was WHITE. So I sanded the finished piece one more time - sanding down the edges and areas where with time, it would naturally get roughed up. I was going for a shabby-chic rustic look for Chester. While sanding was good for some areas, I needed something a bit more abrasive to really make it look used. I took a kitchen knife to it and scratched away at the paint in choice areas.


After the paint job

If you look closely, you will see some scratches and wearing away at the corners and edges. I tried to make it look natural, but there's just something off about scratching away at your paint that, the day before, you meticulously applied.


Can I interject here and say how amazingly therapeutic painting is? I really need to do more painting and more home projects because it felt so relaxing to work on something from start to finish. Plus, I was on my porch with the sunshine on my back, listening to music, with the Fall weather all around me. Perfection.

Pleased with the amount of vintage touches I put on ol' Chester, I moved onto the knobs. I will tell a secret. I did not purchase these at thrift or antique stores here and there. While I would love to have that kind of a mind where I plan months in advance and keep my eyes peeled on accents that I will use in the future, I do not have that kind of mentality. And I wanted knobs on Chester asap so I could actually USE him.



World Market to the rescue! They have an unbelievably cute collection of knobs, drawer pulls, wall hangers, etc. The options are seriously endless, which is why I bought a bunch and just installed them all together. Who needs to match when you're going for vintage?!



It took me a good while to pick out all my chosen knobs to use. I chose 9 different selections. The two white ones you see in the middle were just too pretty to just get one. Can you tell I love white? With 10 knobs in total, my purchase came to around $35.


Pretty knobs all in a row

I chose the bigger ones to be installed on the drawers that carried the most weight. My sweater drawer got the two biggest knobs, whereas my lingerie drawer received the smaller, more dainty knobs. You get the gist.


Check it out - strategic knob placment right there

Super easy to install these guys. They even came with their own washers and screws. I would recommend some pliers to tighten them in place, but it took no time at all. The hardest part was deciding where to place each knob. Seriously.

The finished product!

Until the next project! I have a feeling it, too, will involve paint


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