Marketplace Mid-Century Makeover

Emma's House
by Emma's House
6 Materials
$110
4 Hours
Easy

Everyone loves a cheap facebook marketplace find. I found this cute dresser for $40 on marketplace and upcycled it to it's fullest potential! I hope this encourages you to stop scrolling past all those hidden treasures out there!

$40 from marketplace on facebook.

First things first is get the dresser into a well lit and well ventilated room. This will allow you to see your paint job as you're working and keep the air circulating allowing the best drying time and the least smell.

1:1 vinegar water mix

I like to use a vinegar water mix as the first step to prepping the surface. it's inexpensive, deodorizing and fast drying. Spray this all over the drawers, top, bottom and legs. Wipe everything down with an old rag or paper towel and allow to dry for 15 minutes before the next step.

This step is completely optional but I would highly recommend it especially with a dresser like this one. Sometimes drawers have an order. Though they might all look the same and be the same size the drawers will only close in a certain order. I number them from top to bottom 1-5 in this case.

After numbering the drawers you can go ahead and remove them. Sand the entire dresser and drawers with sandpaper. Here I have used a 220 grit sanding disk on an orbit sander. Lightly scuff the entire surface for better paint adherence.


This particular dresser has built in hardware. I taped the outside of the handles and spray painted them in brass for a metal looking finish.

After sanding and allowing the hardware to dry I painted the drawers. I used white chalk paint by Rustoleum in the shade linen white.

After the first coat you're going to need to sand it. Chalk paint doesn't tend to self level so you aren't going to want to skip this step. You will end up with brush strokes. I used 220 grit sandpaper here once again just to smooth it over. After this I applied a second coat of the Chalk paint and the drawers were finished.

While the drawers were drying I got started on the body. The only thing I did differently on the body was use gray paint. The paint I used here is Behr paint and primer all in one. The colour I used is called "granite boulder" with a FLAT finish. This paint is fantastic and I would recommend it over chalk paint. Again here I applied one coat, sanded it using 220 and then added a second coat.

While everything else was drying I removed and sprayed the legs in the same colour as the hardware. After they dried I put them back on the dresser. (not shown) After everything is dry I cover everything in a waterbased polyurethane. A dresser tends to be a high traffic piece of furniture so this step is impotant if you want to avoid scratching and chipping.

Allow the polyurethane to dry for 12-24 hours before using the dresser.

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Frequently asked questions
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3 of 4 questions
  • Baking Becky Baking Becky on Mar 23, 2019

    How did you apply the polyurethane - brush, rag, roller?


  • Lynette Lynette on Mar 25, 2019

    Why did you use chalk paint on the drawers and regular paint on the rest? Is there an advantage to using chalk paint over regular paint? It looks beautiful - I have been wanting to paint our dressers but don't have the nerve to start!!

  • Rossy Rossy on Mar 31, 2019

    can you spray the dresser instead to brush paint?

Comments
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2 of 10 comments
  • Trish Trish on Mar 23, 2019

    This looks like a Duncan Pfiffe piece of furniture. My parents had a beautiful set, which is pretty expensive. I would try to find a makers mark before painting such a piece. That being said, I love painted furniture and the color you picked is beautiful!

  • Carla Carla on Mar 23, 2019

    Lovely project

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