Antique Dresser Makeover

What a find right? Yes it's old, but there was so much potential in this petite piece we could not pass it up. Small ones like this can be the perfect opportunity to use a fun color to brighten up a space. We started off by removing all the hardware and cleaning the much used surface with Krud Kutter and rinsing with water.

After letting dry, we took the opportunity to fill in some deep gouges and scratches with wood filler. A favorite choice is Quikwood because it dries in an hour and sands really smooth. After sanding the filler smooth with a 220 grit sanding pad the rest of the piece was scuff sanded as well and dust removed with a tack cloth. Many times if you paint directly over wood filler the color will vary in those spots. We wanted to avoid that as much as possible so a thin layer of shellac was sprayed to even out the base of the piece for a consistent starting point. A light hand sanding using 400 was used and again dust was removed with a tack cloth.

Ok now here comes the fun part, the painting! A beautiful green called Emerald by General Finishes was used, three coats in total sanding with 400 grit paper after each coat has dried. After the final sand, High Performance Top Coat in Satin was applied using a foam brush, sanding with 400 grit between each coat. A total of three coats were applied.

Once completely dry, a thin layer of Annie Sloan dark wax was applied to the edges and recesses of the piece with a small brush to add dimension and shading. The excess was then wiped back with a shop towel and left to dry.

Next it was time to renew those gorgeous drop pulls!

These original drop pulls had seen better days and with the help of Barkeepers Friend (BKF) and rub n buff I knew they would be beautiful again.

See the difference scrubbing with some BKF and a wire brush can do?

After they were clean, rub n buff in gold was used on the black part of the drop pull to give it a cohesive look. We applied it using a small artist brush and then a shop towel to buff. We then use a foam brush to apply and protect the new finish with High Performance in Satin once again. So much better right?

Here is the final look with new updated door hardware too. Thank you for following along!