I have had this white wicker dresser since I was a little girl. It had been through countless moves and apartments, served as the changing table and storage for both of my babies and it looked the part!
30 years of love and wear and cat claws and children's pencils, it was time to repair and refinish it as a part of my guest room makeover.
I started by removing all of the trim and wicker, honestly not sure if the bones of the dresser would really be salvageable at all. The plywood was not in great shape in many places so I glued and clamped, re-attached loose drawer slides and in some instances tore away chunks of plywood altogether. The saving grace was the drawers are made of solid wood so they were in great condition and ready to be resurfaced!
I replaced all of the white faux-bamboo trim with oak and cut white oak plywood to cover the top, sides and drawer fronts.
For the drawers I used white oak edge banding on the raw plywood edges to give the appearance of one solid piece of white oak. Edge banding is one of my favorite DIY secrets when it comest to achieving a clean minimalist look on a budget!
Lastly, I covered the base of the dresser with a long piece of white oak plywood and built 4 mini 3-sided "boxes" with mitered edges to cover the existing white legs.
After filling nail holes and sanding everything carefully smooth, I used minx ultra flat polycrylic clear coat to seal the wood while keeping the most natural finish.
I chose these super minimal champagne finger pulls to allow the wood to take center stage (and because I was afraid to drill into all of my hard work!).
I am so happy with how this transformation turned out. It feels like a completely different piece of furniture. It is modern yet classic and is ready for another 30 years in our family!
To view my Instagram reel documenting this transformation, click here. To see the entire guest room makeover click here!
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