A Mid Century Dresser Named Bertram

I don’t know about your, but we’ve been watching the last season of Mad Men in our house.  I’m not sure how I really feel about the story line now but I love characters and the design.  It has been fun watching the show evolve from the late 50s to the the hippie era.

I don’t often do mid century, but love the clean lines and the wood.  May I present Bertram:

If you follow me on Instagram, then you maybe saw this photo of us loading him into the back of the truck.  I shared this photo on Saturday.  It was fun taking him out of the bulkhead…

This image gives you an accurate feel for the warmth and depth of the wood and also the nice bright white.  I would have staged it here in my home, but I just don’t have a wall big enough.  I know it doesn’t look big at Kjeld’s Gallery but is over 70 inches long.  A real statement piece.

This 9 drawer dresser has been in my basement since last summer.  I just wasn’t sure how I wanted to refinish it.  So it sat a little while before I made a definite plan.  I wasn’t sure if I should paint the drawers or if I should paint the body. The piece was in great shape but there was a small round mark on the top as if someone had put a warm plate. I asked my friend Martha over at Martha Leon Design if she had any recommendations. She is so talented and has a way with MCM pieces.  If you don’t already follow her blog you’ll need to check it out.  She recommended painting the body if there were any imperfections, but I just felt like I wanted to do the drawers because I wanted to leave the pulls in the original finish.

I think they make such a statement.

Oh, wait you didn’t see the “before”:

Please, please, please disregard all the stuff in our basement.  I know it is such a mess and it is on the “to do list” to get it all tidied up. We have made some progress – the lights are hanging now in the kitchen and the wood turned into the faux walls for the Duxbury Show. Ha! Ha!

Here you can see the drawers:

This is how they look now:

I knew I really wanted a smooth finish.  I decided to go with General Finishes Antique Walnut Gel Stain.  I scuff sanded and then cleaned off the piece. Then I applied the gel stain.  I gave a little tutorial on how to apply the stain when we stained our guest room here.  It is also the same color I used on the top of the Lila Empire Dresser here.

Since I really wanted a smooth finish I used Minwax’s Wipe On Poly.  This gave the smoothest finish possible.  I sanded between coats and did two coats.  It now gleams!

The top shines in the light but you can see the lovely wood grain that is orginal to the piece.

The drawers are painted in Fusion Mineral Paint’s Lamp White. You may remember that I used this on our nautical chest in the sunroom click here. I really love this white.  I applied three thin coats of Lamp White allowing 12 hours in between coats.  The amazing thing with Fusion is no priming or top coating.  I sanded and cleaned the drawers off but didn’t have to prime first.  Then I put the hardware back on.

I think Bertram would look so great in a boho dining area or as a TV console.  There is so much storage in this piece.  It is MCM by United and all the drawers glide nicely and it is great shape.  I even have the mirrors that can be reattached and refinished if desired.

If you’d like to meet Bertram he’s at Kjeld Mahoney Gallery in Scituate Harbor (where I took these photos).

I’m excited to share that I will be the featured artist at the gallery for this year’s Scituate Harbor Art Walk. I’ll be at the gallery this Friday night 5-9pm and will be sharing all my furniture makeovers.

I hope local friends can come out.  I’ll try to share another makeover this week, Kjeld and I have collaborated on a few using his images on furniture too and I’m excited for you to see them.

What do you think of Bertram?  Is he your style?

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