Dresser Refinish

Furniture refashions and refinishes are a super easy way to brighten up your home with a one-of-a-kind piece. You can use items you already have to items you find. This French Provincial-style dresser I found on Craigslist.

I knew that I wanted to finish this dresser in a girly color to be a bold accent to my office. After searching through the colors I chose this cool-toned light pink.

A lot of brands have come out with chalk paint that you can paint right over existing finishes without sanding or stripping. These work alright, but I think that they end up having a little bit too thick of a finish that reminds me of old lead-based paint. They also come in more limited colors, so finding exactly what you want can be a challenge. I chose to use Ace Hardware brand paint in color Piglet with an eggshell finish.

To begin, I needed to sand the finish of the dresser. The dresser began with a shiny finish, but not one that was too thick, so all I actually had to do was sand a little bit to roughen it up so the paint would adhere. The difficult part was the curves, but I used a detail sander and it worked nicely. The thing I liked about this sander was that it didn't seem to clog up and it kept the sawdust more contained.

Below you can see pictures of the sanding in progress. I knew I needed to sand more when the finish still had a gloss on it and reflected light. If you don't sand enough, your paint will not adhere and it could rub or peel off.

In the picture below, you can see the detailed strokes of the sandpaper and where it has been sanded and where it needs to be worked more.  The most important thing is to remove the gloss. I promise, it's easier than you would think!

After sanding, it is important to clean the surface and let it dry. You don't want sawdust getting in the way of your paint. For a brush, I prefer a nylon brush with soft bristles. This will leave nice paint strokes that aren't too prominent.  Since you are brush painting, you will have brush strokes. I actually like this look, you just have to make sure your brush strokes are all going the same direction.

I painted this dresser in sections working with the curves of the dresser. You can see this in the image below. Do not worry too much about your brush strokes, just be aware of them when you paint. Make sure to keep the brush at a 45 degree angle and paint in one direction to avoid bubbles.

I needed two coats to completely cover the surface of the dresser. Let dry overnight.

To finish, I took the drawer pulls that came on the dresser and simply spray painted them silver. This spray paint worked so well and had almost a pearl finish, I loved it so much that I ordered more as soon as I finished the first can.  This is by far the best metallic spray paint I have used.

I hope with this post I have showed you how simple it is to refinish a piece of furniture with colored paint!