Cedar Wardrobe: All the Little Details

I.am.so.excited!!!  I finally started tackling my really outdated bedroom furniture today.  It's only been on my list for years, literally, so I figure it's about time.  The hubby is not going to be thrilled when he sees it.  He liked the yellowish cedar, outdated, coated with a 100 layers of poly, look that our dressers had going on. Well, I can tell you this...it's not going on any more.  I could probably convince him to forget about it if I tell him he can buy a new gun or something.  Hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.  Can't wait to share once it's all done.  

In the mean time, I'll get right to it...here's the cedar wardrobe details that I promised.  Here's the after (of which I have no great pics...the mirrors show up all the craziness that is my yard/garage/driveway).

Here's the starting point.  This one actually needed a fair amount of work.  Had it not been so dirt cheap and had I not known my other handy man (my Dad) would be here, I probably would have passed this one by.  Now, I'm SOOOO glad I didn't pass it up.

 First of all there was all kinds of peeling veneer on the back.  We got all of that pulled off and didn't even have to put a new back on.  Turns out the wood underneath was in great shape.  Tell me again why veneer was ever used????

 I know some people would hate to know that I painted this...but truly, it had to be painted.  It was past the point of restoration.

 The side panels were bowing out a bit on the outside, so my dad pulled them all back into place by installing this little brace on the inside.  Worked like a charm!

 I sanded the entire piece with a 120 grit paper, using my Dewalt orbital sander and then primed it with my Benjamin Moore Smart Prime.  I followed that by two coats of a creamish/whiteish oops paint I had on hand from Lowe's.

 My Dad worked on fixing some of the hinges.

 This piece had some great original hardware.  It even had the original skeleton key.  So, I added the hardware back on, distressed the piece using 220 grit paper on my orbital sander, and then gave the whole thing a coat of clear wax (Minwax Paste Wax in Natural).

 My neighbor's had been eyeing this one since I brought it home.  Once it was finished, they made the plunge to buy it.  Worked out great though...I only had to haul it over two houses instead of all the way to one of my booth spaces!  However, it is REALLY hard to charge a really good friend for something.  Honestly, this is a huge struggle for me.  I know it's my business, but really, I hate charging a friend.  Okay, I'm done with that tangent.  Just look how cute this looks in E's room!

 Originally, the only way to open the doors was with the key, so I added knobs to make it much more functional. I also had problems getting the doors to stay closed, so my Dad added magnetic closures to the doors on the inside.

For days when this was setting on my driveway, she would come over and play inside of it, now it's her favorite place to hide and to play in her house.  She loves going behind the doors.  Here's a tip for you...to revitalize the cedar smell, simple give it a light sanding.  That's what I did on the inside of this piece.  Now it smells so fresh.

 E also uses this for her Bible verses.  She's only two and she knows about 10 Bible verses...seriously impressive.  She has some great parent's teaching her!  They write her verses on the mirrors and change as desired.

 Here she is coming out of her hiding spot!

 And lastly, this pic if for my Dad and his girlfriend, lady friend, friend, really good friend, the girl he's been spending a lot of time with.  Heck, I don't know what to call her, but I like her a lot!  Thanks Dad and Christy for my shirt from Tennessee.  I love it!!!

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