DIY Dresser Makeover

Last summer Josh and I went to a storage unit auction. We spent $90 on a unit that was packed with mostly junk. It was the only unit we bid on and we chose it because he spotted a yellow Poang Chair from Ikea which is about $150 new ($200 at the time we went to the sale). We figured that if the chair was the only good thing that came out of the unit it would still be worth it. As we started digging through the boxes and wading through trash we found at the very back of the unit two dressers. They were heavy and very well made so we moved them into our storage unit with the intention of either bringing them home and refinishing them or selling them.

Yesterday we cleaned out the storage unit and brought the larger of the two home.

It had potential. Since I've been trying to figure out a better system for storing craft supplies, I decided to do a little experiment. I've never refinished a piece of furniture before so I was a little nervous. I'm also really cheap so I wanted to do it with stuff we already had around the house. Several years ago I scored a set of encyclopedias from the 1930's off of Craigslist for free. I've done a few art projects with the pages but I thought decoupaging with them would have a good result- especially after I saw this post on inmyownstyle.com.

I started with taking all of the drawers out, removing the hardware and sanding the whole thing down

Then I went into our shed and looked at my paint choices... We had maroon, bright orange (left over from our kitchen), grey and a small can labeled bright white. I chose the white having no idea where it came from or how long it had been there. I was surprised to find as I put the first coat on that it was more of a creamy yellowish color.

Here it is after the first coat. I will admit, I did have an "Oh crap, I hope I'm not making a mistake and ruining a perfectly good piece of furniture" moment when I started painting. While the paint dried I moved on to the drawers. I've never done decoupage before either so it was also an adventure.

 I used an old library card to smooth out the bubbles as I started putting the pages on. I left the edges unfinished while I put the first coat on.

Now, here's where it got a little pricey. I wasn't too stoked on the drawer pulls. I considered spray painting them, but I didn't really like that there were two different styles of drawer pulls so my hubby took me to Home Depot for some browsing. I ended up choosing some Martha Stewart pulls that were about $3.97 a pop. More than I wanted to spend, but my husband insisted I didn't look at prices and just pick what I liked best. He's so sweet. He also advised me not to be concerned about the size as he could drill new holes if necessary. Luckily, they fit perfectly in place of the old drawer pulls. I let everything dry overnight in the carport and started in again this afternoon. I put a second coat of paint on the dresser, trimmed all the excess paper off of the drawers and put a second coat of Mod Podge on. When the drawers were dry, I put the new handles on.

I'm SO happy with how it turned out!! Not bad for about $60 between the 12 drawer pulls and the Mod Podge.