Mod Podge to the Rescue!

Most of you probably don't know that I am a "garbage picker" - I have rescued chairs from a neighbor's garbage and, with hubby's assistance, refinished them and reupholstered them.  So, I thought nothing of jumping at an old dresser on my local Freecycle group.  We REALLY needed some storage in our living/dining room to get some kid games and some puzzles out of sight and out of my china cabinet.

I wish I had taken some "before" pictures, but I just plain forgot in my excitement to get to it.  Just imagine your average real wood dresser, probably from the 50's, that had been in someone's garage for a while.  A little dusty, a little musty, but overall in decent shape.  We removed a mirror from it that we don't need or have room for, and I started stripping.  I happen to have a short attention span, and hubby is a procrastinator, so while I started things, he wound up finishing.  He used a black Minwax stain on it, which turned out pretty well as it matches the chairs I rescued from the neighbor's garbage.

Originally, I had wanted to cover the drawer fronts with old maps (or paper that looks like a map) because this big room has a kind of France/travel theme.  (I'm convinced that if I expose hubby to it daily that eventually he'll take me there!)  I couldn't find anything near what I envisioned, but I happened upon some travel paper on clearance at my local Michael's that I thought was pretty cool.  It's a K&Co paper called On The Road Luggage Labels.  It has the vintage travel feel I was going for, and the colors worked.  So, here's how it turned out:

The bonus to the paper design is that it's difficult to see the seams, so I just left them straight, no messing with  overlapping cuts, etc.  I just brushed on my Mod Podge, laid on the papers, smoothed them out, then topped with more Mod Podge.  Quick & Easy!

Here's a closeup, so I can show you what I did with the knobs:

I picked up these knobs a while back from the $1 bins at Michael's.  Because they were glossy bright white, they didn't really match the vintage feel of the dresser and paper design.  So, I whipped out a sponge and some Staz-on ink in Timber Brown and "dirtied " them up a little bit.

We've already got those drawers loaded with games & puzzles, and things are looking considerable neater.  If you've got an old piece of furniture you're looking to rescue, I highly recommend the "Mod Podge method" - it can cover up all manner of imperfections!