How to Make 80s Furniture Work in Today's Home
A neighbor offered me an 80s piece of furniture that they were going to place at the curb. While it was not a quality piece worthy of a total overhaul, I'll show you how with a little paint, you can make an 80s piece of furniture work in your home.
I wanted to make this a completely green makeover, so Old Fashioned Milk Paint was the perfect paint for this project. Why expose yourself to harmful chemicals and VOCs if you can use an all natural product? OFMP comes in powder form and you just add water and mix it up. Super simple.
To help the paint adhere, the first thing I did was remove all the hardware and give the large dresser a quick scuff sanding. Then I wiped it down with a green and completely safe mixture of vinegar water.
I love the variations in pigment you achieve with true milk paint. I chose the color Pitch Black because I think a coat of black paint can make anything look good.
In keeping with a green makeover, I chose 100% Pure Hope's Tung Oil to protect the paint finish. The beauty of pure tung oil is it actually soaks in and penetrates and protects, whereas wax will just sit on the surface.
Because this was not a quality piece of furniture, I couldn't justify the expense of changing out the 12 pieces of hardware. Fortunately the milk paint adhered beautifully to the original hardware. If this was a quality piece, I would have gladly sprung for this hardware:
With all the extra storage, I could see a large dresser such as this in an entry way, dining room, play room, and of course a bedroom.
With the help of a little paint, another project is saved from the landfill. :D
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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3 of 4 comments
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Aww, you're too sweet. Thank you!
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Totally agree with Brenda S. The gold keyholes you put on make it look like a high end piece. Great job!
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