This was a project months in the making: Mostly months of procrastination, a few weeks of talking myself into finally doing it and then about two weeks to actually do it. Sad, huh? I have never redone furniture, and while I was really excited about the project, I was a little nervous to start. Guess I was hesitant because I didn't know what I was doing...
But I was really tired of having this sit in my garage, so I finally motivated myself to get it done. And I love the way it turned out. Wish I would've gotten over my fears sooner...
We have a bazillion books at our house, and I was actually looking for a book case for my son's room. We didn't find one for a good price when we were yard sale-ing, but we did find this little guy for $5. So I figured I would give it a try...
It was pretty banged up, missing some handles, and some chunks out of it. But I really liked the character of it. Plus I was able to minimize the imperfections when I painted.
We used spray paint for this project, so if you're going to do that, I think you can sand or not. I think you can sand a little if you want to rough up the surface and give the paint something to stick to; I decided to sand because I wanted to buff out some of the scratches and nicks.
We whipped out the electric sander, and I'm glad my hubby did the work on the main body of the dresser. There were a couple of layers of paint under the black, so I think it had already been painted twice. I wasn't able to get quite as much off when I sanded the drawers, but I think the main goal isn't necessarily to remove what's there -- just make it so you have an even, mostly smooth surface to work with.
So here's the part I was nervous about: the painting. I wanted to try spray paint because I was hoping it would be faster, and a few of the friends I had spoken with said it would be a smoother finish because you don't use a brush. I needed a good get-me-going, and I found it at All Things Thrifty, a blog written by a friend of mine from college. If you need a little more ideas when it comes to redoing furniture definitely check our her blog! Her tutorial here is what helped me get going on this dresser.
This color is called Colonial Red (Rustoleum) in a glossy finish. I had gotten bright red, and it was almost too much. So I just sprayed over where we started with the other color. The employee at Home Depot told me I didn't need to seal it since I was using glossy spray paint, but it seems to chip off easily so I may regret that.
And mess ups? Yep, I think I was afraid of that and I got that on one side. Before I found Brooke's tutorial about how to use the spray paint, my hubby did one side and, not sure why, but the paint dripped and ran like crazy. So we let it dry really well and I went back over it with the sander, used a dry towel and then a moist towel to make sure I got all the old paint and dust off. Then I just repainted and it turned out just fine!
I got these knobs at Ikea, and the original plan was to paint them into little baseballs. But then I found some vinyl baseballs on Etsy, and I thought it would be too much with both. Plus, I was worried the baseball detail would rub off as we used it. So I stuck with just the vinyl, and I really like it.
And it has been sooooo nice to have! My son has two drawers for books, which has cleared up room in the living room so little sister has a drawer all her own. Plus we have a drawer for cars, a drawer for shoes and a drawer for dress up clothes/winter clothes. Ahhhhhh, feel so organized and not quite so cramped in other places.
Do you have a project you've been putting off because you're intimidated? Just not sure where to start or worried you'll mess it up? Well, it's a new year! Time to just dig in! Look for a good tutorial, pull your stuff out so it's staring at you, take a big breath and just go for it! If it's not perfect, all the better. It will have some great character. :) And if you do mess up, remember you'll probably learn more and there's always a way to fix it.
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