Dresser Rehab

A couple weeks ago I was browsing around Craigslist for a dresser I could refinish and add to our new bedroom. Thanks to a lovely lady in Edina I picked up this bad boy for $45!

Overall it's in pretty good shape. The bottom drawer is a little warped so the top left corner of it doesn't shut completely but I love the simple character of it and the sweet little detail at the bottom. I sanded it down, primed and painted it and bought some new hardware for the drawers as well and I pretty much love the final look. Let's take a gander through the two day process, shall we?

I knew I wanted to paint it white to go with our white trim and one day white curtains so after crusing through other blogs and getting paint ideas I decided to go with Benjamin Moore Decorators White. Picking out a color is one thing but actually picking out the paint itself is something I need to get better at. I wanted to get Benjamin Moore Advanced paint because I read that it's great for the type of project I was about to begin and the paint is self-leveling. Not 100% sure on what that means but it sounds pretty cool. :) Of course I get to the store, find the color no problem and couldn't for the life of me remember the name of the actual paint I wanted. What's the difference between latex and oil based paint? I ended up getting a gallon of the wrong paint and spent way too much money it. I'm still kicking myself about this but I don't think you can return mixed paint? I'm taking it as a lesson learned...

First step was to sand off the original stain on the dresser and water marks on top of it. I used 80 grit sand paper during the first round of sanding and then switched to 220 grit to smooth it all out again.

One dresser frame and six drawers later I was ready to get my priming on and for that I used an Interior Latex Primer from Olympic (zero voc! whoopie!).

I wasn't trying to be perfect with my primer paint job since I knew I would be going over it with the paint but I made sure to put a nice even coat on all the surfaces using a small roller and a paintbrush.

Sanding and priming was day one of the project and Sunday was the big paint day.

This is the paint I didn't want but didn't know at the time and no where on the can does it say zero voc. Hopefully the fumes don't get all up in my business or Joe's for that matter. I'd like to keep him around to support my long list of DIY projects I have tucked in the back of my mind or saved to "My Favorites" on the computer. Here are the after pictures!

I was surprised it took me two coats to get the finished look (would the Advanced paint have been better??) but it's awesome! The white is so crisp and clean and check out the hardware I picked up from Lowe's! The contrast of the oil rub bronzed look and the white are perfect!

And now the big reveal!

Now we're contemplating placement. Joe wants to move the dresser into the corner...I think that looks silly. Let's just say we are currently "trying" out the corner space. So there you have it. We have a dresser for our room! Maybe we should actually start putting clothes in our new room now that we have places to put things. Our old room is acting as a big walk in closet at the moment and it's nice to have the extra space. One step at a time people....we don't have to rush anything here.