Nine Red: Barn Red Dresser

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Barn Red Dresser

When this dresser came to me it was in an "interesting" state to say the least. Take a look:

One drawer was busted, a track for another drawer (see the tape?) was split and being held together with electrical tape, and the finish had overall seen better days. But, at it's core it had some great qualities. Solid wood, no particle board, and what's this? All of it's handles? Yes, something could definitely be salvaged from this situation - even if it ended up only being some really cute hardware to add to the collection. I thought about it for a few days, and I'm a huge fan of letting the furniture be the guide. Like I mentioned, it was not without it's wear and tear, so that set us on the path to a shabby chic - antiqued look. I made some executive decisions and got to work. First, take a look at the after:

Tuh Duh! Yea, I had to ditch two drawers. I probably could have kept one, but an 8 inch tall shelf didn't seem as useful as a 18 inch high. I think this would be great for a TV, record player, bookshelf, wine bar, you name it.

Yea, I went with red. This red is almost like a wash or a glaze too, so the wood grain shows a little. The entire piece was stained with dark walnut as well.

I was able to make this with almost entirely re-used parts from the dresser itself. The back you can see are the fronts of the old drawers. The only new wood is the shelf.

See the gap back there behind the last shelf? I did that on purpose, here's why:

A hole for wires! In case the new owner decides to run something electrical through it, the wires can be concealed and run out the back via that gap I showed you.