Here's the story: Years ago, my mom bought a dresser from a garage sale for, she says, something like $10. It was painted in a thick, pale pink color and had no knobs or drawer pulls, but my artsy mom must have seen the potential in it. My dad [quite hypocritically] asked why the heck she brought home the nasty thing - until he realized it was made of real wood! None of that compressed woodboard.
Ugggg-ly. And this picture doesn't show all the dings and chips; darn. |
Well, I needed to find my own furniture for this school year, and since we already had this dresser, I thought, why not take a stab at shaping it up.
I started by wiping off all the grime and dust (and, my friend, was there a lot!). We happened to have a chemical that vowed to dissolve and remove any paint from furniture and the like without sanding or scraping. Well, it lied. I did a day's worth of scraping, but that's what happens when you use old chemicals. It did help a lot, especially compared to sanding, but it took time for sure. Invest in something (but a NEW bottle!) that really will take the paint off.
And then I began sanding, mostly with a random-orbit electric sander. I used rougher sandpaper first, on everything, and then switched to less roughness. I finished off the pre-paint prep by sanding it all down quickly with the smoothest sandpaper I had, perfecting the finish of the dresser for my tastes. If you have to putty any holes as I did, you would want to do that now. I used Spackle and a scraper, lightly sanding it to make it blend with the wood. Another thorough brush off and wipe down, and it was ready for paint
My favorite part: Painting, so much better than the prep work! I used a Valspar semi-gloss black exterior paint, which was perfect. Remember to paint one coat, in the same direction as the wood grain; wait several hours if not a day, then add another coat if desired.
I waited an additional day so that the paint had no tackiness at all, and then installed the cute knobs I had bought at Hobby Lobby (they were 50% off!). Anyone adventurous enough to redo your old furniture? :)