We started by digging wood glue out of my craft box and generously applying it to the back edges in attempt to stabilize the piece. I did not think that wood glue would fix the wobble but was pleasantly surprised at how sturdy the dresser was after the glue set. My husband found spare wood in the garage from who knows where and sawed small wood rectangles to match the few drawer stops that were still attached to the dresser. Each rectangle got a few dabs of wood glue and were clamped in their correct places.
As the hubs worked on all that I cleaned the piece up and battled it out with a spider. The edges had a few dents here and there so I took a medium grade sander and cleaned the edges up. There are a few deep dents that had to stay but that just adds character, right?
For this project I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in pure white and clear wax. This was my first chalk paint project and I am so sincerely impressed with the chalk paint. There is very little smell, in fact I painted in the garage with the door closed and immediately realized that I could have just laid a sheet down and painted in the house. Besides the creamy chalky look I just LOVE, the paint was easy to work with and dried unbelievably fast. I applied a thin layer of chalk paint, let that set for 20 minutes, then applied a second thin layer. I stepped away for a good hour to play with our daughter and returned to start waxing. Not wanting to spend the money on the wax brush and not sure how much I will be painting, I decided against that purchase. I had heard you could use cheese cloth or an old white t-shirt to wax so I just grabbed a few sheets of Voila paper towels. I watched a tutorial on waxing with Annie Sloan wax before I got started and am SO glad I did to ensure that I was not using to much or too little wax. To be on the safe side I did do a second layer of wax on the top and easily nicked areas.
I let the piece dry overnight in the garage to be on the safe side. I sanded the edges down lightly and put on the oil-ribbed bronze hardware my husband picked out at Lowe's. Impatient, I moved the dresser to our bedroom by myself and beamed with pride at our accomplishment.
The original dresser was $50 and we spent about the same amount in chalk paint and knobs. The rest of the supplies we had on had so in the end the dresser cost us around $100 and a Saturday. Not too shabby.
