old chest of drawers makeover

Before starting this Blog I didn't take photos of my projects as they were on going, only once finished. Now however all my current projects are being photographed during the makeover process.
This Blog is one of the furniture makeovers I recently completed without photographing the stages, so apologies for that!

This furniture item was a battered old chest of drawers (cheap Argos make) that was so battered it was destined for the fire heap. I honestly cannot describe the level of damage (teach me to not take piccies, you're gonna have to take my word for it) and I really did not see what could be done with it. It's made of veneer covered chip board and the drawer runners had given up ages ago and so pieces of wooden batten had been screwed on to make the drawers at least function.
It was full of holes (even more so once all the screws from the battens had been removed) and was minutes away from a brutal end!

Now:

I just couldn't bring myself to scrap this old battered chest of drawers - what crafter could! And I'd always intended to add a unit to the end of our bed, so I figured maybe with a load of work I could turn this item of furniture into what I wanted. Eventually the unit will hold baskets but for now ............

I think my husband thought I was nuts for even giving it a go but give it a go I did!
First I stripped it of all the screwed on wood and the back board (drawers had given up ages ago) and gave the whole sorry item a good sand down.
Next I added a middle and bottom shelf made from some scrap wood we had from demolishing a mobile home. These were sanded down also.
I then used my jigsaw to make a patterned piece out of MDF for the bottom front and the bottom sides and then added a bit of old dado rail to the front of the middle shelf.
I cut a new piece of backboard and painted this the purply plum colour of our bedroom, using a tester pot from Homebase. Once it had had a couple of coats (All you'll get from a tester pot) I gave it a couple of coats of floor varnish.
The actual unit was then given a coat of primer followed by about 3 very thin coats of emulsion paint that matched the bedroom and completed with a couple of coats of floor varnish.
The new backboard was then nailed on and voila! it's now sitting at the end of my bed showcasing my handmade jewellery box and Oakley, my Charlie Bear!

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