Fantastic dresser makeover!

This is our first guest post on House of M & Em, and it’s a great debut from our good friend Stacy! She did a fantastic job on refurbishing a dresser into a kitchen island. Check it out!

Last year, I went with my Mom to an “Idea House” show at a local garden center. Every year they repaint and redesign the entire how to showcase different ideas, interior designs, flowers and plants. What caught my eye that year was an old dresser that had been turned into a kitchen island/storage space in the small kitchen area.

My own kitchen, while actually fairly spacious, has no countertop space at all. Gorgeous built in cabinets, yes, countertops, no. I had been using an old table left behind by the previous tenants, but hunching over a low table to chop vegetables is a terrible idea for your back.

A year went by and the idea just kept percolating in my brain. Finally, after some prompting from a friend, she found a cheap fixer upper dresser on Craigslist. I e-mailed right away and got it!

It was in a little girl’s room. While a nice and sturdy wood, it had been painted with a heavy, glossy exterior paint. Besides the white and purple you see here, one side was pink and the other a pale yellow.

I started off the project by attempting to just sand down the paint. That didn’t go well. The paint was so thick and tough, I went through a lot of sand paper and even with the power sander, it didn’t go well. A quick trip to Home Depot and I was prepared with paint stripper.

There are actually a few different options for paint stripper. Spray can stuff, water-based stuff, a paste you paint on with a brush, a liquid you spray on with a bottle. I went with the liquid you spray on with a bottle, thinking it would be easier to apply that way. If I had to do it over again, I’d go straight to the paint on kind. The bottle just sprayed in patches I had to smooth out anyway and took forever. But, boy did it work!

             

A short 15 minutes after it was applied, the paint started bubbling up. Then it was easily scraped off, leaving behind a clay-like residue.

            

After repeating this with all the drawers, dresser sides and top, I then went back and cleaned off the residue with the accompanying cleaner. I took special care to get the top cleaned off nicely as I intended to keep the natural wood top look.

I knew going into this project, I didn’t want a sharp, clean or modern look for the piece. It wouldn’t look right with the dresser and it wouldn’t fit with the old house with its original, built-in wood cabinets and 1920s sink. Instead, I wanted it to look lightly distressed, a little old and worn, but nice.

I quickly learned making something look artificially old is more work than a clean, sharp coat of paint. But it was worth it.

I started by applying 2 coats of Antique Artichoke semi-gloss paint to everything except the top of the dresser.

 

After the second coat of paint finished drying, I applied beeswax to the corners and other areas where I wanted the green paint to show through.

I then painted the dresser a soft, warm white color. Two coats of paint.

     

For the drawers, I originally wanted to just whitewash them so more of the green showed through. It’s easy enough to do by adding water to the white paint. I then made a strong batch of coffee to brush over the dry, white paint to give it a nice, aged look.

  

The site I saw that recommended using coffee to age it said to leave it on for 20 minutes before wiping off the extra. I don’t know if my coffee was too strong, if I put too much on or what, but 20 minutes was too long for me. It left hard, puddle outlines and too dark in spots. So I ended up only leaving it on for a few minutes to dry before using a paper towel to wipe it down.

After doing that, I changed my mind and decided I didn’t like the whitewashed drawers. I liked the green too much and wanted more of it. So, I painted the drawers green again.

Now to distress the piece. Using some sandpaper, I sanded down corners, edges, places where it would look nice and make sense for the piece to wear down. This let the green peek through. The beeswax I had applied earlier to these spots let the paint come off more easily without really scuffing up or over sanding any of the areas. I also sanded the drawers, allowing a little of the whitewash to show.

       

For the top of the dresser, I sanded it, applied one coat of a natural color wood stain and then three coats of a matte finish poly to protect the top.

Then it was just a matter of finding new hardware to replace the knobs and pull and my project was complete! A custom kitchen cart adding storage and counter space. No more sore back while prepping food!