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January 9, 2014 Bedroom

B & A: Bedroom Dresser

This project has to be one of my favorite furniture makeovers to date because of it’s backstory, the actual process of making it over, and because it’s going to be put to good use in my boyfriend Matt’s apartment.

Old thomasville dresser photo SAM_0037_zpscfb05a14.jpg

So, first up- the backstory! Matt’s great grandmother passed this dresser down to him when he was growing up, and he used it for years in his parents home. He recently has decided that he could use a dresser in his bedroom for our things (we live about 45 mins to an hour apart from each other right now so I’ve been leaving things there to make it easier and taking up some of his space) and searched around for a good candidate. When he couldn’t find anything he loved, he decided to surprise me for Christmas with his original dresser and we worked on it over the holidays.

Old thomasville dresser hardware photo SAM_0031_zps3581d7cf.jpg

It was my first dresser re-do and letmetellyouhowexcitedIwas! That’s not even sarcasm either. I think it’s so awesome to work on a well loved piece like this. After seeing so many amazing ideas around the web for dressers and couldn’t wait to get started. So, we didn’t!

Gray and wood dresser redo photo SAM_0083_zps20036ec4.jpg

We stopped by the hardware store, just before the winter-pocolypse-ice-tundra storm came (which was PACKED with people picking up supplies incase they were trapped indoors the next few days) and picked up our stain, primer and paint.

Gray and wood dresser redo painted and stained photo SAM_0089_zpsd9bb7c4d.jpg

Since we wanted to keep it as simple as possible, we decided to reuse the existing hardware holes, and purchased new hardware to fit. The top two smaller drawers needed a 2.5″ handle, and the bottom six needed 3″ handles. We fell in love with the idea of two different styles, and picked up this cup handle by Style Selections and pull by Brainerd.

Next up came the work! We sanded down the drawer fronts using an orbital sander until they were free from any gloss or previous stain. This is one of those “miracles of blogs” things where sanding down eight drawers takes over an hour, but only gets one sentence of glory, so I decided two pictures were necessary to portray all of the dust we made (we had to do it indoors in my kitchen, and my whole house was covered in red dust by the time we were done.)

Gray and wood dresser redo photo SAM_0085_zps7c605826.jpg

Gray and wood dresser redo photo SAM_0095_zps8b2ff426.jpg

Once they were all sanded, we taped off the sides of the drawers to avoid drips, and stained the fronts using Minwax’s Dark Walnut.

Gray and wood dresser redo photo SAM_0105_zps83476928.jpg

Gray and wood dresser redo photo SAM_0099_zpsa0d6ab97.jpg

We wiped off the excess stain after about 5 minutes, removed the tape, and then left them to dry overnight.

Gray and wood dresser redo photo SAM_0109_zps7c4ca54d.jpg

For the body of the dresser, we roughed up the top and sides with the sander to ensure the primer would bond with the surface, and gave it a good cleaning. We chose to use Zinsser’s Bulls Eye 1-2-3 primer, and applied it using a roller and angled brush.

Gray and wood dresser redo photo SAM_0103_zps49058c60.jpg

Fast forward the clock a few hours, and it was time to paint! We chose Valspar’s City Storm as a muddy gray color to compliment the rich tone of the wood stain. We used a semi-gloss finish, which was surprisingly a really think paint, despite other brands we’ve used being thin and runny. Two coats using a roller and an angled brush again, and it was all starting to come together!

Gray and wood dresser redo photo 40a6ca98-577e-446e-94ec-95be8e06a550_zps60a6f093.jpg

Gray and wood dresser redo photo 2b0ec0b8-aa20-4dbe-9cfb-0eb0332a775e_zpsa9558979.jpg

To protect all of the surfaces, we give her two coats of a water-based satin poly, waiting a few hours in between applications.

Gray and wood dresser redo photo SAM_0128_zps467116a8.jpg

Last but not least, we attached our new hardware and put it all back together!

Gray and wood dresser redo photo SAM_0163_zps7e4e827a.jpg

Gray and wood dresser redo photo SAM_0159_zps9d035537.jpg

We absolutely love how the hardware turned out when it was all put together and think the different lines in the wood give it a fun look highlighted with the dark stain.

Gray and wood dresser redo photo SAM_0172_zpsd5a771ca.jpg

Gray and wood dresser redo photo SAM_0165_zps4a159c0b.jpg

I got a little picture happy playing with my new camera : )

Gray and wood dresser redo photo SAM_0173_zps94f5db01.jpg

Gray and wood dresser redo photo SAM_0174_zpscae0f416.jpg

One of the funniest moments of the process was finding the furniture tag and looking up how much the dresser was originally purchased for… it’s a Thomasville piece that now sells for a minimum of $1,300. We cracked up thinking about how we just painted over that expensive of a piece, but loved the outcome so much that it made us confident with our decision.

What do you think? We’re so excited to move it into his room and working on a project with my guy was so much fun! He might be in trouble and I might have him help me more ; )

Dresser redo before & after photo DresserBampA_zps5ad3f2e3.png

Prost!

