Dresser Upper

Recently I was at a huge barn sale in search of a fun project piece to work on and I stumbled across this old dresser that was begging for a revamp. There was a missing handle, it was a very dated color, and it was cheap…basically the perfect combination for any good refurb project. I decided to try out some stenciling for this project, so I started looking for an elegant stencil pattern, which I found at Hobby Lobby. Next was looking for some pretty new drawer pulls. After waiting for a sale at Hobby Lobby (seriously should have my own parking spot by now) I found some vintage looking pulls on sale for $3.50 each! After finding all the accessories that I needed, I decided to go with a gray chalk paint with white details.

After finally pulling everything together I got started on the transformation! The first step was to pull off the old handles (which I saved for a future project) and wipe everything down in preparation for painting. I chose to spray all of the edges with a dark spray paint so that when the time came for distressing, there would be a dark base to show through. Once that dried, I filled in the old handle holes with a wood filler since the old handles were set a bit closer than the new ones. After sanding down the filler, it was time for the first coat of chalk paint! The nice thing about chalk paint is that it requires little to no prep work and the paint clings to anything! I used a Hobby Lobby brand chalk paint (this was before I knew about the new Rustoleum line) to put the gray base down. Once that dried, I did apply a second coat to smooth out the finish.

Now came the fun experimentation!

I had purchased a small stencil to try out and in hindsight, there are a few pointers.

Make sure the stencil is sturdy, the one used on this project was kinda flimsy and wasn’t heavy enough to stay put on the surface. It also pulled sideways with the brush I was using, smearing the paint somewhat.
Use a roller. I used a brush because I thought I was being smart and making a smaller amount of cleanup for myself. In reality it took longer, the paint did not go down as evenly as I had hoped, and the brush pulled on the stencil. This of course distorted parts of the pattern.
If at all possible, use a large stencil. The small one, while very pretty, made it hard to be consistent with the pattern.

Once the nail biting process of making sure the top came out pretty was over, I was pretty satisfied with the final product. I distressed some of the edges of the dresser to give it some character and then sanded down the top to even out the paint coverage and make some of the areas look a little faded. Once all the sanding was finished, we wiped it down with some water to get all the accumulated dust cleared away. We were finally ready for the last steps!

I used Rustoleum’s “Chalked” finishing coat (by this time I had discovered the wonder of the line) to smooth it out and seal the piece. Sean screwed in the new pulls and then we were done! We were really happy with the final result and it was a great learning experience. Bring on the next piece of furniture!