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A Merry Life

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DIY White Painted Dresser

August 18, 2015 by Mary

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for details.

DIY White Painted Dresser Before

When I moved into my new apartment a few months ago, I decided to take on a project for my room. I’ve needed a dresser for a while and it seemed like the perfect project to make it feel like home.

I couldn’t afford the dressers I liked so I bought the dresser above for $75 off a Facebook resale site.

Then I Googled and Pinterested my way through a DIY painted dresser makeover!

DIY White Painted Dresser start

The first step was taking it all apart and stripping the top of the varnish.

DIY White Painted Dresser stripping

I’m incredibly grateful for Jason’s help on this part of the project. Stripping the top of the dresser was really hard work and he handled it like a pro!

DIY White Painted Dresser sanding drawers

I then took over the sanding duties and sanded all the drawers and the rest of the dresser. Since this part didn’t need to be perfect or fully stripped I could handle it without assistance. It took several hours to go across the whole dresser.

DIY White Painted Dresser primer coat

After sanding, I purchased the primer. I bought Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer since it came highly recommended on several sites and was the #1 on Amazon. I trust the internet to get my through DIY projects!

DIY White Painted Dresser primer steps

The priming process began and took a good chunk of time to go over everything. I only applied one coat here since I knew I’d be applying several paint coats.

DIY White Painted Dresser middle

After the primer was applied the dresser looked a bit like this. This was the point where people finally started to get my vision of a contrasting top to the dresser, even if the colors were not right.

DIY White Painted Dresser middle progress

As you can see, my workspace in the garage was makeshift and ever shifting. It depended on the day as to what space I could use and where I could spread out, but I’m so grateful Jason’s family let me take over their garage on the weekends for this project!

DIY White Painted Dresser stains

After priming I took a trip to Lowe’s to scope out wood stains for the top of the dresser. I had narrowed it down to these three and ultimately chose Rust-Oleum Wood Stain in Kona because it was the darkest stain where you could still see the wood grain well.

DIY White Painted Dresser stained top

I applied a couple coats of the stain but you could immediately see the difference after one coat. It didn’t take well in a few places which is why I went over it again.

DIY White Painted Dresser paint coats

After the stain dried the dresser looked a bit like this with the contrast between light and dark really coming alive!

DIY White Painted Dresser last steps

Then began the paint coats. I used the HGTV Home Paint by Sherwin Williams that I picked up along with the stain on one of my many home improvement store trips. I also bought brushes and paint roller supplies.

DIY White Painted Dresser fun

The painting lasted forever, or at least that is what it felt like. Because I was painting wood furniture white, I felt like it needed multiple coats until I achieved that solid white look. It took hours to do a single coat so I could only do one coat at a time and then let it dry for several days outside in a garage in the crazy Memphis summer heat.

DIY White Painted Dresser knobs

After several coats of white paint I set out on the impossible task to find new drawer pulls. The original dresser pulls were an unusual size so it was hard to find pulls to fit that size, let alone pulls I liked and could afford. I finally gave up and decided to drill new holes and buy pulls that would cover the holes. Sure, it’s not a perfect fix but it works for now, for use in my home.

It’s also a lesson learned – measure and make sure you’re not buying something with crazy measurements that will make it hard to find parts!

DIY White Painted Dresser knob

I liked the contrast of the dark drawer pulls I finally chose to use. The copper edges gave it just enough interest without being distracting.

DIY White Painted Dresser Furniture

Despite the problems I encountered I really love the results of this dresser makeover project!

The finished product fit perfectly in front of a large window in my bedroom and gave me the storage space I really needed.

DIY White Painted Dresser makeoverDIY White Painted DresserDIY White Painted Dresser finished  DIY White Painted Dresser final  DIY White Painted Dresser after

As you can tell, it looks different depending on what time of day it is and wether or not the lights are on in the room. I wanted to share photos during the day and at night so you can see the difference.

Below are a couple before and after photos. I shared this first one on Instagram and it got a lot of great feedback!

diy painted white dresser furniture makeover

And below is another before and after created with the pictures of the dresser during the day.

DIY White Painted Dresser before and after

While the dresser isn’t perfect, it cost me under $200 for everything which was perfect for my budget. It took a lot of sweat equity and learning but I’ll take that knowledge on to my next project.

I think I did pretty well for my first furniture makeover!

Filed Under: DIY Life, Home Life Tagged With: diy, dresser, furniture, home, makeover


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Comments

  1. Mrs. O says

    August 19, 2015 at 6:28 am

    Wow, Mary, I LOVE IT!!! You did a great job with that dresser makeover. I really love the copper trim on the drawer pulls and that, along with the white bottom/dark wood top, makes dresser look like a brand new modern piece of furniture. If it wasn’t for the during & after pictures, you’d never guess that the before picture is of the same dresser.

    You’ve actually given me an idea to do that when we move to TN; since hubby and I will be retired when we move & purchase a home, we’ll have time to do furniture makeovers like that rather than spend $$ on brand new furniture! I’m going to have to spend some time on Pinterest! :)

    • Mary says

      August 19, 2015 at 9:32 am

      Oh cool! It’s definitely a fun hobby and you can get really creative. After finishing this piece I have tons of ideas for more furniture makeovers I’d like to do thanks to Pinterest browsing.

      And thank you! :)

  2. Maryfran says

    August 19, 2015 at 8:51 am

    It looks great!

    • Mary says

      August 19, 2015 at 9:33 am

      Thank you Maryfran!

  3. holly says

    August 20, 2015 at 6:12 am

    You did a great job! What paint did you use for the white and how many coats?. Looks like you were able to get a smooth finish.

    • Mary says

      August 20, 2015 at 9:49 am

      Thanks Holly! It was the HGTV Home by Sherwin Williams. It’s at Lowe’s exclusively I believe. I think the color was Snowbound. It did end up with a really smooth finish which I love! I’ve thought about doing a polycrylic coat on top just to keep the white protected but haven’t fully decided if it’s necessary yet or not.

  4. Christina@LoveYourselfHealthy says

    August 20, 2015 at 9:14 am

    Wow, I am super impressed! It looks amazing! That really took a lot of time and patience, something I never seem to have enough of when it comes to DIY projects (which is probably why my DIY stuff always looks, well, DIY). :D

  5. Barbara says

    August 22, 2015 at 2:48 pm

    Oh, you have inspired me to try this with our old dressers. Just need to convince the husband to do that much sanding! :) Great job!

    • Mary says

      August 23, 2015 at 3:13 pm

      Awesome, thank you!

  6. Kelli says

    September 5, 2015 at 10:33 am

    You did awesome job! It looks like a brand new piece right out of the showroom.

    • Mary says

      September 5, 2015 at 1:23 pm

      Thank you!

  7. Florencio Bakemeier says

    September 30, 2015 at 4:16 pm

    Fantastic posts on this site! Really interesting responses. Good effort!

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