Less than a year after David and I got married we decided to upgrade to a 2 bedroom apartment from a 1 bedroom. My in-laws lived out of town and would come to stay a night with us and had to sleep in the living room on the floor. So we thought we'd get a bigger place.
When we got married we were broke. So all of our stuff was hand-me-downs or stuff we already had. David had a set of dressers and nightstands from his grandparents. We only had room for the chest of drawers and the nightstands, until we got the 2 bedroom.
I didn't care for the style of the furniture but I made the best of it by painting them. When I got the dresser I wanted to paint it red so I did! It stayed red for several years and through several moves until about 4 years ago when I wanted to paint it grey to go with my changing style. I painted it but never got knobs on it. It was such a paint to paint I lost interest, and I didn't really care for the shade of grey and just didn't finish it.
It got put in the shed (along with my other extra furniture pieces) until a couple of years ago when we needed more storage in the office and decided to use it in there, as is.
For a year or so, I've been wanting a larger dresser in our bedroom. One long and low. After window shopping for new ones that I loved and couldn't afford, I finally decided a few months ago to switch dressers with the office. It wasn't what I really wanted but when you don't have the money you get creative!
So I sucked it up and decided to look past the mid-century design and make it work. I picked out the new paint color and knobs. And as of this week FINALLY painted it!
Ok, here's the before of it after moving it to the bedroom.
The 4 top drawers each have 4 holes for knobs. Not only do I not like that look (it's too busy looking) but it was going to cost a fortune just to get knobs for it. So, I filled all the holes.
After seeing on tv someone use a small roller to paint a piece of furniture, it occurred to me that I needed to try it. I've painted LOTS of pieces of furniture but I'd always used either a brush or foam brush. And it always took forever. I thought rollers were just for the walls, it never occurred to me to use a small one on furniture! Duh!
I also had been hearing about Behr's paint with primer at Home Depot. I usually sand the piece before painting it so the new paint will adhere better. And I SO didn't want to sand this time! The grey paint was oil based as well, so I thought I'd try the paint with primer this time.
Ok, here's the finished piece.
It's not moved into it's place yet, I'm still waiting on the paint to cure before I put the electonics back on it so it's sitting in the middle of the room. The piece on the right side behind it is painted the same color. I had it made (by Dad or David) to "cover" the DVD player and such. I want those ugly things to blend in as much as possible. I'll show a pic of it put together later.
I have to say that painting this dresser was really quick and painless! I LOVED using the roller and I LOVED the Behr paint as well. Since I used a light color on top of the dark grey I was worried about having to put a million coats on it but it only took 3. Really only 2 with some touch ups in some places. I was very pleased with this paint! I usually get my paint at Lowe's and I feel like I cheated on them but the Behr paint will be my paint of choice for all furniture paint. (I'll still use Lowe's Valspar for walls)
Anyway, after letting it dry David drilled new holes in the drawers. Only 2 per drawer this time. This dresser is really old and I by no means did a perfect job at filling holes or painting this dresser but I really love how it turned out. It's not supposed to be perfect, it just needs to be done. I can live with the imperfections in it.
I have a few more things to take care of in our bedroom: a couple of small things and to make our headboard. I'm hoping to get started on the headboard this month but it probably won't be finished this month. So we'll see! I can't wait to show the finished result!
When we got married we were broke. So all of our stuff was hand-me-downs or stuff we already had. David had a set of dressers and nightstands from his grandparents. We only had room for the chest of drawers and the nightstands, until we got the 2 bedroom.
I didn't care for the style of the furniture but I made the best of it by painting them. When I got the dresser I wanted to paint it red so I did! It stayed red for several years and through several moves until about 4 years ago when I wanted to paint it grey to go with my changing style. I painted it but never got knobs on it. It was such a paint to paint I lost interest, and I didn't really care for the shade of grey and just didn't finish it.
It got put in the shed (along with my other extra furniture pieces) until a couple of years ago when we needed more storage in the office and decided to use it in there, as is.
For a year or so, I've been wanting a larger dresser in our bedroom. One long and low. After window shopping for new ones that I loved and couldn't afford, I finally decided a few months ago to switch dressers with the office. It wasn't what I really wanted but when you don't have the money you get creative!
So I sucked it up and decided to look past the mid-century design and make it work. I picked out the new paint color and knobs. And as of this week FINALLY painted it!
Ok, here's the before of it after moving it to the bedroom.
I also had been hearing about Behr's paint with primer at Home Depot. I usually sand the piece before painting it so the new paint will adhere better. And I SO didn't want to sand this time! The grey paint was oil based as well, so I thought I'd try the paint with primer this time.
Ok, here's the finished piece.
I have to say that painting this dresser was really quick and painless! I LOVED using the roller and I LOVED the Behr paint as well. Since I used a light color on top of the dark grey I was worried about having to put a million coats on it but it only took 3. Really only 2 with some touch ups in some places. I was very pleased with this paint! I usually get my paint at Lowe's and I feel like I cheated on them but the Behr paint will be my paint of choice for all furniture paint. (I'll still use Lowe's Valspar for walls)
Anyway, after letting it dry David drilled new holes in the drawers. Only 2 per drawer this time. This dresser is really old and I by no means did a perfect job at filling holes or painting this dresser but I really love how it turned out. It's not supposed to be perfect, it just needs to be done. I can live with the imperfections in it.
I have a few more things to take care of in our bedroom: a couple of small things and to make our headboard. I'm hoping to get started on the headboard this month but it probably won't be finished this month. So we'll see! I can't wait to show the finished result!
Can't wait to see it in the new space. Looks good!
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