Estate Sale Dresser

I found a dresser that had such pretty details. It was covered in thick gross apple green paint, but under the paint I knew it was pretty. I have painted a few old beat up pieces of furniture, but this was the first piece that was already painted. I initially thought it would be nbd to simply paint over it w my homemade chalk paint, but after inspecting it further I  felt like some of the paint and dried drips needed to go.

This photo does not do it justice. This was some serious apple green thick paint. The pretty details were hidden. I started by sanding lightly with my orbital sander followed by using stripper on the top. I sanded and sanded until the top was stripped down to bare wood and the body of the dresser was free of drips. There was a dark green paint under the apple green paint. I also sanded the tops of the drawer faces because there was so much paint the drawers didn't close easily.

I decided to paint the dresser a light blue/grey and stain the top a dark color. The top stripped down beautifully. 

I was so happy to finally paint. I spent more time on prep for this job than I expected. I will think twice before taking on another heavily painted piece again! Once I had sanded down the old drips, I wiped it down with a tack cloth and painted with 2 coats of homemade chalk paint with a light sanding in between. I distressed it lightly and waxed it with Fiddes and Sons clear wax. I was not seeing the beautiful details as much as I wanted to so I tinted some clear wax with the dark stain. I waxed with the dark wax to make the details pop.

I love the hardware. I wiped them with a clean cloth before replacing them. They were in very good condition.

Pretty details along the bottom of the dresser. This was not seen at all with the green paint and even before the dark wax.

You can see the upper edge of the drawers were stripped . I sanded and stripped them until I got down to bare wood then wiped some stain on the edges followed by wax. The drawers open and close much easier now.

Before

After

I'm very happy with the results of this project. I knew this piece was beautiful under all of the old paint.  No more previously painted pieces. for me. At least not unless I can simply paint over the old paint!

Things I learned:

• a previously painted piece can be a pain in the neck
• how to tint wax with stain to make dark wax