Dorothy Draper Find

Sorry for not blogging in here for a while. I have been very busy house hunting and we have been quite selective about what we want. Our reasoning is that we have lived in rental homes for so long now that we feel we deserve to live in a place that we consider "perfect"!  However, as we continue our search, I wonder if there is such a thing as a perfect home within a budget?

Anyway, last Friday, Apartment Therapy featured a pair of Dorothy Draper chest of drawers, for $140. As you may be aware, I have been drooling over these for a while but I can't justify buying them for thousands of dollars.

I called the lady and to my disappointment, she said a gentleman was coming to see it - she lived in Virginia and there was no way we could go see it straight away as it was a weekday, and I was not confident about driving. (My dear hubby takes me to this thrift finds, what a honey!)

So, I was resigned to letting it go but for some reason, the next day, when Matt had a day off work, I called her again to see if they had been sold. She said no!!! It was meant to be mine! I had the same feeling when I spotted the lovely Union Jack dresser - that it had my name written on it.

They both managed to fit into our car and here they are, sitting in my garage, waiting for us to move into our new home. I want to see what sort of furniture I will buy as we move so I haven't decided what colour to paint it yet. In the meantime, aren't they just divine??? There are two of them, the other one is behind it. In the background, you can see I am working on the secretary. It is done but I need to put a glossy coat on it and I have to do some research on how to make furniture look glossy.

Secretary Find

I spotted a secretary for $100 on Craiglist and I was thrilled because these things cost $600-$700 in Craiglist usually. As we are quite new to the USA, we have not really seen these types of desks before so I was really fascinated by the lines and concept of it.

It had some minor imperfections like hinges not working, sides falling off and cracks. The lock was missing a key but I knew I could replace it on Lee Harvey, Canada's best hardware shop.

 So I got to work, removing all the shelves, doors and drawer pulls. Had to buy new ones to modernize the look. I chose a cream white colour but halfway through sanding, I realised that there was a tricky bit that I could not reach with a brush so I had to buy a spray paint. They only come in one colour, not the one I had ordered mixed for me. It was a heirloom white, just slightly off white.

This is the part I am having a tough time with. I cannot remove the little shelves - if I do, I would not know how to put them back together. I sanded as much as I could but still it was not very good. After I spray painted it with primer, I noticed there were streaks of primer dripping down due to gravity, leaving it to dry with these streaks. I sanded it but without success as my fingers cannot reach those narrow areas. I hope that it is not noticeable to others and my only consolation is that it will remain closed so no one will see it that much.

More pictures to come!