Dresser Do-Over

My husband surprised me by bringing home a dresser from our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  It was that awful light colored wood with the green undertones.  I think it was birch?  Anyways, it was ugly.  Unfortunately I didn't get any before pictures with the original finish intact because my wonderful husband began sanding it before I snapped any.  Poor me, right?  Ha. 

I do have pictures just before I started the restoration part though.  I moved it from my husband's shop to the living room to begin the painting process.  Since it's actually chilly around here right now, I wanted to be able to paint it in a warm environment so the finish would turn out properly.  And I needed to be able to catch up with the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.  Priming and painting is so much more enjoyable when you can do it while watching trashy television.  Win-win.

So here's what I started with........

As you can see I had already started priming when I remembered to actually document this process.  But I did remember and that's a huge step forward for me, I usually just dive right in! 

About the process.  I used Kilz latex primer.  It works really well and helps your final color choice go on smooth and seamless.  I used a brush and did two thin and even coats of primer, letting it dry completely between coats.  I probably waited for about an hour between them.  Luckily I had the Housewives to keep me company. 

I choose to paint it a light gray/purple color from Martha Stewart called Chinchilla (MSL264) in a semi-gloss finish.

Then I broke out my secret weapon.  I hate, hate, hate, hate seeing brush strokes on furniture I've painted.  So I found a nifty product online that elimates that problem.  It's called Floetrol and it works miracles.  Basically it helps paint flow better so that brush strokes disappear.  It don't get the science behind it but I know it works, so that's good enough for me!  Here's what the container looks. 

Run, don't walk, to your local paint store to snap some of this stuff up.  It really gives a professional final look.

Anyways, I followed the instructions on the back and mixed about one ounce into 16 ounces of paint.  And I'm not going to lie, I used a shot glass to measure.  Classy, I know.

So two coats of Chinchilla later, I had this:

A beautiful, brush stroke-free dresser, just ready to be put back together.  But first.....I had to figure out some drawer pulls.  Now that I think about, I'm not even 100% sure what kind of pulls it came with.  They were long gone before I ever laid eyes on this bad boy. So I took to the web.  I knew I wanted ring pulls and an oil-rubbed finish.  I stumbled upon pullsdirect.com and found everything I was looking for, and for a really great price. A one-stop drawer pull shopping experience, if you're into that kind of thing.  And I am. 

Here they are.....

It's weird that the background color they use to display the pull is nearly the same color I painted the dresser.  Weird.....or fate? Hmmmm, I'll let you decide......

Once they arrived, I screwed them in the existing holes in the dresser and lugged the whole darn thing upstairs (well not just me obviously, the husband lent a hand).

And here it is, in it's rightful place.

Where that dresser sits was once a terryfing pile of fabric, wrapping paper, bows and junk.  Now it's all hidden from view in my new dresser.  I love it!

Lindsay.

I linked up to Jena at Involving Color