NEW LEGS and a PRINTABLE

A few months ago I stumbled upon a blog post by 4 Love of Wood about transferring furniture legs from one piece to another.  Since then I have been looking for a good opportunity to spruce up a piece seemingly past the point of no return.  Well this $15 hunk of alder was perfect for the task.  

To start I sanded the drawers down to the bones, the body of the dresser needed a little, okay, a LOT of wood filler and a touch of sanding to prep for a few coats of paint.

The man put his skills to work cutting two of the sides of each leg about 3 inches down from the top, creating a ledge to join each leg to the dresser (see below) .  

These legs were salvaged from a bench found amoungst a stack of free furniture on the side of the road.  The casters were removed and the legs were rather tall so sizing them down was a must.  

After cutting a portion off the tops of the legs, they fit like a puzzle piece into the undercarriage of the dresser.  Nails secured the new legs. 

The man also decided the skirt of the dresser could use a bit of love too.  He removed the skirt and sketched a pretty scalloped design on the back, clamped the piece of wood down so that half of the skirt was hanging off the edge of the table and used a jig saw to cut out the new pattern.

I have said this before and I will keep on saying it.  The Graphics Fairy is the best place to find free printable graphics.  She also has several transfer methods for any graphic onto fabric, wood, etc. 

I downloaded THIS French label from the wonderful Fairy, and the "Respective" type face referred by Tidy Mom.net, did a little work in photoshop and printed the mirror image of my graphic onto plain paper using an inkjet printer.  Using Citra Solv, I transfered the images onto the face of each drawer.  

A few tips for using Citra Solv:

1. Make sure the wood surface is clean and free from oil and dust.  I wipe a bit of mineral spirits onto the surface after using my air compressor to blow off all excess dust from sanding.

2. Use the Citra Solv very sparingly, if the paper is dowsed with too much oil, the image will bleed and the graphic will not appear very sharp.

You can also find more tutorials of this transfer method HERE

I finished the drawers off with a couple coats of WATCO, to protect and enrich the beautiful bare wood.

The body of the dresser received a clear coat and the original hardware slid by unscathed.  I wouldn't dare consider painting these handles, the beautiful brass had a few touches of green oxidation, making this piece even more spectacularly individual. 

Thank you Karen and Kristy for a little bit o' inspiration.

I have attached these printables for transfer projects for those who collect them as I do.

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