Hi Friends!
My last couple of posts have featured my recent outdoor projects (you can see those here and here), so today I’m back with an indoor furniture makeover. Over the summer, I worked on getting some space cleared out of my shop, and I was fairly successful. Now that my kiddos are back in school, and my shop has some room, I am starting to pick up some new inventory. In the past couple of weeks, I have been lucky to find a couple of great dressers from the Seattle Goodwill and this is one of them.
For your convenience, I have provided affiliate links for some of the products I used for this makeover.
This dresser is so beautifully made, and substantial in size. But like most of the pieces I find, the exterior finish had seen better days. I wanted to go fresh and white for this piece. If you’ve ever painted a vintage dresser white, you probably know that can sometimes be a challenge. Several coats can be required for good coverage and these old pieces are notorious for bleed through. I was able to prevail without too much of a fuss, though.
Here’s how it looked when I found it.
Lots of beautiful details, but very worn and dated looking.
I gave the dresser a good cleaning and sanding using 220 grit sandpaper. There were a few small areas of chipped veneer on the drawers that I filled with wood filler. I then primed using Zinsser B-I-N Primer Sealer. It’s a shellac based primer and is my favorite to seal any potential bleed through. Word of caution when using this primer, it is very thin and can easily run, so watch for drips. It’s also quite smelly, so use a mask and/or well ventilated area.
After my primer was dry – which is very fast with this primer – I rolled on a coat of Fusion Mineral Paint in “Casement” using a foam roller. Casement is a very pretty warm white – not too creamy and not too gray. This was my first time rolling this particular paint, and I found that it left a fair amount of orange peel texture. After some experimenting, I was able to get smooth finish by rolling on the paint and then very gently knocking down the texture with my paint brush immediately after rolling. Simply brushing on this paint with a good brush also works well, but I wanted to apply the paint more quickly, so I experimented with the roller. After the first coat of paint started to dry, I noticed the dreaded bleed through in a few areas. I applied a second coat of primer, and the problem was solved. On other pieces, I have had success stopping bleed through with clear shellac, but since I was painting this piece white, I went with a second coat of the shellac based primer, which is white in color. For darker pieces, I just use the pure shellac if bleed through occurs.
Fusion Mineral Paint has a topcoat built in, so it is not necessary to apply anything further. The finish is very matte, and if that is the look you are going for, you can simply stop after applying the paint. I wanted a bit more of a sheen, so I applied a coat of General Finishes High Performance Top Coat in flat. It’s my go to topcoat and gives a soft and subtle sheen. The additional topcoat will also provide more protection, which is never a bad thing.
I like to use original hardware when possible, but unfortunately the original pulls on this dresser were either missing or broken. To update this piece, I added new ceramic turquoise and white knobs from Hobby Lobby.
I found this pretty Paris watercolor at the Goodwill, too. It’s my favorite place for unique and affordable art.
The original casters were also missing on this dresser. I love the way casters look and having wheels on furniture is pretty darn practical, too. I replaced the missing casters with Hardwood Casters from Rockler. They are very affordable, come in a pack of four, and work perfectly with these old vintage pieces. The casters have long metal stems that slip into the original holes in the legs. If the original metal socket is missing (as they were on this dresser) you just hammer a new socket into the hole before inserting the new casters. Very easy to do.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Susan
Linking with Pocket of Posies
Patricia says
Everything is perfect about this!
Great job as always.
Susan says
Thank you Patricia!
Debbie Reynolds says
Beautiful!
Shari says
Beautiful job! I wish I lived in the Seattle area I would love to visit your shop. Maybe one day. . .
Susan says
Thank you Shari!
Terry says
This turned out simply gorgeous and the pop of colour you added with the hardware is so pretty! It would be easy to change it up with the seasons as well simply by changing the colour of the hardware 😉 Sooo well done!
Smiles!
Terry
Susan says
Thank you so much Terry!
Julie says
This looks beautiful, and thanks for the tip on the casters!! Very cool and affordable.