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Not too long ago I bought a pair of mid-century dressers that I thought were just the right size to work as nightstands in my son’s room and they were. The problem was when I got them home I realized they were not factory-made peices but a backyard carpenter project so the veneer was not holding up as well as I had hoped. You can see below that the veneer on the dresser’s body was holding up fine, but the drawer fronts and edges began to peel as we put them into use.
Rather than live with peeling veneer I decided the best course of action was to give them a makeover, and since the body looked fine I decided to just tackle the drawer and go for a two-tone effect.
But first removing the veneer. This was probably the hardest part of the whole process. I started with a wet towel and a hot iron to steam the old veneer loose. With a bit of scarping, it came off pretty easily.
Unfortunately, this left behind lots of glue so I used paint stripper to remove the excess and then several grits of sandpaper, increasing the grit until I got them down to a super smooth finish. You’ll notice I also filled the screw hole for the old pulls since I am going to something different for the makeover.
Then using my paint sprayer I gave them all a coat of HGTV HOME by Sherwin-Williams Germinating Green. Originally I thought I’d add pulls and that would be it but then I ran across the work of Done Up North and was inspired to take it up a notch.
Using Green Frogtape I masked out a geometric design mimicking an offset chevron with the left side mirroring the right.
Once the design was taped off and the areas I did not want paint were covered I used Design Master Gold Medal spray paint to fill in the design.
Once the tape was pealed I had a beautiful chevron design ready for my 12-3/5″ Brushed Brass Bar Pulls.
Now my mid-century dressers are returned to glory, best part I never even had to move them out of place.
To see step by step videos of this transformation check out me out on IGTV.
Very nice! Always wondered how to remove chipping veneer. Thanks for the post.
Maggie these turned out beautifully!! I love the color choice and with the gold Chevron pattern, it was a great combination. Definitely gave them some swank!