Gray Dresser Redo | {Megan}

The last summer that I lived in Maryville, I sublet a one bedroom apartment by myself. Because I had previously had a roommate, there were a few things that I needed, so I would often check the Maryville Facebook swap pages. One day when I was scrolling through the swap pages I stumbled upon a short three-drawer dresser for $10 and decided to buy it. It really wasn't my taste, but at the time I needed the extra storage for my clothes. It wasn't until a year and a half later that I finally decided to make it pretty!



I had finally come to the conclusion that it would make a perfect entryway dresser—a place to put my keys, mail, gloves, hats and whatever else I may need when entering or exiting my home. On this piece, I decided I wanted to a do a darker gray color. The color I chose was called "Tabby Cat Grey" in Valspar paint. I ended up doing two coats of paint on the body of the dresser and three coats on the top since I would be setting things on it.





After the paint was dry and set, I added a coat of polycrylic to the entire dresser to seal it. As with most projects, I came across an issue. The poly ended up making the top of the dresser look really streaky. After debating on what could be done to fix it, I had the idea of putting wallpaper on the top of it. I found some extra paintable wallpaper that my mom had and we immediately glued it to the top using Elmer's spray glue.



I would definitely recommend having two people to do this step. After letting the dresser set for a day, I painted the wallpaper, which took two coats. Because the surface I was painting was wallpaper, most of the painting was dabbing the paint onto the surface to get the paint in all the little grooves.



When it came to the hardware, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. After a little debating, I decided that instead of replacing the handles, I would take the existing ones and paint the wood part the same color as the dresser. Once the handles dried and I put them back on, I knew I'd made a good choice. They looked great and really completed the dresser!



Here's the list of supplies that I used for this little dresser's makeover:
1. Deglosser
2. Sandpaper
3. Valspar paint (Taby Cat Grey)
4. Paint brush
5. Paintable wallpaper
6. Scissors
7. Elmer's spray glue

See my past dresser redo here!

Dresser Redo | {Megan}

One thing that I love to do is upcycle or re-do furniture and home accessories. I guess you could say it runs in the family as my mother owns her own business, Barnyard Boutique, where she does just that and more. Ever since she started her upcycling/vintage and antique business, I have always enjoyed helping her and learning her many techniques. Once I found out that I would be moving to a new state, I had a rush of ideas for my future apartment. My imagination was running wild. I started to have ideas for some of my existing pieces of furniture, but I also felt an urge to find some new pieces that I could put my own creative spin on. I began looking at the local swap pages on Facebook, thrift stores, and of course, Goodwill.

The first piece that I decided to work on was a long horizontal dresser that Zeke had when he lived with his parents. We moved this piece into our first apartment together a year and a half ago. I decided I wanted to paint it white. Because we were already moved into our apartment and in desperate need of a TV stand, I rushed the whole project. It didn't turn out that great, but we lived with it. Just a few months ago, I decided that I wanted to re-do the dresser again but this time put 100% into it.

Here's the after!:



Here's a list of all the supplies that were used to create this beautiful piece:



• Deglosser
• Scouring pads
• Valspar Silver Sonic
• Paint brush
• Minwax Polycrylic
• Stripper
• Gloves
• Mask
• Mineral Spirits
• Aluminum foil
• Orbital Sander
• 220 grit sand paper
• General Finish's Antique Walnut Gel Stain
• Rags (not pictured)
• Three 1x4's (not pictured)
• Nail gun (not pictured)
• Steel wool (not pictured)



Here is how I did it:

1. The first step is always to prep the furniture. Because the white paint wasn't slick, there was no need to sand the body of the dresser. Instead, I took some deglosser and rubbed it all over the dresser with a green scrub pad.

2. The next step was simply painting. I went with a very light gray. I prefer brushes with a short handle because they are easier to grip. I ended up only having to do two coats of paint because of it being painted previously. I let the paint dry a day in between each coat.

3. The last step for the body of the dresser was to seal it with polycrylic using a different paint brush.



4. I decided I wanted to stain the drawer fronts and the shelf of the dresser. This process took a little bit more effort. Because the drawers were already painted, I had to use stripper on them. First I just brushed on a generous amount and let it set for a couple hours. One trick is to cover the area that's covered in the stripper with aluminum foil. This helps the stripper to better penetrate the paint layer. Make sure to wear gloves and a mask when using stripper because it will burn! After a couple of hours, I removed the stripper with some steel wool dipped in mineral spirits. While the stripper took off some of the paint, it didn’t take all of it off. Once the drawer fronts were dry, I used an orbital sander with 220 grit sand paper and removed the rest.

5. Once the paint was removed, I simply put the stain on the drawers with a rag and then wiped it back off with a different rag.

6. The next step was to build the shelf. This required three 1x4's. With the help of my mom, we measured the dresser and cut the boards down to the correct size. Then we stained each individual board. Once they were dry we fit them into place and secured them to the dresser with a nail gun.

7. The last step was to put on some hardware. I ended up using the original handles and I love the way it turned out!



I'd love to hear what you guys think of my project!