Monday, July 18, 2011

Drawer Fronts Before and After









My mom and I stopped at a yard sale recently and it turned out to be a kind of estate sale. The people had brought a lot of things from "the farm" to sell. I saw some old drawers full of scrap lumber stacked up on the side of the garage and the man said they were free if I would take it all.  I wasn't even sure what I was looking at in the beginning. There were cobwebs and muddy raccoon footprints on the drawers, and I was thinking that my mom would have a fit if I put that stuff in her car. But I did. I kept the drawer fronts and threw the rest of the scrap wood away when I got home. Believe me, it was scrap wood, not worth saving.

A little research revealed that the drawers were probably from a dresser, walnut, built between the 1860's and the 1880's. Just the hand carved drawer pulls sell for $29.00 each. Yikes! This is an example of what I found online:
Walnut Victorian chest of drawers
Fancy Carved pulls
42" w x 44" tall ~ ca. 1885
$725




 Here are my three drawer fronts before:







I wanted to paint at least one white, but I just couldn't do it to all the drawers.

After:





It seems odd there was a lock for each drawer, not just a small jewelry drawer.

This white one is going to my daughter's house to hang above her white french doors on  yellow walls.

The second drawer I did in a walnut stain.









I am joining



6 comments:

Barbara F. said...

Beautiful job, these are so different. I love that antique dresser. xo,

Jane@Cottage at the Crossroads said...

The drawer fronts are so beautiful. They just don't make things like that nowadays. I'm a new follower. Saw your link at BNOTP. I am a retired teacher who loves junking and gardening now.

Nellie's Cozy Place said...

Those are beautiful. My grandmother had a pc. of furniture with all that same handcarving on it,
it was mahogony I think.

they are both beautiful, bet your daughter is gonna love the white one, very pretty

So where are you gonna put your other 2 walnut
drawer fronts??? Such great finds...but for free oh my!! Such fun!!

Blessings, Nellie

carol ann said...

You were at the right place at the right time, so lucky to get those drawer fronts! I like what you did with them. Wow, the walnut stained one turned out beautiful:)

Diane said...

Excellent score! Very elegant, love the look of both the white paint and walnut stain. You will have to show us where you ended up putting the two drawers you kept. Diane

PAINTORDIG.blogspot.com said...

I love the stained one,just beautiful.