Refurbishing Furniture

I know I've mentioned before, how I'm not good at decorating.  I am, however, good at projects. Or at least I like to think I am. 

I have to give all the credit to my neighbor and good friend, Emily, for guiding me through this process. We went to Goodwill just on a whim before heading to an antique store.  Lucky we did because we found everything I was looking for there.  Well, technically, everything Emily knew I was looking for. She spotted this dresser and grabbed the claim ticket before anyone else did.  When I first saw it I was like, oh that's nice.  But she was in LOVE with it. Then she showed me some pictures of how we could refurbish it and I began to see what she had in mind. 

This wasn't exactly a quick project because, you know, life and all.  But I was able to sand it and get it painted in about a months time.  Obviously it could have been done sooner if I was more ambitious.
I sanded all the original finish off but you don't actually have to do that.  You just need to scratch it up  with some sand paper.  I used rough sand paper.  Then apply the paint in the color you choose.

After being painted, I just needed Emily to come help me distress it.  I've never done it before and she has so I didn't want to try it on my own.

To distress, just take a piece of rough sand paper (wear some gloves) and sand off the paint in areas that would normally show wear over time.  Like under or over the handles.  Corners, edges, that sort of thing.  You can do as much or as little as you like.  Start small and just keep stepping back to look it over.

The finished piece.  I am in love with it now.  I don't have the vision that Emily has so I wasn't able to see the finished product when I looked at the dresser at Goodwill.  She also picked out the lamps at Goodwill and the mirror was one she had that she let me have.

We left the top the original color and didn't need to finish it at all.  All we did was use this amazing solution that Emily had heard about and it worked wonders for the top.  It brought back the luster and shine, it conditioned it and it made all marks all but disappear. Ready for the amazing recipe? Here it goes.

1 part olive oil
1 part white vinegar

That's it.  Seriously.

Cost associated with the project.
$150 for the dresser at Goodwill
$15 paint
I already had sandpaper and paintbrushes.
I also used a mask for the sanding portion, I think it was $10 or less.