I knew Sara and I were going to get along when she first reached out to me on my Hazel Mae Home messenger asking my opinion on several vintage dressers that she was considering purchasing from Craigslist and a Facebook listing. She was scouring our local area for two dressers to redesign for her master bedroom.

She and I messaged back and forth for two days, sharing pictures of dressers for sale in our area. She found this tall one first and we both loved it. A girl after my own heart — she went and bought it that same night!

The next day she was back online looking for another dresser to compliment that one. I mentioned that I love estate sales and showed her one coming up that weekend that had several vintage dressers that would look lovely with the tall one. And because she is amazing and a woman of action … she grabbed a friend (another client of mine!) and they went to the sale the next day! As is typical with estate sales in New Jersey, the dresser was priced too high on that first day. But Sara made an offer and at the end of the sale — guess what? That dresser was still there and they called Sara and took her offer! Sara is my vintage furniture soul sister.

I just looked back at our messages and all of this happened in 13 days in September! Sara now had two beautiful vintage dressers ready to redesign!

I just finished the first one and here she is.

We painted it in General Finishes Coastal Blue and I distressed the edges and details. It gives the feeling that this was painted a long time ago and the paint wore away through use and time.  I especially like doing this when the dresser top is stained wood.

Which is what I did. I stripped the original top and re-stained with General Finishes Antique Walnut Gel Stain.

I wish I had taken a picture of the original top, because it was not in good condition. But now it is so rich and warm.  I also stained the little moveable drawer that came with the dresser. It’s perfect for keeping your most used jewelry at hand.

And of course I lined the drawers with beautiful floral paper from Spoonflower. I find that I enjoy putting laundry and keeping our drawers neat when they are lined with beautiful paper!

I will be finishing Sara’s tall dresser soon. Follow me on Instagram and Facebook to see some sneak peeks!

… Kristin

Oh and PS … those are the original brass pulls! They cleaned up beautifully!