This is my favorite project to date! I found this awesome French provincial dresser at my local Goodwill. It was $80 and there was no way I was going to let it get away. I had to put it on hold and come back for it when I didn’t have the baby in the car. It was totally worth it.
The dresser itself is in good shape. There are a few scratches and some light wear and tear but great bones. The paint job was a little dated. The cream and gold just wasn’t working for me. I decided to give it a new paint job and a hardware update.
I knew I wanted to paint the piece white. I had the perfect spot for it in my living room. It was to replace the old dresser that I updated a few years ago. The black and white with the nickel knobs was cute, but I wanted something more glamorous.
I started by removing all the hardware and the drawers. I settled on a basic, plain white latex paint, but I decided to make it into a chalk paint with my new Chalk Paint Recipe. Once I’d mixed the paint, I applied it directly over the old paint job. No sanding or prepping needed other than a light scrubbing with a damp cloth.
I did two layers of the chalk paint on the dresser and two layers on the drawers.
I let the paint dry overnight then applied a layer of paste finishing wax on the dresser and drawers.
I followed the instructions on the back of the wax tin. I buffed it on, waited 15 minutes, then rubbed it in.
Once the paint job was done, I tackled the hardware. At first, I planned to spray paint the handles. They were really worn and had a layer of cream paint on them that looked like it would be impossible to remove.
But then I thought better of it and decided to see what we were working with underneath that paint. You can check out my paint removal tutorial here.
Once I removed the paint from the handles, I still considered spray painting them. They were rusty and dirty looking.
But again, I figured I’d try my hand at restoring them first. So I got out my trusty Bar Keepers Friend Cleanser.
It returned my hardware to its former glory. I even dedicated my own blog post to it here. That’s how good it is.
I put my newly restored hardware back on my drawers and put the drawers back in my upgraded dresser.
It was a total transformation! A fairly easy one at that. I’m completely in love with it It is, by far, my favorite project I’ve ever done, and it’s certainly my new favorite piece of furniture in the house.
Hello beautiful!
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