Dressing up A Dresser

My living room is slowly, ever so slowly coming together.  It still needs new windows, molding and a finished fireplace  but it does have new paint on the walls, goodbye pale yellowish color and gross carpet and hello bamboo floors and a white walls.  But it also has a new/old piece of furniture, the TV stand.  I originally bought this dresser a long time ago, like pre-baby, pre pregnant with baby and still had the tundra trunk long along.  And up until about a month ago, it set as it's pale yellow self serving it's purpose as a dresser/tv stand.  I bought it to use it as a changing table for our future baby for only $30.  I like being prepared.  For a long time it sat either living room being used as catch all.  We have a lot of those in this house.  It got moved around from room to room.  It wasn't until we painted the living room over a year ago that the TV got placed on it.  Before the TV was on a wooden TV stand that Wes had built, it's very well done but low.  The dresser gives the TV height, something we didn't no we were missing.

So one day, while on pinterest and saw a grey dresser with gold accents and thought 'hey, why not, finally redo that dresser.'  So I did.  It took about a week in all to redo it and I think it turned out pretty well.  It's not perfect but It's for me and me along so if I don't care then why should it matter.  (That is my thought process when I'm trying to do something and it's not coming out perfect.)

So here is the step by step process of who I redid the dresser.  I followed the blog Eric Spain on how to redo furniture for a beginner.  And used her recommendation for products.

This is how the dresser looked before.  It wasn't always yellow and the yellow was kind of chalky.  It showed stains and had some paint missing from the top. 

Project Supplies:

Paint - I had a gallon of paint left from James' Nursery and the kitchen island. I liked how it looked on the island so I knew how it would turn out.

Soap - I used Mrs. Meyers All-Purpose Soap because thats what I had on hand

Medium Grit Sandpaper

Fine Grit Sandpaper

Primer - KILZ Primer

Paintbrush

Foam Roller - I used two sizes - 2" and 4"

Topcoat - Minwax Satin Wipe-On Poly

Paint Remover 

Step 1: Prep

I've heard before that this part is really important and can make or break your project. So during nap time (the best time to get stuff done) I removed all the drawers and the handles.  

I also removed the weird inlay that was under the handles and hand to fill the holes with wood filler to give it a smoother look.

This is where I got my first glimpse at the color the dresser was originally and how bad it was painted the first time. I also noticed that they just painted over the handles with them attached.  

They were covered in pretty thick paint so I had to put them in paint remover to clean them up. 

Step 2: Sand

After removing the handles and inlay. I sanded down the drawers and dressers with a medium grit sandpaper.  Erin had mentioned that you don't have to remove the whole layer of paint, just get off the shine and make it rough.  After sanding I wiped down the whole thing with water removing the dust and let it air dry. 

Step 3: Primer

 

After letting the drawers and dresser air dry outside.  I painted on the primer.  This helps cover any color differences and just gives you a nice blank canvas to start from.  After the primer dried, I sanded it with fine grit sandpaper.  Wiped it to remover dust, let it dry and painted it with primer again.  And sanded it again.  You want to make sure that you do sand between each layer so you are giving the paint something grab to.

Step 4: Paint

After priming and sanding twice, the piece was ready to be painted.  I used a foam roller for this because I wanted to get good coverage without leaving paintbrush marks.  After finishing the first coat, I let it dry for a couple of hours then sanded it again with fine grit sandpaper and wiped it down. I did another coat of paint and sanded it once more to get it ready for the topcoat.  

Step 5: Seal/ top coat

I had to let the dresser air dry for over 24 hours to let the paint really dry and not get messed up.  I followed the instructions on the back of the Mixwax Wipe-on poly.  I applied a good amount of poly to my rag (I started out with cheesecloth then switched to microfiber clothes) and wiped it on to the dresser.  I let it dry for 2 -4 hours between coats.  I did two coats and then let it rest for about 48 hours before putting the TV on it.  

For the handles:

I did have to let the handles sit in the paint remover for a long time and did do a lot of elbow grease to get them all cleaned up.  After getting a coat of paint on the dresser, the handles did look right with the original color so I grabbed a can of gold spray paint and painted them.   

After letting it sit for a couples of days.  I didn't have any of those felt feet to put under the dresser to keep it from scratching the floor so I had to wait until I could run out and get them to put the dresser all together.  

Honestly It took me a couple of days to decide if I liked it or not.  But I find myself do this a lot. After I do a big project I have to live with it for a couple of days to decide if I really like it, see if I made a good decision. 

But now I really love it.  I think it looks really fresh and is moving the living room in the right direction.  Now I just need to get a new couch, a new rug, new curtains and finish the molding and fireplace.  We are slowly getting there.