My DIY Dresser!

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? :)