How to Repair A [Seemingly] Hopeless Dresser

September 6, 2017 Cate | StyleMutt Home

As I mentioned on Monday, I finally found the perfect dresser for the next item on my 2017 Furniture Flip Bucket List.

There's just a few little problems...

And one big one.

See what I mean? Gasp! There's a huge chunk missing from the decorative trim molding.

Up until this point in my furniture refinishing career, I have only re-attached existing splintered pieces. I've never conjured missing pieces of a dresser before. I mean do I whittle it? Cut the whole section of molding out and replace it with as close a match as I can find? No my friends. I am here to tell you today - there is another way. And all you need is a few items from the hardware store:

A can of minwax wood filler with hardening agent
A wood shaver
A plastic putty knife
Scrap wood
screws
Some sandpaper

After watching a couple helpful videos, I learned that step one is to attach a piece of scrap wood underneath the damaged area with a few screws.

Following the instructions on the Minwax can, I mixed the wood putty with the hardener and applied it quickly to the effected area.

And I applied some to the chips in the veneer on the drawers while I was at it.

After letting it set, I gingerly detached the scrap wood - first by unscrewing it from the dresser, then by cutting away the excess hardened wood filler.

Now comes the fun part - sanding the hardened wood to match the contours on the molding as close as possible.

To get those clean lines, I used a wood shaver on the bottom until the wood filler felt flush with the underside of the drawer frame.

And also on the front edge since sanding would have rounded the edges too much.

After that, it was a matter of sanding the entire body of the piece to prep for paint.

And sanding the drawers to smooth out the repaired areas of the veneer too.

Now it's time to paint.

Can you spot the repair?

How about now?

Once painted, the damaged areas are virtually undetectable!

I am so pleased to find that such a seemingly "big" problem can be fixed by such a small can of wood filler!

I hope this little tutorial saves a dresser or two from the dump. And if you end up giving this repair method a try, feel free to share your experience with us!

P.S. Read more about this dresser's transformation on Apartment Therapy!

Reveal: Industrial Meets Cozy in Beantown

September 5, 2017 Chelsea | StyleMutt Home

Got another eDesign reveal today! The client started with a very industrial 2 bedroom space - interior brick, city views and large windows; all my favorite things together! I had complete stylistic freedom, but a limited budget and limited time to get it complete, so I started with some design inspiration to help me hone in on the ideas I wanted to prioritize. Some of my favorite inspo images are below and with each one I had made a note of what caught my eye most.

For this project I was given a sketched floorplan and a video tour of the space. Since I didn't have photos to go by, I was meticulous with the floorplan. I had a vision of what I wanted the space to look and feel like, but a vision is just a vision if the pieces don't fit perfectly and the flow is not a hundred percent comfortable. I created a floorplan for each room in the space and several for the living room - it was an oddly shaped room and I wanted to try some different layouts, but the one seen below is what we ultimately followed the closest!

Finding the right pieces for this space was an absolute blast, but not without some particular challenges! The client needed the design completed 2 days from handing me the specs on the space, so I needed pieces that were not only friendly to our budget, but that offered a speedy delivery! Below is one of the final moodboards of the living room. I used several to indicate some specific details, but this one shows the jest of it.

And voila!

I really trusted the client's measurements of the space as well as the measurements indicated with this sofa - if either had been off it wouldn't have worked. Luckily it was a perfect fit and I got to tuck the sofa cozily inside this brick clad nook.

I'm so grateful to the hardworking installation team that carried out this design to 'T'! eDesign is most successful when the designer can clearly indicate the details of the design and the installation team interprets the instructions properly. The team did a fantastic job carrying this design to fruition; it turned out exactly as I had imagined and hoped!

Although the kitchen was an itty bitty little thing, the client desired a small eating area that could accommodate 4. I used a modest round table and simple chairs on the smaller side, but also shared in the design boards a couple fun alternative options for one of the chairs to be used elsewhere for when space is needed during meal prep. Options are always good!

I wanted to give the bedrooms a cozy, sophisticated feel that is so true to Boston. Bostonians are not excessive in their style; nothing too contrived, function over form. Always. It's been a while since I've lived there, but that aspect of the city as a whole has been around for ages. There's an old story of a Boston matriarch bein where she got her hat, to which she responded, "We don't buy our hats, we have our hats."

Bedroom 1:

Nothing too fancy here, just classic, comfortable design.

Bedroom 2 is the slightly less sophisticated younger sibling of Bedroom 1. But they 'speak the same language', as Cate says, and the laid back, comfortable vibe is consistent between the two.

It's such a delight to see this space finished - it was a whirlwind putting it together in a matter of days but I absolutely adore how it came together! Even with such a short timeline to work with, the creative freedom to do just about anything I wanted with this space was an incredible opportunity to be entrusted with. I look forward to sharing more such projects with you soon!

Thank you so much for coming by!

Brass Finger-Pull Dresser || Flip List Item No.2 ||

September 4, 2017 Cate | StyleMutt Home

Happy Labor Day style mutts! As you may have seen in our posts last week, we've had some exciting news to share - including my debut DIY post on Apartment Therapy. This little dresser was in desperate need of some MAJOR repairs, but it it ended up being the perfect dresser for the next item on my 2017 Furniture Flip Bucket List.

The Before

Now because this poor little dresser had so much damage (which I will go into more here on Wednesday), after all the repairs - I really had no choice but to paint.

I resurrected my new fave color of choice: Black Boudoir by Behr Paint (same color I used on this two-toned flip in the spring). Once the paint dried, it was time for hardware - and as you may know, I have been stockpiling this brass hardware since over a year ago. Although these are designed to be library-like pulls mounted on the front of a drawer, I had other plans for these bad boys...

I wanted to figure out if I could mount them upside-down to the top of the drawers and make my own finger pulls like the hardware on Chelsea's christmastime flip from last year.

Because of the narrow gap between the drawers and the decorative trim, I needed something with a lower profile than a traditional screw to attach the hardware - so I went with brass tacks.

Tacks aren't designed to withstand a hit from a hammer, so I used a rubber mallet to tap in each tack gently. And...

It worked!

I had just enough clearance for the hardware! The end result - a handsome double-breasted gent of a dresser.

Don't forget to circle back here come Wednesday for more details on how I rebuilt some of the dresser's splintered trim FROM SCRATCH (and a tutorial so you can do it too ;).