I don’t know about you guys, but the thought of having to sand down an entire piece of furniture in order to change the look of it completely turns me off. I searched for dozens of ways to refinish an old dresser, but every single tutorial I came across involved sanding. And that just didn’t sound fun to me. So being the stubborn one that I am, I decided to try my own way, which involved ZERO sanding!
MATERIALS NEEDED:
– 1 gallon of SEMI-GLOSS white paint (link here)
– 1 regular sized paint roller
– 1 regular sized paint brush
– New hardware (optional)
– THAT’S IT
I was in the process of creating a guest bedroom in our first house. As I mentioned, hubby wasn’t keen on the idea of buying a whole bedroom set for a bedroom that was going to get used only a couple times a year. So I had to improvise. I created a “faux headboard” for only $14 that you can see in my tutorial here. I needed two nightstands and a dresser to make the room complete. I found the nightstands from Ikea for only $60 each, and decided to refinish an old dresser we already had to complete the room on a super tight budget. This is the dresser I’m speaking of .
We got it from a used furniture store in Pittsburgh when we moved into our first apartment together back in 2009. It cost us a mere $75. And it has this huge hole in the back.
But other than that, it’s a really well made, sturdy piece. And who’s ever going to see that hole anyway?!
I began by dragging it out into the garage to avoid getting paint on the wood floors or anywhere else for that matter. I removed all the hideous black hardware and took all the drawers out and put them on the floor. I already had a gallon of white paint from my faux headboard project and a regular sized roller brush. Here is the gallon of paint I used.
Make sure you use a SEMI-GLOSS. With furniture – it gets touched and used a lot which can make oily fingerprint marks if you use an eggshell. SEMI-GLOSS is easily cleanable if that does happen. ***Let me also tell you that this is a spare bedroom that doesn’t get used often and certainly not the dresser. It stays mostly empty and is rarely used as a dresser, more of just a TV stand. I don’t recommend doing just a simple paint refinish on a dresser that was going to be used roughly, like a child’s dresser, for example. The paint finish just isn’t as durable as a wood stain/gloss, but works perfectly for my laziness and my spare bedroom!*** My dresser has been through 2 moves and is still in great condition, only needing a wipe down after each move!
Back to the tutorial – I started rolling on the paint and let me tell you, I could tell right away that it was going to take quite a few coats.
I used a roller on the entire piece except for the two crease spots shown here. Which I used a regular paint brush for. I also didn’t paint the sides of the drawers, the inside of the dresser, or the back of it. Because – who can see it anyway!
It took 3 full coats with a few hours drying time in between each coat. Each coat took me only about 30 minutes. So an hour and a half for the whole thing! And the best part?? ZERO sanding!
I bought this new hardware for the dresser to replace the questionable, original ones. They no longer carry these at Target where I originally bought them but you can actually find them for a lot cheaper on amazon here.
I did a crystal theme throughout the bedroom and carried these knobs onto the Ikea nightstands I bought, the closet door, and the chandelier. The complete spare bedroom makeover is coming soon! So here is the finished product of this dresser.
Commet and let me know what you think! Also check back soon to see more from this makeover!