Refinished Dresser and Bedside Table

Happy Monday to YOU!

I am making it my goal to update you on many of the projects that we've been working on over here!

In January, while we were visiting my parents in Abilene, we took a trip over to Hamlin (Go Pied Pipers!) to my Grandmother's House. Grandmommy has this HUGE shed in the back that has all kinds of fun things....We found my Great Grandfather's old dental chair from when he was a dentist way back when (Based on the looks of the chair, you couldn't have paid me $ to go to the dentist, then...way too scary looking! HA!) We found tons of antique items: an old typewriter, fan, iron, tools, original Dr. Pepper crates, old tools in my Grandaddy's workshop and the list goes on & on. We also found some great pieces of furniture! I've been wanting to take this old furniture, give it a little TLC and make it new again.  Now that we have the house and I finally have a garage to work in, we brought it all back with us to the Big D and I got to work!

This is the first piece that I re-finished. It wasn't as easy as I was expecting...and, it has it's own little mistakes pieces of character...but I absolutely love the way it turned out!

And, just to give you a picture of where this little baby came from...Here are the before pictures! I actually used this dresser in my room as a little girl.  Years ago, my Grandmommy painted this dresser and bedside table.  Apparently, she was a little DIY'er herself, I think I'm turning into a mini-Marge. :)

 Not sure why it was yellow? I think it used to be an off-white color.  After years upon years of sitting in a garage, it turned yellow. Nice. HA! So, after deep cleaning every square inch. I was finally able to get going on the transformation. 

Now, I knew that it had been painted before, but I wasn't sure what type of paint was used on it before (latex? oil base? water base?), so I began sanding away.  After I sanded it, I primed it. Then, I painted it... I chose to use a spray paint because of the many detailed parts of the dresser, I didn't want drips or brush marks.

I used Rust-oleum Painter's Touch, Satin "Heirloom White."

I also used Rust-oleum's Primer.

BUUUT, if you had asked my poor little fingers-I'm pretty certain they wouldn't have agreed to using spray paint. They practically fell off after pushing down on the spray can for that long!

After I finished spray painting, I wanted to give it a nice glossy finish.  I bought Rust-oleum's Clear Gloss finish to give it a nice last coat.  However, as I began spraying, small patches of the paint began bubbling up. NOOO!!! I immediately stopped spraying. Clearly, I had done something wrong.

A few things I learned through this project:

1. I am no furniture painting expert!

2. When something goes wrong, don't freak out -

Instead, try to stay calm so you can think of a solution!

3. It's okay to spot treat the mistake & it's okay if it's not perfect...it just adds character. :)

So, to fix my mistake, I spot treated the areas that began to bubble up. I sanded them down again, re-primed & re-painted those areas.  Then, I purchased some Minwax Fast-Drying Polyurethane (clear gloss) to give it a nice glossy finish and protect it from water spots.

This stuff worked wonders & I have used it on many other pieces of furniture since. I learned through this project that some people don't like to seal painted furniture. However, I have to disagree with that theory. I like using Polyurethane to seal and protect the paint jobs I've completed because it makes it look shiny and pretty.  There are many different types (depending if you are covering oil-base or water-base paint) and you can also use it to finish a stained piece of furniture or many other things as well.

Here's my nice shiny dresser top!

I loved the hardware the dresser already had. I really wanted to use them, but they wern't in the best condition.  If you're enjoy DIY projets, you've probably heard of the blog, Young House Love.  I used their tutorial on painting hardware. You can find it here.  

They recommended using Rust-oleum's Metallic Primer & Paint-in-One

I think it turned out great!  

Can't forget about the end table.

Love this cute little thing!

Now, I'm loving the fact that I get to use the same dresser set again that I used when I was a little girl. And, it was my grandmothers, originally.

I LOVE furniture that has a story behind it!

I would love to hear your thoughts on the project! Hope I can inspire you to re-finish some of your own furniture & make it new again.  :)