Painted Dresser Before and After

The previous owner of my home left two old dressers in our basement. For the longest time, I regretted not asking her to move them out when she left. They sat and sat and I made piles on top of them and resented their existence in my house. At one point I begged my dear husband to pleeeease drag them to the curb so I could get the basement organized.  But the to do list was long, and he hadn't gotten to it yet.

And then I discovered blogland. You mean you can paint over wood? And not have it peel away and look bad???

I started to imagine what I could do with the dressers so that they could be useful in my home.

One particular had the shape and dimensions that I liked. I neglected to snap a before of the piece featured here. I'm new to this blog thing, you know, taking picture of every single stage along the way of whatever you plan to write about and all. I'll get the hang of it someday, perhaps. But, here is its sister, who still looks like the other dressers' before. The condition and color and hardware were all identical. You get the idea: Blech. But perhaps, a "blech" with potential?

But what to do with it? One day I was reorganizing the paint shelves in my basement and the answer came to me.  I was looking over some paint that the previous owner of the house was also kind enough to leave. One of them was an unopened can of Valspar "lamppost black" in flat. I have no idea what she intended to do with it, but I knew it would be just the thing for this dresser. Plus, it would make this redo pretty cheap!

So, I headed to Home Depot and picked up a quart of this for about $8: 

I've seen many bloggers recommend Zissner's oil-based primer. I fully intended to get "the right thing" but I stopped when I saw the Zissner bullseye logo, checked the label to make sure it would work over a varnished surface, and bought it. It wasn't until after the can was open that I realized I hadn't gotten the same thing.  But, it worked great!

I gave it two quick coats in one night. Just enough to make sure the whole piece was covered. I knew I would be painting plenty of coats on top of it. At this stage one of my friends remarked that she looked like she belonged in Antropologie in its shabby chic state. Heehee. I wasn't bold enough to stop there. Some things can work in that store that would never look right in my home. Plus, I had a vision.
.

I used a small foam roller for the big spaces and a brush for the details. It took about 3 coats until I was happy with the coverage of the black.  Gradually I fell in love with her little details, even in their worn imperfection.

Then it needed some sealing. The folks at YHL recommend a water-based polycrilic, but I had this oil-based poly on hand from another project. And I really wanted this to be an inexpensive redo.

It's true that the oil based poly does have a yellow tinge, but hopefully the yellowing will not be a problem over the black. I used one coat because I didn't want a high gloss look. Just enough to seal it.

Next I trotted back to Home Depot to pick out some jewelry hardware. Check out the copper and venetian bronze detail against the crystal knob. Love it! These guys were the most expensive part of the project at $3.99 a piece. But, I think it was a splurge that was totally worth it.

The finish has just the right amount of sheen for my taste.

You can see here where I accidentally let the primer drip. Oops! I tried to make the painting go faster by jamming a lot of paint on with the brush. Note to self: next time go slowly and be sure to wipe away extra paint!

Here she is:

And here she sits in our new home, the master bedroom. I think she's happy there.

The grand total for the project was about $40, and I used a gift card for all of it. And now I have a half a quart of Zissner in my possession. Huzzah! I'm already plotting my next redo.

Linking up at:

Thrifty Decor Chick

Funky Junk Interiors

Redoux

Centsational Girl