Ugly Dresser and Chippy Veneer

I had this ugly duckling dropped off about a year ago (maybe longer than a year) with two other dressers. I have, since then, painted and sold the other dressers, but this beast has sat in my garage forever. I knew a lot of work was going to be needed for this piece to be even remotely presentable, so it sat and sat.

Look at it. It's just straight up fugly. No other way to put that. I just recently had my husband help me pull this beast onto our porch, so I could try and figure out something to do with it. It was not an easy task pulling this heavy thing up three little stairs. As ugly as it is, it has great bones. The piece is solid wood and nothing major missing. It has sat for a few months, but a few days ago I started peeling that veneer off.

The easiest way to pull that stuff off is to get a wall scrapper like this and wedge it under those chippy pieces, hammer it in, and pull them off. It is time consuming, to say the least. The veneer on this dresser was two layers deep, and it all had to go. I have successfully removed it off of the top of the dresser and 5 of the 6 drawers that I have decided to use.

After pulling that fun stuff off, I sanded that beautiful wood that was underneath. I'm not sure why anyone would want to cover this up, but I suppose maybe it was just the style back then.

It has taken me 2 days to pull the veneer off and sand the top and 5 of the 6 drawers I've decided to use, but I also have babies to take care of. It may not take you as long on a project like this. I will continue to work on this piece over the next few days. I plan on updating a new post showing you the results and what else I have to do to this beast!
Stay tuned!
-Kristen