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Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Furniture Makeover : Dresser Turned Faux Apothecary Cabinet

Turn a multi-drawer dresser into a vintage-inspired faux apothecary cabinet!


It's no surprise that I love turning dressers into vintage-inspired apothecary cabinets or card catalogs.  Nothing beats the real deal, but when that's not possible, creating your own is the next best thing. 

I'm always on the hunt for affordable furniture that can be easily updated with paint and hardware and lucky for me, I recently found another perfect project piece. 
Dated wood dresser before

This little chest was just screaming for a super quick apothecary-inspired makeover!  It had great bones, dovetail drawers and needed very minimal repairs.   
  
- SUPPLIES NEEDED TO MAKE A FAUX APOTHECARY-INSPIRED CABINET- 
Affiliate links have been used 

- Multi-drawer dresser (if you can't find one with faux drawers you can make your own using THIS technique) 
- 300 Grit Sandpaper
- Drill and/or Screwdriver
- Simple Green

- HOW TO MAKE A FAUX APOTHECARY  CABINET - 

I was lucky to find a dresser that already had divided drawers, but if you need to create the look of more drawers you can use a router and follow this tutorial.

Multi drawer wood dresser before
I removed all the hardware then gave the chest a good sanding with my Dewalt Orbital Sander and 120 grit sandpaper. 
Sanding dated wood dresserThe only repairs that needed to be made were filling a bunch of old holes.  It was a super easy fix using my go-to wood filler, JB Weld Kwikwood.
Filing dresser holes with wood filler
After the wood filler was dry, I sanded it smooth, cleaned the chest then painted it with Fusion Mineral Paint in Coal Black.  

painted and distressed chest
After the paint was dry, I distressed the edges then sealed the paint with dark antique and satin wax. 
waxing painted furniture
I used the dark antique wax around the edges to darken the raw wood then used clear stain wax to seal the rest of the dresser.   

I always predrill new hardware holes with a drill and small drill bit to ensure the wood doesn't split and hardware is placed evening.   Fortunately for me, I only needed to predrill 80 new holes to attach my favorite brass label pulls.  Can you sense the sarcasm?  

Drilling new hardware holes
As tedious as drilling new holes was, it was definitely worth the time and effort! 

Dresser turned faux apothecary cabinet

Painted dresser turned faux apothecary cabinet

Painted dresser turned faux apothecary cabinet

Painted dresser turned apothecary cabinet

Dovetail dresser drawers

Painted dresser turned faux apothecary cabinet

Paint and vintage-inspired hardware do it again and inexpensively and effortlessly transform a dated piece of furniture into a stylish faux apothecary cabinet!  



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Before and after dresser turned faux apothecary cabinet


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Would you like to comment?

  1. I love it! Great job! Thanks for all the wonderful inspiration throughout the year.
    Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is beautiful! I have been looking for a card catalog but they are so expensive. This would be perfect. I keep looking at the thrift stores. What you did is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  3. again.....excellent. LOVE IT!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is absolutely beautiful

    ReplyDelete