Eighteen Drawers of Misery

We were all packed to leave for the airport to catch a plane to Maui for our summer vacation. But with a few hours to spare, the natural thing (of course) was to hit up an estate sale nearby. And there it was, the holy grail, a French Provincial bedroom set!

I was so excited that I briefly (very briefly) considered staying home to work on it. But saner heads prevailed, and we just pulled the car in the garage with the furniture still in it and left for paradise.

A near miss of a hurricane, and a lovely restful week renewed me physically and mentally and I came home ready to tackle this project with a vengeance.

The dresser had twelve drawers, and each nightstand had three drawers. That's eighteen drawers. No problem, right? It seemed easy enough. The usual prep - sand, sand, and sand to get rid of any nicks and scratches. Two coats of oil-based primer. And two coats of General Finishes Milk Paint in Snow White. I painted the handles as well.

And finally, two coats of sealer on the tops of the dresser and nightstands for protection and durability.

If only the story could end right here. Something happened to the drawers. They all started sticking when I opened and closed them. I can only presume that it was because it was so hot and humid - that stored in my garage, the humidity was expanding the drawers slightly and causing the problem.

The solution was to sand the bottom and sides of each drawer. The bare wood wasn't visible when all of the drawers were closed - so no harm,  no foul. The lovely client that purchased this set was OK with this and I learned a valuable lesson for the next French Provincial piece when the drawers fit so snugly.

I'm so happy how they turned out. It was truly a labor of love and the set went to a great new home. My client was so smitten with the set that she found a matching highboy and brought it to me to refinish as well. But that's another story!

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by!

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