Last week, Erica posted a photo on Facebook of a dresser that she had bought off of Craigslist and refinished as her very first refinishing project. I must say, it looks fabuless! I loved the way that it turned out and wanted to share it with all of you. I asked Erica if she would be willing to write a post on the "how to" of this dresser so you can get the motivation (and maybe confidence) to refinish a piece of furniture of your own.
Thank you Erica!
Guest Blogger: {Erica Renner, Refinished Dresser}
If I’m lucky, I get two hours each afternoon to myself. I am a mother of two young boys. One is almost six months old and one just turned three. Typically during my free time I, cook/prepare for dinner, clean, bake cakes, or take an occasional nap. I am very lucky that I get to stay at home with my children but some days it’s much harder than others! I recently discovered Pinterest and I’m in love! I love looking at all the different design ideas! After reading an article this summer in The Family Circle magazine I really wanted to try re-doing/repainting a piece of furniture. Pinterest has a lot of good ideas and then Candace started a blog that featured a piece of furniture that she re-did. I decided it was “go” time! I found a great looking dresser for 55 dollars on craigslist, here in Charlotte. The dresser had a mirror attached to it as well. Something that made me very excited because I wanted to get a mirror to put above the dresser anyway! Here is what the dresser looked like when I picked it up.
To get it in my Pilot we needed to take it part. So off came the mirror and the “U” that held the mirror onto the dresser. It was too late to do anything the night I picked it up and brought it home but the next day during naps, I was able to sand it. My husband was traveling that night and I was so excited to continue working on my project, I primed it after the kids went to bed. The next day during naps I popped open my can of paint and started painting! I absolutely LOVED the color I picked! As I painted each part of the dresser, I got more and more excited. The color I picked was called “Deepest Aqua,” a Behr Ultra (paint-primer) paint. Again since I can only work while my kids sleep, (for 2 hours from 2-4 or 8:30-10:30) I had to wait to stain/distress the next day.
I was not sure which method I wanted to use to distress it, so I spent the night researching. I loved how the dresser looked with the new paint color, so I didn’t want to ruin it when I was trying give it that distressed look.
During naptime on day three I worked on distressing the dresser and sanding and priming the mirror. I sanded some of the edges on the dresser and around the drawers, giving it a more worn look. After I sanding the edges I prepped my stain-wax mix. I read that mixing stain and wax gives you a little more time than just stain when you are trying to achieve a distressed look. I did a 3:1 mixture, wax to stain. Even with the wax, since I was working outside I had to work in sections so it didn’t dry on too much. I did the top first. I was so nervous when I made my first paint stroke, what if I ruin it? I was so close to being done! I figured that the dresser was only 55 dollars and with the paint supplies I wouldn’t be out too much if I did ruin it! ☺
I am so happy with how it turned out! I love the distressed look of the stain/wax along with the sanded edges!
I ended up replacing the knobs on the dresser as well. The first ones I picked out from Home Depot I hated! They looked awful!! Luckily we have a neighborhood hardware store a few miles away! I went there and it was like knob heaven! They had at least five times as many knobs as Home Depot and Lowes! Carson, my 3 year-old, helped me pick out some great brushed gold knobs! They completed the look of the dresser perfectly! I LOVE LOVE LOVE how it turned out!
I mentioned that I starting sanding and priming the mirror that I look off this dresser after I distressed it. While I was at the hardware store I took a look around the paint department. I picked up two “oops” quarts of paint for 2 bucks each! SCORE! One was a charcoal gray and the other was a creamy neutral white, I mixed the two together to get a great gray! After two coats of paint I was able to sand, stain, and distress the mirror. My husband attached some ring hooks to the back and it was ready to go! I love how it turned out as well!
Mirror Before
To add to the look I added some of my husband’s books, three burlap letter blocks (I made), two ceramic pumpkins I found at a local home consignment store, and a chalkboard frame (I also made). I love the pop of color it brought to the entryway of our home!
I can’t wait to start on my next project!
sincerely fabuless, Erica in Charlotte.
Thank you Erica for providing us with this great tutorial and blog post - I can't wait to see your next project! P.S. - I love how you can see your baby monitor in the picture next to your frame - that is so me! I put the kids to bed, grab the monitor and hit the garage!
We hope to provide Guest Bloggers regularly because we all learn best when we learn from each other. If you are interested in being a guest blogger and have a project or tip you would like to share, email us at cjones014@gmail.com.
love this color. Do you have the names of the stains/paint colors you used?
ReplyDeleteIt's a Glidden color (home depot) Deepest Aqua. I ended up getting colored matched to the Olympic primer and paint in one. The stain color is Jacobean. I used a wax/stain mixture.
ReplyDelete