My Very First Furniture Makeover: The Dresser

This post should have come months ago, like 8 months ago!  YIKES!  

I really wanted to reveal this pretty little dresser when I revealed my beautiful craft room {that is still in the works} but who knows when that will happen and before I go deleting any more pictures, I thought I better just let ya'll know about the first time I ever refinished furniture!  I have since painted and posted other pieces that I have done, like the nightstand for Lola's room, but realized I never posted about this one...and before I delete all of the pictures from my computer {hence the before photos not being true "before" pics, I can't find them, dang it}, I thought it was time!

The inspiration to even think about painting a dresser came from Julie over at Less-Than-Perfect Life of Bliss.  When I saw her dresser she painted in festival green, I knew I had to find one and paint it in just as equally happy of a color!  When I need to hunt for furniture, no one better to call than Grandma Shipe!  She called me within a week and said she had something worth checking out!  I made the drive out to her house and was amazed at the beauty that was before me {okay, it wasn't quite there yet, more of a beast, but I could see the potential}!  Got it loaded in the truck and headed home!

Here is how it looked after I finished sanding it!  And let me tell you I sanded that sucker down to the core!  Being that it was my first time painting anything, when I read tutorials online about sanding, it just said sand.  I had no clue how much {or not} to sand, so it went to the bones!  But I did it all by myself and am proud!  I even went and bought a power sander all on my own {that is after I burned out the one I borrowed from my friends, who I still owe a new one to}! 







Do I sand furniture like this when I paint it now - heck no!  Lesson learned!  But the after on this dresser is to die for, so it wasn't all bad.  I painted it using Valspar Interior Eggshell Finish in Aqua Ocean.  I didn't prime it because it was a color/primer in one!  But, I did learn another lesson, don't paint furniture in an eggshell finish.  I can't really explain why, other than I just had to use a clear coat of Valspar Clear Protector in Satin finish to finish it off!   Did you catch that?!  Geesh, so many finishes?! Too many steps, but it turned out beautiful nonetheless!

I like mixing the old with the new, so I did keep the old hardware on the dresser! 

Ta-da!
After going back and rereading this post, it really should be about what NOT to do when refinishing furniture!  Oh well!  I like it all the same :)
It is all done and in my crafty space now {not sitting outside of it in the hallway, like in the picture}!  I feel like that is the one room where I can experiment with color and it doesn't matter!  Maybe one day I will show you what it looks like in there!

Just for kicks, the before and after.