-J&P (&M today!)

Linking up at: Miss Mustard Seed, The Pin Junky, Whipperberry, Remodelaholic

Categories: Bedroom

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Melissa @ aprudentlife says

    January 10, 2014 at 4:40 pm

    It’s beautiful! I haven’t tackled a dresser yet either, but I saw some really tempting candidates at the thrift store this morning. I love that yours is even more special since it came from the family!

    Reply
    • Sypsie says

      January 10, 2014 at 5:06 pm

      You should definitely give one a try- It was a lot of fun switching it up : ) Thanks! I can’t wait to get it to his place and to start using it!

      Reply
  2. Lusine says

    January 10, 2014 at 7:26 pm

    This looks amazing! I love the combination of dark stained wood with the gray, it looks so elegant! I made over a couple of dressers last year (painted them turquoise!) and they’ve held up really well. Enjoy your gorgeous new piece of furniture 🙂

    Reply
    • Sypsie says

      January 10, 2014 at 8:14 pm

      Thank you! It was a lot of fun to refinish 🙂 turquoise sounds like a beautiful pop of color!

      Reply
  3. Amy @ Homey Oh My! says

    January 10, 2014 at 9:18 pm

    How gorgeous! I especially like the hardware you chose! It’s an awesome dresser to begin with, too. I have yet to do a major furniture makeover and am patiently waiting for the right piece to do it with :).

    Reply
  4. Terry says

    January 10, 2014 at 11:20 pm

    Much better, the original was very dated looking. I like the silver hardware with the grey also. Nice!

    Reply
    • Sypsie says

      January 10, 2014 at 11:30 pm

      Thanks Terry! Got to love what a little paint and stain can do 🙂 I’m so glad you like it!

      Reply
  5. Angela (Life in Velvet) says

    January 11, 2014 at 8:55 pm

    Beautiful! I love the new paint and hardware! What a transformation 🙂 Thanks so much for linking up at Thursday STYLE!

    Reply
    • Sypsie says

      January 12, 2014 at 2:23 pm

      Thank you for hosting it! It was fun looking through all of the great projects linked up 🙂

      Reply
  6. Kaylor @ Fisherman's Wife Furniture says

    January 12, 2014 at 6:33 am

    Beautiful transformation.

    Reply
    • Sypsie says

      January 12, 2014 at 2:21 pm

      Thank you Kaylor 🙂

      Reply
  7. Susie says

    January 12, 2014 at 4:32 pm

    Turned out so beautiful! It is so nice to be able to enjoy such a sentimental piece. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Sypsie says

      January 12, 2014 at 4:55 pm

      Thanks Susie! I’m glad you like it : )

      Reply
  8. WEST FURNITURE REVIVAL says

    January 12, 2014 at 11:58 pm

    THE DRESSER TURNED OUT BEAUTIFUL, I WOULD LOVE TO FEATURE IT , IF THATS OK PLEASE LET ME KNOW
    LAUREN

    Reply
    • Sypsie says

      January 13, 2014 at 9:28 am

      Thank you Lauren! We’d love for it to be featured! If you could please just link back to Sypsie.com we’d appreciate it : ) Thanks again!

      Reply
  9. Jamie Koenig says

    January 15, 2014 at 11:08 am

    Love how you mixed the grey paint with the dark wood stain. Also the decor you used just pulled it together. I host a Wednesday link party and would love for you to share this.

    Reply
    • Sypsie says

      January 15, 2014 at 11:24 am

      Thanks Jamie! We had a lot of fun deciding on what colors and stain to use together- I’m glad you like it! We’d love to link it up at your party, thanks for the invite : )

      Reply
  10. Carol Cook says

    January 15, 2014 at 5:54 pm

    You did an amazing job on the dresser. I love the look of the hardware you chose. I hope you kept the old hardware for another project.

    Reply
    • Sypsie says

      January 16, 2014 at 11:45 am

      Thank you! We most certainly did : ) I’m not sure where they will go right now, but thinking a clean newer piece with the old hardware might be a fun combination!

      Reply
  11. Ashley Parrish says

    January 16, 2014 at 1:56 pm

    Awesome job! Love the color combo 🙂 I once took on the challenge of painting my dresser, and let me just say that it did not look like this. Yours looks great though!

    Reply
    • Sypsie says

      January 16, 2014 at 2:41 pm

      Thanks so much Ashley! Oh no! That’s the great thing about redoing furniture- you can always repaint or sand and restain! I’m sure yours still looks great tho : )

      Reply
  12. Alexis @ Persia Lou says

    January 28, 2014 at 11:51 am

    It turned out so great! I really love the look of the wood grain drawer fronts with the rest of the dresser painted. I did a similar thing last year. Love the color you chose and the hardware. Perfect! Thanks for linking up to The Makers!

    Reply
    • Sypsie says

      January 28, 2014 at 11:58 am

      Thanks Alexis! We had a lot of fun picking out the finishes : ) We love yours too- that green is too perfect! Thanks so much for hosting!

      Reply

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