Have you ever admired a piece of furniture that someone else owned? Well I admired this dresser that my friend Michelle had. A tall dresser with various drawer sizes, this was a departure from the dressers I had growing up. She had her things displayed just right. Well she moved to Texas 10+ years ago and I gladly bought this piece of furniture from her. It fits in my small room, where my King size bed takes over the WHOLE space. After 10+ years I wanted an update. I struggled with whether to sale it, buy something brand new, or makeover a piece of cheap Ikea furniture. Budgets came in and inspiration hit me here. I couldn't afford a new chair or sofa in that amazing green couch, nor did I have room for such a thing, so I drew from that color and the rest of the dresser and room fell in place. I am incredibly happy with the result and now I can say I LOVE this piece of furniture. I'm addicted to this makeover, looking around the house for what else I can pimp!!
Here's what I did and what products I used.
Step 1: Empty all drawers and remove all the hardware.
Step 2: Sand off old paint or stain. I did a light sand as it wasn't a thick stain on the wood. Afterward make sure you wipe the dresser and drawers clean, you don't want any dust or sanding on the drawers before you prime them.
Step 3: I used Benjamin Moore - Primer and painted all the drawers and the dresser. Let this thoroughly dry before the next step. My take two coats.
Step 4: I used Benjamin Moore - Amazon Moss (2037-10) color in Eggshell finish. I matched this as closely as I could to the green couch in the inspiration image. I probably painted up to three coats, you may need more or less depending on the piece of furniture.
Step 5: After the paint thoroughly dries, you might need a few days, then apply an acrylic polyurethane to seal the paint. I did this as an after-thought, and only after I made a few scratches in the top of the dresser (yes I had to sand and repaint), I knew I had to fix this. So I used Benjamin Moore - Stays Clear Acrylic Polyurethane.
Step 6: Spray paint your hardware, a can of spray paint is so much cheaper than buying 13 new knobs. I used Krylon - Metalic Gold Spray Paint. Again I'm addicted, I ended spray painting some old picture frames in Gold after starting this project.
That's it. This literally only took me two to three days and made such a huge difference in our room.
Before it was dark and sad in my autumn maple painted room.
Sanding the drawers before priming is key.
Prime all the drawers and the dresser
My living room and balcony in the process of painting the dresser and making over the bedroom
Spray paint old hardware to give it a great facelift
Final product. Dresser looks so much better and if it had feelings it would be super HAPPY!