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Serpentine Dresser Update

by | Jul 25, 2016 | DIY | 6 comments

My Dad is not going to be happy when he reads this post. You see, last week I received an email from one of my readers wanting to know if she could buy the serpentine dresser.

This serpentine dresser.

This, the dresser that I was so thrilled with how the sanding and restaining had turned out. The dresser that I called my Dad to see if he thought I had sanded it enough to get the scratches out of the top. The dresser that he was so happy that I did not paint.

My reader Becky, wanted to use the dresser for her entry way, but she had one request.

Could I paint it? She loved the color of this dresser.

Could I paint it the same color and remove the bottom two drawers? She had baskets she wanted to use instead of the drawers.

Becky’s vision included a rustic, antique storage space for shoes and mittens. I assured her that I could do that.

After simply removing the bottom two drawers I measured from back to front the longest length that would be needed to replace the area with slats to hold her baskets.

Then it was a matter of cutting fourteen, twenty-inch-long boards from the 1”x3”x6’ pine boards I purchased from Home Depot.

Laying out the boards with a three inch space between them….here’s how I calculated the space.

There are 30 inches between the left and right board. There are a total of seven boards. Each board is 2.5 inches wide. Traveling 765 miles an hour, how long does it take a plane coming from LA to land in Chicago?

Just kidding.

How wide should the space be?

2.5 inches x5(middle boards) = 12.5 inches

30 inches – 12.5 inches = 17.5 inches

17.5/6 (there are six spaces between 7 boards) = 2.91 inches. We’ll call it 3 inches.

Moving past the math to a visual.

Once each board was in place and spaced, I traced the curve of the wood onto the bottom side of the wood slats. Using my scroll saw, I cut following that line creating the curve of the serpentine.

From here each board was painted using Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint in Trophy and finished with the Miss Mustard Seed Tough Coat.

(I let the slats dry for 24 hours before applying the tough coat.)

The top two drawers’ hardware was removed and along with the rest of the dresser was painted using the same color of milk paint.

I applied two coats of polyurethane to the dresser, let it dry and called it a day.

After everything had time to dry I nailed each of the slats where the drawers used to be, reattached the top drawer hardware and staged the dresser just for fun.

Becky should receive her dresser on Wednesday. I hope she loves it and sends pictures how it looks in her entry way!

Wendy

Dad, I hope you noticed that I didn’t paint the top of the dresser. All of your great sanding advice didn’t go to waste. 🙂

Painted or Not Painted. Which do you like more?