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So I'm trolling craigslist [like I've been known to do] and I found a modern dresser in need of some TLC.  Now normally, I would pass right by a laminate dresser but this piece was... special. It's hard to tell in this pic, but this "white monster" as I've affectionately nicknamed it, had a weird cream/white two tone thing going on.  But it was still a modern dresser with glossy-fronted drawers that slide like butter.  It the perfect candidate for Furniture Flip Bucket List item No.2: wrap a piece in a wood shim treatment. wood shims taper off to one end so that you can wedge them in to help level something.  I could have used flat wood and gotten more of a butcher-block look, but I wanted to use shims to recreate this uneven affect in my inspiration photo: Source:  The Rycotewood Furniture Centre at OCVC

So I went about covering the bright-white yucky laminate portions of the dresser with the wood shims: the top, sides, and toe-kick.  I started out with the intention of creating a polished modern look like the photo above but as I worked on it, it began to steer me in a different direction. I liked how raw and rustic the cedar shims looked untreated (and not to mention the cedar smelled AH-MAH-ZING).  So I just went with it and ended up with a piece that's both modern and coastal: To play off the unfinished wood's beachy vibes, I styled it with some tropical leaves [that I may or may not have harvested from a decorative potted plant in a parking lot.  I kinda felt like Chelsea did when "smuggling" home some paint sticks for this DIY project]. I then added a couple seaside touches like this piece of coral. To play up the dresser's more modern side, I added vintage candle sticks with clean lines.  Despite the uneven surface, the shims are narrow enough that items large and small can find a flat surface to rest on anywhere across the top. And modern satin nickel knobs on the glossy drawer fronts make a nice modern finishing touch. All together the piece sings a modern-coastal song: Modern Coastal Dresser As for the progress on my 2015 flip bucket list, that means I've got 6 down and 1 to go before the end of the year.  Woot Woot!

Want to catch up?  Since January, I've crossed off items:
and now No.2: wood shim treatment

Here's to hoping that I can squeeze in item No.1: Build my Own Bakers Rack before 2016!