journey for a new dresser

It is amazing what a little elbow grease and a fresh coat of paint can to do to an old piece of furniture.

My dear friend Annie recently moved into the same apartment complex as me. That means two things:

1) My project list has gotten quite a bit longer
2) lots of wine will (and already has been) consumed on our porches

#1 and #2 are often combined…it really is the best of both worlds

Up until yesterday, Annie was using Tupperware drawers as a dresser. No, this was not a temporary thing while she settled into her new place…these Tupperware drawers had a fixed spot in her last apartment…that she lived in for 3 years…bless her heart.

Proof: 

She was fully aware that I wasn’t going to let this fly.  She even turned herself in…admitting that it was time for a big girl dresser. She logged on to Ikea.com…I laughed and told her and our friend Leigh to hop in my car. I drove us straight to the Salvation Army Store.

Once she picked her jaw up off of the floor, I told Annie to take a look around and see if she liked the lines of any dresser in the furniture section. She looked at me like I had 12 heads and then reluctantly proceeded.

Some convincing and $75 later Annie and Leigh were back in my car…

This gem (okay, it needs a little TLC) is made of real wood. It has dovetail drawers, lots of storage, and has just enough detail for it to look feminine but not too ornate. I promised Annie that it would not look like a “grandma’s dresser” after I was done with it.

That Monday, I sent her a as shopping list for our Home Depot trip that we were going on that night.

A few nights, bottles of wine, and coats of primer later we replaced the Tupperware drawers with this:

What do you think?

How to:

The steps to painting furniture are quite similar to painting kitchen cabinets (you can find those steps here), but I will repeat them anyway.

Step 1: Remove all hardware. Make sure you keep all of the hardware (screws and all) together.

If you are changing the color of the handles/knobs, soak them in a little warm water and some dish soap. Rinse and let dry. Once they are dry, rub them down with a bit of sandpaper. Rinse and let dry again. Brush them with a thin coat of primer. Let dry. Bring them to a well-ventilated area and spray them with an even coat of spray paint. Let. Dry.

 Step 2: The first step of painting any furniture is cleaning it. This dresser was old, but not super dirty, so we got away with using a simple damp cloth. If your dresser really needs a good scrubbin’, use TSP to clean all the dirt and grime away…let dry.

Step 3: Next up is sanding. You want to remove any shine from a previous coat of stain or paint, but you don’t want to sand too much and ruin the wood. I use 180-200 grit sand paper. Just scuff it up a bit. After you have sanded all of the surfaces that you plan on painting, run a damp cloth over the piece to remove the dust (painted-over dust doesn't look so hot). Let it dry.

Step 4:

This dresser had a few deep nicks that I wanted to fix up- if yours does too, use a little bit of wood filler in the spots that you want to.. yep, you guessed it, fill in. After the filler is dry, lightly sand each spot so that they are flush with the rest of the wood.

4) Finally we get to the painting part. Coat all surfaces that you plan to paint with a thin coat of primer. Make sure you use a high quality brush (read: Purdy). You don’t want a bunch of bristles stuck in your finished  product, do you?

Let the primer dry.

Coat #1. Paint a thin coat of oil based, satin finish paint onto your piece of furniture. Don’t gob on the paint…it just leaves drip marks which aren't very cute. 

Let coat #1 dry.

Repeat the above for the second and third (if you need it) coat.

I used a brush for the drawers and the front of the dresser and a roller for the top and sides of the dresser. The brush helps you paint the “detail” of the furniture, and the roller makes the process go 10x faster.

The last step is to polyurethane the entire piece. Polyurethane is a protective coat that will help the paint keep its color and resist stains. It also gives paint a nice finished look. One thin coat is all you need.

Let it dry.

Screw your hardware and handles back into place and enjoy you new old dresser.