Dresser Tranformation

The only real furniture Stephen and I have bought since we've been married is our bed, bed frame, and couch. Everything else has been hand me downs from our families. Having all of that furniture passed down has been such a blessing! When I was in high school my great grandmother passed away and her furniture got divided out. It was right when my parents were moving and Allyson and I were getting our own rooms (all the praise hands after 13 years of sharing a room!). We were gifted two bedroom suits from my great grandmother that we're both still using to this day. My uncle told me last time I saw him this furniture was built in the 50s, but was not antique by any means so I got to thinking about updating it a bit for our new house.

I found this image on Pinterest and really liked it:

My grandfather does a lot of work with wood and building things so I asked for his advice/help. I don't have a sander or anything like that. I also knew I'd have to do this in the summer...outside...and it's hot so I wanted to limit my time as much as possible! My other uncle offered me some wonderful advice! Valspar makes a cabinet paint that is designed to be painted right onto stained surfaces...aka I wouldn't have to sand!!

I did buy some sand paper before I knew about this paint so before I started I thought I'd give it a little sanding, especially on the dresser because it had some significant scratching on it. I sanded and sanded (with just my hand and a piece of sand paper) and thought I was doing good work. When I wiped all of the dust away, it looked exactly the same as when I started so I quickly scratched that idea and was so thankful for the cabinet paint! It is pricey, but worth it. 

Here are some before shots of the dresser and chest of drawers in use. When we moved I had our moving help them leave the frames in the garage so Stephen and I wouldn't have to move them back out to paint and they just took the drawers with all of our clothes inside. I had this wonderful idea mid-move and didn't stop to take "official" before pictures. But, you get the idea. 

Here they are in the garage pre-paint.

Then here are some shots as I painted. It took six...SIX!...coats of paint. I wasn't sure I was ever going to finish.

The thing that makes the biggest difference is the hardware. The only problem with a 1950s dresser is not all of the handles are the same. Thankfully all but two of them were because I really didn't want to have to drill new holes and worry about all of that. The top drawer on the chest of drawers had smaller handles on it for some reason. The holes for that were 2.5" apart instead of the standard 3". These handles pictured are the only handles in any hardware store that are 2.5" apart. I'm going to order some online I think because I really don't like the different handle look. Other than that I'm really happy with how they turned out. They look great in our bedroom with our new bed frame and gray walls. And how cool is it that I can still use my great grandmothers furniture?! That makes it that much more special to me even with some paint on it.