Vintage Dresser

It's always fun when you pick up a piece of furniture and envision it being a small project and then have it turn into a much bigger project.  That was the case when I saw this dresser in an antique store here in town and thought it would be perfect for our oldest daughter's room. I knew I wanted to do her furniture black and this dresser was already black, perfect!! I could tell whoever had painted it just painted over a few stickers on the front of the drawers, I thought it would be no problem, just sand down those areas and give it a fresh coat of paint all over. WRONG!  As I started to sand and found myself with one big glob of paint on my sand paper. It was easy to see that this quick project now just turned into a much more extensive project.
 

Since I found out the hard way that I couldn't just sand the paint, I had to strip all the paint off. It's very time consuming to do, in applying of the stripper and then letting it sit. I used a stripper that only has to sit for 15 minutes but there are some that can take 30 minutes depending on the band. Once the stripper sat for 15 minutes, I used a plastic putty knife to strip, so it wouldn't damage the wood. It's a messy process that needs to be done in a well ventilated area because the stripper has a very strong smell. After many repeated times of applying the stripper (and letting it sit.......) and once I got the paint off it was time to bust out the sander and sand each piece throughly.
 

Once I had a smooth clean surface to work with, it was time to paint.  I chose to paint the inside of the drawers a different color to add a little extra character to the piece. My daughters room is pink, so with her help we painted the inside of the drawer BRIGHT pink. It was then time to put the black back on the dresser. Even though my original plan was not to resurface and repaint this dresser, I am so glad that I did!  Having a clean smooth finish made this dresser look even better. But we weren't done.
 

I wanted to add a little bit of shimmer to highlight the curves and details of the dresser. I accomplished this by applying a silver glaze.  First, I put a quick coat of Polycrylic (by Min Wax) on the dresser so that the glaze is easier to work with. After the Polycrylic dried, I then applied the glaze.  I mixed the glaze with silver paint, to achieve the color I was looking for and started applying it to the dresser. I worked in sections to make sure to apply it into the detail areas. I then wiped off the areas of the glaze that I didn't not want to accent with a damp cloth. Once the glaze was done and dried, I applied another coat of Polycrylic to the dresser to protect from nicks and scratches. I made sure to let the coat of Polycrylic to be nice and dry. I applied a second coat to the top where it would get the most wear and tear. I put new pulls on the drawers and it was ready to hold clothes, and other things for many more years to come.

Thank you for spending time with me and until next time....

Addie