Croquette Inspired Dresser

     Five years a ago, I went to a Parade of Homes in New Richmond, WI.  There were all these fabulous upscale houses built using reclaimed everything-they-could-get-their-hands-on.  There were so many great ideas and me without my camera.  One thing I remembered, probably because it was easy enough for me to pull off, was the pulls they used in the den.  They had taken old wooden croquette mallet heads and used it on the drawers and cabinet doors (hefty reclaimed barn boards sanded and oiled.  Gorgeous!!)
     I had this five-out-of-six-and-no-ball set for over a year in the shop with no buyers.  I'll bet they wish they bought them now!  The hard part is finding the right dresser or buffet to pull off the look and, of course, the right number of drawers.  When I crossed paths with this ugly little thing at a garage sale, I knew it was the one.

          I had to remove the veneer along the bottom and putty the lines in the drawers.  The original holes got filled in using my golf peg trick and wood filler.  Two coats of Rust-Oleum's Colonial Red and she was ready for her new sporty pulls.

     I wish I had taken before and after shots of the mallets because the coloring was faded enough and it had a grey weathering to it that wasn't all that appealing.  (I guess now I realize why they didn't sell.)  I painted a new stripe and polyurethaned the heads.  Of course, I kept the handles for another project I have no idea about.  The finished dresser....................

     I got lucky with the two smaller drawers.  I found exactly two wooden mushroom knobs with the same coloring and even a little matching paint on them like it was meant to be.  Two less in my overwhelming collection.  She's on a roll!