I was feeling kind of handy and energetic so I stole an old dresser from my parent's house and decided to refinish it. Here is the dresser before I had my way with it:
I gave it a light sanding as it had been previously varnished. Sanding is the reason I don't do projects like this often. If i ever have kids i will punish them by giving them furniture to sand. I was quite happy to sand off this little flowery design, what an eye sore.
After sanding I used a candle to wax the edges so that I could scrape the paint off some places later to give it a vintage look. Then I slapped two coats of primer on it.... slapped is not really an appropriate term- I put the primer on with love and care. Priming is a very important step.
Supervisor Watson kept an eye on me during my project. After the primer had dried I put on two coats of white paint. What kind of white paint you ask? The only kind i had in my house i reply. Ceiling paint!
The drawer pulls were originally brass or something that looks like brass. I primed them in hopes they would look okay white. They did not. I painted them dark gray after that and they looked even worse.The drawer pulls are a non standard size so at this time they have been replaced with ribbon until such time as I find a pull that measures 4 1/4".
Luckily the top drawers are just knobs so I replaced them with adorable crystal ones.
Lastly I scraped up the edges to give it a vintagey look. The polyurethane turned the stark white paint into a subtler white that looks worn and was begging to be distressed. This total project cost under $30- 10 for the knobs and 20 for the polyurethane. Here's what I ended up with:
Cute right?
