Painted Furniture

Let me tell you a story about dressers.  As kids get bigger, so do their clothes.  Sadie has been using a small 3 drawer dresser that would be the perfect nightstand for my bedroom.  I started looking around for dressers.  I found this one on Craigslist for $40.

But then I started imagining tiny little Sadie and Addison trying to get clothes out of those top drawers.  Not gonna work.  So this one found a little corner in the garage to rest for a while.  As I explained to Corey what the plan was for the new dresser that wouldn't work for the girls and which involved the shifting around of at least 4 other pieces of furniture, his eyes glazed over.  A couple of nights later he was having trouble falling asleep.  He rolled over to me and said, "Tell me the dresser story again."  HOW RUDE!  Little did he know, we were still in the first chapter.  A few days later I found this dresser at a garage sale.

BEFORE

PERFECT! And UGLY! I think that's a pumpkin on the bottom with tulips growing out of it.  Since Corey was under the impression that I had already purchased a dresser for the girls, I hurried up and painted it the day that I bought it to help soften the blow. 

AFTER

I used leftover kitchen cabinet paint that is Sherwin Williams Alabaster in a satin finish.  I didn't prime them.  I just cleaned them off a bit and lightly sanded the top.  You'll notice the original piece had handles on the bottom 4 drawers.  They were 3 3/4" spacing and that's tough to find replacements (most handle spreads are 3"), so I filled the old holes with wood putty, sanded it smooth and drilled new holes for knobs instead of pulls.  You can still see a little dimple where the old hole was, but I don't care.  Even the spring pumpkin/fall tulips look good in white.  Well . . . better.  I do realize that they aren't tulips, but pumpkin buds, but they sure look an awful lot like tulips to me.

 

Corey barely flinched.  He was just thrilled that it wasn't sitting in the corner of the garage waiting for me to do something with it.  My plan worked!

 

I was so inspired by the transformation that I brought out every piece of furniture that I had been wanting to paint and got to work.  This is a dresser in our bedroom that used to be cherry colored stain.  I painted it black many years ago, but I am loving all things bright and white, so say goodbye to the black.

 

BEFORE

 

AFTER

I bought Glidden paint and primer in one at Home Depot in Glass of Milk by Martha Stewart.  All the pieces I painted were black, so it was nice to have the primer built in.  One dresser was actually painted with oil based paint previously and it is a nightmare if you put latex over oil.  I had forgotten that it was oil before, but it seems to be sticking just fine.  Thanks to the primer I assume.  PHEW! 

 

I just sanded off the edges and details to reveal the old black paint.  I need to do the same on the knobs.

I can read your mind.  You're wondering what happened to the big, green dresser that started it all.  Here it is in our bedroom.

A few coats of Glass of Milk, filled handle holes and leftover hardware from our old kitchen.  Remember the before?

Now with the addition of this big boy, one of our other Craigslist finds had to move out.  No worries, I've been wanting a dresser for the guest room.  I gave it a coat of Glass of Milk and painted the drawers a nice Comfort Gray by Sherwin Williams.

It was just all black before.  Now, Nana will have a dresser to use when she stays.  She's one of those people who likes to unpack when visiting.

CHAPTER II  Nightstands

Yep, Sadie's old tiny dresser has been promoted to my nightstand.  Since buying a king sized bed, our old nightstands were looking a little dwarfed.  I have been hunting for another though that is the same height.  (I hate it when the lamps on nightstands aren't at the same height.  We've already established that I'm nuts, so it doesn't hurt my feelings that you are thinking it.)  I looked all over with measuring tape in hand for a match.  No luck.  So in the middle of all this painting and telling Corey the nightstand story, he decides to just build me one.  It just needs doors now.  I'm hoping that'll happen within the week.  Crossing fingers!

So my other two nightstands with their fresh coat of milky paint will go in the guest room with our old bed that Corey also made.  I'll post a picture of the bed when the guest room is put together.

Now for some actual color.  During the search for dressers I found several other things for the house.  I bought them way back when to use as nightstands, but then I liked how they looked side by side behind my couch.

Nice wall paper on the back huh? 

These are painted with Annie Sloan chalk paint in French Linen. Now I read about this paint on the Internet, found one of the rare stores who carries it and forked out $40 for a quart. Not a gallon . . . a QUART! It comes from England so maybe that's the reason. It says you can paint anything with no priming or sanding. You ask, was it worth it? It may have been. I also bought the dark wax to go over the top of the paint. That's the best part. It aged it and when I buffed it down with really high grit sand paper, it looked amazing and feels amazing. The wax was $30 for a tin and will last forever. The paint covered these two buffet pieces, a single sink bathroom vanity and a sofa table.  I also tried the wax on a yellow chair that I painted with wall paint. It worked great as well. It ages and protects the piece. It also comes in clear if you don't want the aging part. But you can also buy Minwax wax in clear (and dark on the Internet) that does the same thing. I definitely love finishing the furniture with the wax to protect it. It won't yellow like polyeurathane.

Here's a little closer.  You can see the dark wax better.

I lightly sanded the edges after I applied the wax.  The knobs are from Hobby Lobby. 

Here's the yellow chair with regular paint and the wax over top.

Here are the other gray pieces.

A wider shot showing the two puny nightstands that are being replaced.

And finally the kids' bathroom vanity.  I just ordered white milk glass knobs for it.  I didn't want to make another trip to Hobby Lobby.

SO, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  Chapter III will be titled "occasional tables" once I get to the 2 end tables that I bought a year ago and haven't painted yet.  They would be included here, but that's a job for our new fancy sprayer.  I pull it out when things have turned legs or spindles and such.