Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Reclaimed Drawer Front & Knobs Project

(Post by Bonnie)

In some ways, this project feels like a pregnancy.  (Not that I've ever been pregnant, but since 99.99% of my friends either are currently pregnant or have been in the last few years, I feel comfortable using the analogy).  I know the T.O. is coming.  I know it's slowly growing, and that though it feels like it's taking forever, it will be here before we know it.  The last few weeks have seen very little progress on the T.O.  Chestnut Pines has been busy - which is a great thing! Then came the Christmas season, now it's New Years, and then winter continues with freezing weather and various precipitation.  I'm not quite sure when construction will resume, but I know that it will, and then we will have a Tiny Office - and it will need to be decorated!

Everyone I know that's been pregnant has started planning the layout and decoration of their child's nursery WAY before the baby was going to be using it.  So that's where Joe and I are - expecting parents that are planning some of the smaller, cozier details while the labor is on slight pause.

Here is the first completed project for inside the T.O:

A coat hanger made from a drawer front and drawer pulls!

Joe used a reclaimed drawer front for this extremely simple project.  He first filled the holes left by the previous drawer pulls, since they were not in the right positions for our needs. 


He then roughly sanded the entire thing, so that it would more easily take the paint.


After that he applied a light coat of paint with a chip brush.  A chip brush is a really cheap brush, and the bristles are spread out so there isn't complete coverage.  This is great for the antiqued look we were going for.


The color we chose only required one coat of paint, but depending on the color you choose, you might want to add another.  Then he did another rough sanding, which created the weathered, worn look.  Joe has built and refinished several pieces of furniture in this style, so he's gotten quite good at perfecting this look.  (I tried it once though, and it is definitely harder than it looks!)


The final step for the drawer front itself was a coat of stain.  This gave it a glazed look, and made it look more natural. 


We also made additional for Christmas gifts. This picture shows the original drawer, the drawer painted w/ the chip brush, and the drawer with the stain.
For this project, we ended up purchasing new drawer pulls instead of reusing.  This is mostly because I found a few knobs I adored at Hobby Lobby, and thought they would be perfect.  We definitely recommend using knobs you find, though, since they can really add a lot of character.  We chose to have 3 knobs on this, but really could have done 4 if we found smaller options.  Joe simply drilled the holes and screwed the knobs in. 

Adding simply picture hangers on the back completed the project.


This will be used to hang scarves, light jackets, dog leashes, etc. once we hang it in the T.O. 

We have a few more projects on the way while the building is on pause.  Thanks for caring about our project!

Bonnie (& Joe)

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