On the Hunt

A few months back I was on the hunt for a fabulous dresser that would make the perfect TV Stand in our living room. I had seen one a liked a week prior at a thrift store out of town [about 50 miles away] while we were there visiting my husbands aunt. I'm the type of girl who loves exploring new to me thrift stores while out and about. Fast forward to the next Saturday, my husband agreed to head back to the store even though there was a slim chance the dresser would still be there. I had a good feeling that we would find a major score that day. When we got to the store I was disappointed, the dresser was gone and the other dressers that were there weren't my cup of tea. I jumped on yelp [ via my cell phone, seriously how did I ever get by before amazing Apps?!?] and found a antique store a nearby. 

The antique stove was filled to the brim with furniture from every era. The font of the store was organized but as you got further back, it was a jumbled mess of amazing possibilities. My heart was beating fast, because I knew I just discovered a gem of a store. I snapped the picture below and shared on Instagram. Just in case your wondering I using the App 'Over' to type ad text to my pictures. 

After searching rows and rows of dressers and various pieces of furniture, I spotted a dresser that I loved. It had all my lists of musts for vintage furniture: solid wood, dovetail drawers and drawers that open smooth. Read more about my tips on buying vintage furniture here. I called Hasani over [ he was searching another area of the store ] he loved the dresser immediately and didn't even want to see the other one on my 'maybe list.' We were able to talk the store owner down a little  something that's super hard for me to do when I know the price is already good and I'm buying a quality piece for a steal. They store was asking $140 for the dresser, and we got it for $120 since it came with a mirror that we didn't need. Yay for asking and saving $20 bucks. 

We brought the dresser to our house where it sat in our garage for over a month. I was super excited on moving day when we were finally able to bring it inside. The dresser we bought is a vintage campaign dresser, read more about the history of the furniture here. The campaign dressers, I've typically seen around the internet typically have side brackets around the outside corners of the dresser. So I wasn't so sure what style mine was, after doing a little looking around on Ebay. I came across a few on campaign style dressers without the side brackets selling from $595 - $1095. But the dressers on Ebay were more like distant cousins rather than 1st cousins. I did a little more looking around and saw my dressers sister older more polished [ no scratches and perfect finish ] on 1st Dibs. I was blown away with the campaign dressers prices listed for sell on the site they start at $1695 and go up like way up. The one that matches mine the most in style is $5600. I'm super happy we were able to score a super solid heavy vintage furniture for way way less. 

When I snapped this picture a few days ago, our setup was a little wonky: too small TV with lamps on either side and an old school Nintendo player and lots of crazy cords. Since then, we've up-sized our TV situation and are in the process of downgrading all those cords. I'll share those details in another post. 

I love that the dresser as a side handles!! It just makes this amazing piece of furniture that much more unique. 

Our Plans

Hasani wants to paint it white and leave the hardware as is in all its beat up glory. I'm leaning towards white too, but also think a nice deep stain again with the hardware as is would also be a look good. Then again, I love a pretty white dresser. I came across this lovely redone campaign dresser, on the blog Family of Three, I really love its makeover. She did an amazing job!! 

Eventually, I'd love our TV area to look like the image below. With the TV blended in nicely with its surroundings while remaining in plain sight. For me its the best of both worlds for our living room, since we don't have a family room. 

(via Pinterest)

Our new to us campaign dresser is officially my next big furniture project, I plan to get started on very soon. I'm thinking of trying out oil based paint, this time around instead of water based paint. I really love how my friend Shavonda's table turned out using oil based paint. She was able to truly transform her amazing find into glossy lacquer finish. If you haven't seen the transformation  check it out here.  

What do you think of using a dresser as your TV stand?