MCM Dresser on a budget
Updated: Apr 1, 2021
A client really wanted to maintain a clean MCM trend in her daughters room, but since it's the big furniture trend right now the look she's going for was going to cost her. So, she came to me. I found this old dresser on marketplace for $10... it didn't look like much but I knew the bones will give me that true MCM trend.
Materials
- Paint stripper. My favorite for a thick paint removal like this is Citri Strip Gel
- Suran Wrap and Gloves (your local grocery and/or convenience store)
- Random Orbital Sander (this is my preferred type of sander, but that varies from person to person) I am currently using a Makita Random Orbital and it has stood the test of use and time believe me!)
- Early American Stain
- Polyurethane (I used General Finishes in Satin)
- Hardware of your choice! Used here is Gold Bar Pull and MCM Knobs
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If you ignore the hardware and thick paint job, then you can see how the base structure here is all clean lines... very MCM.
Strip it down! I coated the entire dresser with Citri Strip Gel using an old paint brush... brush it on nice and thick. Then cover the gel with suran wrap to sit overnight (the wrap keeps the gel wet and working)
Seal it up for the night Wearing gloves, press the wrap nice and snug to the coated wood and let it sit overnight... or 12 hours.
Remove stripper Scrape the CitriStrip gel off with a plastic scraper and clean with soap and water. This picture represents the product of an additional 4 hour soak in gel stripper... there was three layers of paint to get through!
Sanding! I started with 80 grit on my rotary sander and worked my way up to 220... but LOOK! this beautiful wood grain was hiding under all that paint!
Stain and seal The original plan was to stencil the drawers to cover up the original holes, but after applying the Early American stain the holes weren't too bad and we knew we'd be covering the visibility with the new hardware.
Also, I sealed with poly so I knew that would deepen the color as well.
Final look! The customer and I fell in love with this hardware from amazon for the piece.
Under all that paint was a very trendy MCM dresser.