Bedroom Mid-Century Dresser Makeover DIY
Since I’m a creative, doing a dresser makeover is totally within my wheelhouse. Well, as long as it’s the simple stuff like sanding and painting! Now, if I needed to use extra tools, like for drawer repair or something, maybe not….
During this process, I did buy myself a sander. Let me say, it’s immensely helpful! hahahaha
I didn’t really have a sander (albeit an inexpensive one) in my budget, but as they say, “Time is money!” And I’m so grateful I did purchase one! Now, knowing the difference between the sander pads that came with it and the grittier ones would have been helpful from the beginning. “Learning process”
I had two dressers to refinish. One was one I picked up for $20 at a thrift shop four years ago when my youngest was just born. It had been on my DIY list for awhile, but I wasn’t ever quite motivated. Until, that is, I picked up an almost matching dresser off Facebook marketplace for TEN dollars!!! Okay, that’s it, let’s do this!
Overall, each was in fairly decent shape. The one on the left had a chipped corner and a bit of what looked to be water damage on the side. The drawers were still in good condition, but probably something I could still do a bit of clean-up on.
My original plan was to paint the body of the dresser a gray color and leave the drawers with a darker stain.
As you can probably tell, my plans were quickly needed revision. I decided the easiest thing for me was to just paint it allllllll gray. Not what I originally wanted, but something I would still love.
Sanding was actually pretty easy and fast, once I switched to gritter paper, imagine that…..
I started with the drawers, I figured if my kids had any emergencies, it’d be easier to walk away from the drawers #momlife. I decided to use a spray paint primer instead of a brush paint primer. SO much easier. However, I underestimated the amount of primer I would need, so I actually had to make two other runs to Lowe’s to grab 3 total cans for all 8 drawers and 2 dresser bodies.
I was feeling pretty good about the paint. I was able to borrow some interior paint from my Mom who had leftover paint from one of her projects. Reuse, reduce, recycle!
Now, if the bodies of the dressers had faired better, I would have totally stained them darker and left them with the stained bodies and painted drawers. LOOOOOVE
But that was definitely a no-go. So I just primed the bodies and started painting! I was lucky enough to be able to do most of my work outside in October, except when I had to squeeze into the cramped garage during some rain.
The legs on the dressers weren’t as ‘cool’ as I originally had thought them to be. So I actually just left them white with primer….
And there you have it! A little bit of sanding, a little bit of priming, a couple coats of paint and definitely some coats of sealant!!! These are, after all, dressers for my Sons, and we know how boys can be on things…. And since my Sons share a room, they look freaking awesome!
