English pine dresser refinishing project

English pine dresser refinishing project

• 2.16.2025

I’ve been looking for a new, smaller dresser for Otto's room since we got the bunkbed because the layout of his room is so funky and his large painted IKEA dresser is very functional, but means you can’t access the ladder without being crushed up against it. The kids don’t seem to mind, but it’s weird. I had a small space, 36" wide, between the bunkbed and the other wall that could accommodate a dresser instead.

I wasn’t finding anything in the traditional antique/dresser styles I like because they tend to be more like 42" wide. Then I found this English pine dresser on Facebook for $40 was the perfect size, and I thought, maybe I can sand it down, sort of stain it, and make it really charming!

Dated English Pine Dresser Refinishing

I picked up the dresser and honestly, it was pretty cute as-is, and I was tempted to leave it rather than have to do the project… but I did this over Christmas break when I had some extra time and I guess energy!

Sanding it down took quite a while...

It was really tough to do the feet, and I barely even attempted the knobs. I just have a standard orbital sander, so nothing that’s meant to get into the crevices. Hand sanding was not very productive.

I tried some citrus strip on the feet and knobs, including these creative methods for soaking them. That worked a little bit, but then it was all goofy and really hard to get the citrus strip off.

I struggled with these for a while and tried several different things, but in the end, a lot of times you see an antique dresser or armoire with slightly darker feet and knobs anyway. It’s supposed to be a little funky and charming.

Then I wanted to wax it, rather than add stain and varnish. First, I tried clear wax, which did almost nothing (so there’s no point in showing a picture). It looked basically the same after it dried. Then I finally listened to my friend who has done this kind of project before and bought this furniture wax in the Scrubbed Pine color. It’s meant for just this kind of thing and it worked great! Dries a little lighter than it goes on, felt really smooth going--on unlike the clear wax that was cold and chunky.

That was it! Waited for it to dry then brought it up and switched his clothes over. It’s cute how much more of a kid scale it is than a taller IKEA!

As much as I love a beautiful home, I also like to keep things genuine and let my kids put their favorite things on their dressers. That little seashell box was mine from childhood, and I recently dug it out of the basement and gave it to Otto. And he has some precious tiny things in it like a bracelet he made. The neon clock is not cute, but we rely on it!

Linking everything from this room below!