Refurbishing Dresser

Today, I thought I would show something about a hobby of mine!  I love redecorating, typically I leave the restoring furniture to my mom but I have caught the bug.  I am loving restoring my own furniture and finding it on Craigslist, thrift stores, and garage sales!

My husband and I have shared a dresser since we were married, I have no idea how we did that.  It was always a nightmare to find socks because they were always mixed together.  Our closet was a total disaster because we just did not have enough room.  The reason why we shared a dresser was because at our last home all the rooms were 10×10.  There was no defined master bedroom, so it was all that would fit.

We moved about 2 years ago, and just stuck with what we had and never bought a new dresser.  Then, I had enough this past month.  I needed my own dresser and we had a huge wall with nothing on it, so I set out to find a dresser.  When I saw this post on Maple & Magnolia, I was inspired!

I picked up this dresser above for $50 on Craigslist, solid wood and in good condition.  It also included the mirror as well.

Next, I decided I wanted it to be an antiqued dresser with a wood top.

I started out by removing the hardware and sanding it down.  Next, I needed to prime the bottom since I planned to paint it.  I always use an oil based primer for wood.  I am not the best sander and this assures me that once it’s applied it works like a sander and the main coat of paint will stick.  We used this primer to cover up paneling in our living room and it worked wonderfully.

Remember though it’s very strong so be in a well ventilated area!

Once the primer dried it was time to paint.  I painted the lower half and drawers with antique white.  I used a dark wood stain on the top.  I had to use about 4 coats of stain to get the shade I was going for.

I thought I would also add this sponge roller is my favorite roller to use on wood!  We used it in our living room on the paneling and it goes on so smooth, I love it!

Now to give it an antiqued look, I used that same dark wood stain and a rag and I lightly rubbed it over all of the painted areas once the dresser had dried.  Then, I immediately wiped it off so that it would just give it a glaze or tint of the stain.

This turned out just the way I was hoping it would.  It came out with an old antiqued look and worked perfectly in our bedroom.

Next it was time to move it into our master bedroom.  This little piece of furniture lead me to change the whole color scheme of our room.  I brought in some brown and purple, before this it was black and white not to mention boring.  We had not updated it since we were first married.

It fit perfectly on our wall that was empty, I also ordered a canvas to hang up underneath the sign of my family in our cowboy boots.  It’s a sepia tone, so it should fit perfectly!

It even impressed my husband, he was just as excited about it as I was.  Now, we are both on the hunt for some new living room tables and an entry way table that I hope to refurbish as well!

I found a new hobby, so I knew I had to share it with you!