How I Painted My Daugher's Dresser

About five or so years ago, my daughter decided she needed a pink room.  I was away on a business trip when she approached my hubby about it, and he agreed.  Pink it would be.  When I came home and insisted it be another color and we'd put a ton of pink in the room as a highlight color, I failed miserably.  So here were are, three years later, and the last thing she wants is a pink room. She's 14.   Time for a new room.  I saw this room on Pinterest as an inspiration room, and it's been about two years in the planning stages.  This holiday was the "alright, let's do it" stage.

Part of the plan included using the boys' old dresser and painting it black, akin to what you might find at Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware.  Hubby didn't think it would look right at all.  I went online and read what all the bloggers recommended, took a few cues of my own from failed painting projects, and redid the dresser.  I love how it turned out. 

I recently bought the boys new dressers, since the oldest boy is pretty much in grown up man clothes and half a drawer would hold exactly one and a half pairs of jeans.  My goal for their dressers are for them to have something to take with them when they move out.  My goal for my daughter's dresser (and room, for that matter) is to keep it all.  She'll have to go furniture shopping -- ha!

Hubby and I bought this dresser 14 years ago for $100.  It's a Sheraton style mahogany veneer and was in the boys' room until earlier this year. It weighs 7,473 lbs., which is why Hubby doesn't want to refinish it, because we will have to lug it back upstairs.  Some pieces of the veneer just didn't survive the boys when they were younger.  Some snagged on clothes baskets as I was lugging them into their room, some may have fallen off and used as matchbox car ramps before I ever saw they fell off.  So, before I get lectures about ruining good wood furniture, it was already ruined.

Original Dresser

 

I took the dresser apart (hardware off, drawers set aside, etc.).  I got together all of the ingredients needed for a good finish.  A sander and pads, TSP, foam brushes and a foam roller, Benjamin Moore  primer dyed "black" (it's really grey, but close enough), and Benjamin Moore Super Spec Low Luster DTM paint in black.

 

Ingredients

 

Then I sanded it with an orbital sander.  This was just to rough up the finished areas and smooth the wood ones, where there was missing veneer.  In the corners of the drawers where the veneer was chipped, I had to make sure it was sanded well so the rough spots would blend with the veneer spots.

Sanding -- notice the edge where the veneer was chipped -- I feathered in the raw wood with the finished wood

 

Sanded just enough to rough it up

 

 

Next step is to clean it well with TSP or a good TSP substitute.  Clean off all the dust and clean off the dresser.  Then wipe it all down with water and dry it well.

 

Clean well with TSP

 

Dry well with clean towels

 

Then it is off to priming, with teenie foam brushes and a foam roller.  Use a good primer, but here's the key that many don't seem to do online.  Get the primer tinted!  If you're painting black, the closest you'll get is grey.  I primed it well in two thin coats.  It's better to do two thin coats than one thick one. 

 

Fully Primed

 

 

Then you paint.  Again, use a foam roller and foam brushes.  The nappy ones add a texture you won't want. Brushes leave bristles in the paint.  I wish I had a painting booth because I'd spray with a professional sprayer, but I would never in a zillion years use a can of spray paint.  The finish is just not comparable.

 

Done!

I think this is much better!