As an amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases made through affiliate links

Do you have old furniture in your home? Every time you look at it, you dread the trip to your local furniture store to spend a stomach turning amount of money knowing that the quality of the furniture you are about to purchase is far inferior to the quality of your vintage, solid wood, dated, grungy piece that you have in your home. I know. What a dilemma!

You were handed this old dresser from your sweet Grandma and the memories, the sentiment, the quality!! You don’t want to get rid of that. You don’t have to.

Come on a journey with me! Lets turn this old, dated (stunning - yes, I see the potential), dresser into something you would have as a show stopper in your home!

Let’s get started!

Materials:
If you are painting the entire piece:
TSP Cleaner
Lint free cloths
Drill
Screwdriver
Sander (220 grit sandpaper to fit)
Wood Filler or Bondo
Your favourite paint - I used this one
Lint free roller and paint tray
OR Paint Sprayer
Your favourite new hardware
If you are staining/refinishing wood in addition to painting the body:
Sand paper - 80, 120, 180 & 220 grit
Carbide Scraper
OR furniture Stripper (I love Circa 1850)
Paint wash or Stain of your choice
Top Coat

First things first - remove your hardware

Whether you want to keep the original, or replace the hardware, you are going to want to remove the hardware before you prep the piece.
IF you want to change out your hardware, this is when you would want to fill the hardware holes and order up your new hardware. This will allow a few days for your order to come in - if you are ordering online.
Checkout my Amazon Storefront for hardware ideas and some of my favourites!

Step Two: Clean your piece
Start with your spray bottle filled with water and add 2 caps full of TSP cleaner. I prefer the Fusion Mineral Paint brand because you do not need to rinse off the cleaner.
Wipe down your entire piece with some elbow grease using a lint free cloth.
If there is a wax finish on the dresser you will need to use a product called Mineral Spirits to break down the wax. Spray it on, let it sit for a bit, and then clean it off with TSP.
You will know if there is wax or other difficult products on the piece when you sand it and residue builds up, clogging the sandpaper.

Step 3: If you are going to expose the wood on the top and want to refinish it, one method is using a carbide scraper. Check out this video on my Youtube Channel! It’s a workout.

Alternatively, you can stick with a sander starting with 80 grit, moving up to 120, 180, and finally 220.

Step 4: Fill hardware holes

If you are going to be changing out the hardware completely, this is when you will fill the hardware holes. I opt for Bondo. It is incredibly durable and sands down beautifully.
Using your Bondo, mix the compound with the hardening mix. Follow the instructions on the container for ratio. Once the mixture is made, you need to work quickly as the Bondo will dry and harden quickly. If you are using wood filler, go ahead and fill the holes with wood filler.
You will sand the holes down when you are doing your complete scuff sanding of your piece. Wood filler may require an additional application as it shrinks a bit while it dries.

Step 5: Sand down hardware holes and scuff sand your entire piece

This part is pretty straight forward. You want to sand down the hardware holes until they are completely flush with the drawer. Best test - look away and run your fingers across the hole. It should feel flush.
Continue with your sander and sandpaper in all of the crevices. You do NOT need to sand it down to raw wood. The idea of a scuff sand is that you want to give the piece “Teeth” for the paint to catch onto.
You should kick up some dust when you are scuff sanding it. Making shiny surfaces dull looking. If you scuff sand and you run your hand along the surface, you should have dust on your hand.

Step 6: Ok! So, we just scuff sanded our entire piece and stripped off the top (if that is what we want to do). Now, we are ready to paint! Didn’t that go so fast?
Fortunately, painting is pretty straight forward. If you need to protect the top of your dresser, make sure you tape off the top so you don’t accidentally get paint on your beautifully stripped wood.
If you are using a roller, get painting! Try not to go over the same surface too many times to avoid dry rolling. You don’t want a heavily loaded roller either - so offload some of the paint before you start. I prefer a roller to a brush on longer areas like sides, tops, and drawer fronts. It also helps prevent brush strokes.

You can take a piece of 220 sandpaper and lightly sand between coats to make sure you have a smooth surface. Wait 3-4 hours between coats of paint. Darker colours typically need at least 2 coats. Lighter colours need 3-4 coats depending on the colour you use.

I opted for using my paint sprayer on this one!

Efficiency lands pretty high on my priorities when I am busy, and when we get close to Christmas, things get super busy around here…
If you are interested in investing in a paint sprayer, I love THIS OnE!

Step 7: Using a Laser Level - you want to make sure your hardware is straight - Mark where you want your hardware to go. My drawer pulls have 5” hole spaces, so make sure you space the holes properly.

Using a drill and a bit large enough for your hardware screws to fit, drill your holes and put your hardware on!

Note: You want to measure twice before drilling those holes! It’s not the end of the world if you drill them crooked, but having to fill the holes again, sanding, and repainting is not a step you want to have to go through again when you are this close to the finish line.

Step 8: Apply your paint wash or stain to any exposed wood

I opted for a beautiful paint wash in a darker taupe colour. The colour is called Woodwick by Fusion Mineral Paint. I use a 60:40 water to paint ratio. If you want a full explanation on how to paint wash, check out my blog post!
Add a top coat once the stain/paint wash is dry. I usually wait a few hours for paint wash. Follow the instructions on your stain container if you are using stain!

Step 9: If you are selling your furniture, the MOST IMPORTANT PART to the consumer is how you stage your piece. I know. I already said PREP is the most important part - and when it comes to the quality of your work, prep ABSOLUTELY is the most important. But if you are selling the piece, the customer wants to see how pretty it is and how pretty it can be.

So, step 9 is staging. You don’t have to stage it if you are just moving it into your home. You’ll style it how you want to anyway! So, stage and photograph, edit, and share your masterpiece! Perhaps another blog on how to style your furniture to sell can be a blog for another day. In the meantime - voila! Here is this beautiful dresser.