Summer 2013 wasn't just the summer I got married, but the summer of garage sale adventures. I scored some awesome deals, and saw parts of Ohio I didn't even know existed. I love a good bargain, and I had a whole apartment across the country I needed to furnish. I spent a total of $198 that summer, and furnished 80% percent of our apartment. That $198 dollars paid for: two dressers, a coffee table, two bar stools, a wine cabinet, a sideboard cabinet, a side table, a kitchen table, 4 kitchen chairs, and a hall tree.
Now these dressers were actually bought summer 2012. My mom got them both for $15, score! Now the paint on these guys were ROUGH. Look closely friends, that is not a real wood grain. That is a faux wood painting disaster that should be living in 1975. However, they were in great shape, and look at the mirror on that one, so adorbs!
I knew these dressers would not be my "forever furniture," so I didn't want to invest a huge amount of money or time into them. You could tell these had been painted over time and time again. I counted 5 different colors in some spots where the paint was peeling. That being said, I was not down with spending a month sanding this down to the original wood. Instead, I did what most pinteresters(?) are doing these days... Spend five minutes sanding, priming, painting a fun color, and boom done (similar to this blog post I read).
My first task was sanding. Which, seriously, I spent like 30 seconds doing. Now, if this was originally a very nice piece of furniture, and if it had just one coat of paint on it, and if I wash't so lazy... maybe, just maybe, I would have dedicated more time (and effort) into sanding. My goal here was really just to make sure the primer would stick. Speaking of primer, that is step two! I used KILZ2 (pictured above) because it is stain blocking - which means it will stick to just about anything. I chose latex because it is water based and makes clean-up easier. Though, I hear that oil-based paints are great for painting furniture (Like in this blog post).
Step three was picking out the paint color. I knew I wanted a pop of color because our apartment is SO gray, and needed some life. I picked this fun-almost-yellow green (pictured above: eccentric lime), and it makes me smile everyday. It took about three thin coats to get coverage I was satisfied with. I actually bought this paint in a sample size because its cheaper and furniture doesn't really take too much paint. I painted two dressers with that tiny can (pictured above).
Step four was stenciling! I ordered this flourished Martha Stewart stencil (pictured above). I chose it because it wasn't too feminine. So many of the stencils had flowers and birds and butterflies, and I didn't think that was fair to the husband. I also ordered this stencil kit, and it was super helpful. Not to mention it includes the most adorable miniature sponge roller (s/o to Alissa). The pouncers (those are the cylinder sponge daubers pictured above) made stenciling a walk in the park, and gave my designs super clean lines and even coverage. The paint I used was, surprise surprise, another sample color. This one I bought on clearance for 50 cents, so I don't really know exactly what color it is. But who cares, it was 50 cents. I watched this video on stenciling before I got started. I found it helpful as it reviewed some stenciling basics. The hardest part about this step was deciding on stencil placement. It was a lot of staring at the stencil and it staring back at me.
Step five: I painted the knobs the same color as the stencils. Originally, I was going to buy new hardware for the dressers, but I figured I would give painting them a try. I was super pleased with the results, and my pocketbook was pretty pleased too. Hardware can be expensive, and I would have had to buy 30 knobs to complete the job. Sometimes you just got to work with what you got.
Step six: Painting on a polyurethane finish. Now, the only downfall to buying sample paint is that it comes unfinished. So that means it doesn't have that protective coating built in. If I had a nice outdoor space, and could carry these dressers outside myself, I would have chosen a spray-paint protective finish. Instead, I got a paint-on polyurethane in clear satin finish. I spent a lot of time making sure I put a sturdy finish on the top of the dressers, because that part will get the most wear. My only mistake on this step was that I accidentally bought an oil-based polyurethane (mainly because this is the first project I did without any help from my dad, and he would have warned me!). It didn't change the results too much, but it made clean-up a pain in the butt.
I'm still no expert in re-finishing furniture, but I learned a lot and had so much fun!
Laterbug Caiterbug.
HI Caiterbug, I had fun reading all the steps and helpful hints you learned on your refurbishing adventure! Its amazing the money that can be saved. Your results look beautiful. Its a good thing we don't have any more space! Much love, WooWoo
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