Overhauled Red Chest of Drawers with Comics and Skateboard Trucks

Hey folks!  I've got a new creation to reveal today!  A lot of love went into it and I'm super proud of the end result.  My buddy, Micah at Red Handed Tattoo here in Shreveport, needed a chest of drawers for his new living space and he gave me free reign!!  You know I love that.

Here's what I started with..

And here's what became of it...

It started with the vintage chest of drawers that needed some major TLC.  Micah said he wanted to put a TV on top so I took the drawers off the top and mounted the drawer housing to the sides to house anything from a folded towel, magazines, papers, etc.

I knew he collected comics so once I saw the real estate inside each drawer trim, I knew it was the perfect place to display some original comic pages.  The handles plagued me for a while until a lightbulb went off and I thought of using skateboard trucks for the handles.  They are perfect for the grip of a hand. 

So I went to a local skatepark shop, Holy Rollers Skatepark, and over a couple of visits they were able to come up with enough trucks and truck components in their boneyard to come up with four sets of trucks.  That was a good day!  I didn't want to settle for something else and I'm glad it all came together.

I also have to give a shout out to two great companies that I've become fond of.  I can thank General Finishes for the fantastic milk paint in "Holiday Red" along with some of their gel stain after I was finished doing the distressing.  And my other favorite paint to use for great highlighting and details is the metallic silver paints from Modern Masters.  Both products clean up with soap and water and are really fantastic resources.

First, I had to make the drawers slide easier so I made some modifications on those and made sure they backed up to flush at the front.  The I gave the base some reinforced help with some 2x4s.  Then it was on to all the fun stuff!

Now enough blabbering and on with all the pics...