Before & After - Dresser

A while back I found this old dresser at a local thrift store.  As you can tell from the before pictures, someone had made the questionable decision to paint it bright blue.  I am guessing that the next owner then made an attempt to strip off the blue paint, though he/she never got to the drawers.

The drawer pulls were missing, and screws were being used in their place.  A lot of the small trim was damaged or missing entirely, and the veneer had started to buckle and warp.

The drawers themselves were nice quality wood, but the sides and top were just a veneer that needed a lot of work.*  I didn't think that repairing and staining the wood was a possibility, so I decided to paint it.  Here is another "before" shot:

The first step in redoing this dresser was repairing the wood damage.  This involved lots of sanding, patching with wood filler, chipping off broken trim, etc.  Next, I primed the whole piece's exterior, including the drawer fronts.  I decided to try to salvage any part of the good wood that I could, so I sanded and stained the drawer sides and insides (after scraping off layers of paper lining the drawers).  Then, after painting the whole piece with several light coats of grey paint, I used a polyurethane product to seal the whole dresser, inside and out.

Here it is now:

{The detailed trim on this piece is why I bought it}

{A shot of the inside of one of the drawers.  Here you can see the combination of grey paint on the exterior and stained wood on the interior.  This drawer has a little built-in spot for storing small items.}

{We replaced the "drawer knob" metal screws with glass ones from Anthropologie} 

I have this piece in our foyer, where I use it to store stationery and gloves and scarves.  Here's one more set of the before and after shots:

Before

After

Sources:

Paint color - Sherwin Williams Gray Matters

Primer: Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 All Surface Primer

Polyurethane: Minwax Wipe-on Poly in Clear Gloss

Tools: To prime and paint, I used a combination of foam brushes for the trim and small, smooth rollers for the larger surfaces.  I used a rag to wipe on the polyurethane finish.

* Lance K., this post is for you.  When you saw the finished version of this dresser, you said, "I sure hope you didn't paint over good oak."  So now you can see that I really didn't.  :)