Dresser Makeover


I won't claim that this was a quick or easy DIY, but it has been 100% worth it!


Hubs and I offloaded his rickety old dresser when we left Vegas since we weren't sure it was going to survive the move. When we started looking at options to buy a new one, we weren't impressed with quality or price. Off to Facebook Marketplace I went! The perks of living in a military town mean that people move often and get rid of lots of stuff when they do. Even despite the current world situation, there were dresser options available. We settled on this one:


It came with a mirror as well which I'm not terribly attached to, but will probably also refinish at some point. The priority here was getting the dresser functional for us ASAP.  We got it for $80 and it's solid wood. Can't beat that!

The first step was to pull the hardware, which is easy enough except for the decorative lock. That was stuck on there, but shout out to my mom for her tip - use some WD-40 to loosen it. After that, it popped right off with a spatula



Next up was a good cleaning with soap and water, and then give it a wash with TSP cleaner. I only planned to stain the top of it, the bottom will be painted and so I wasn't planning to sand it all down to 100% bare wood. Using TSP to clean it ensures that it's 100% clean before the primer goes on, and I used Kilz oil based primer to be sure there wouldn't be any bleed through from the stain below it (trust me, I had that happen once on the first ever furniture update I did and it sucked)



And then, I sanded...and sanded....and sanded some more...but man the top did sand down to some pretty wood.



I painted the base and drawer fronts with primer and gave it a light sanding to ensure a smooth surface. The details along the top and sides of the dresser proved to be an absolute pain in the ass to paint, if I ever do something like this again I'll definitely be paying attention to the decorative bits of the furniture!


After wiping everything down with tack cloth for the zillionth time a got out the stain. I used 2 coats of Minwax Dark Walnut on the top and I am obsessed with how it came out. It's so pretty!

I painted the bottom of the dresser using Valspar furniture and cabinet paint in Midnight Bayou. I am *obsessed* with how pretty this color is! The progress photo doesn't do it justice, but here it is!


I decided to use gold pulls for this project, the oil rubbed bronze ones I had leftover from our kitchen makeover were blending in too much with the paint color. This mini level my husband has was a lifesaver for making sure they were level when I installed them!



I am so thrilled with how this project came out. It came with us to Florida and now I'm starting to update our bedroom around this focal point! You can check out the mood board for the bedroom refresh here, and an update here!

Drop me a comment and let me know what you think!





2 comments

Instagram

Content Copyright Living with Liz
Living with Liz. Theme by STS.