The little dresser no one wanted

In the Spring, Handsome Hero and I were heading out of the neighborhood when we saw a sign for a yard sale.  Nothing makes us late like finding a good yard sale.  It's our idea of a good time.

Anyway, this family had a bunch of furniture in their garage that they were getting rid of.  Another lady was already there and as I walked up, she said, "I'll take it all.  Except for that dresser over there." 

All dressed up for Easter.  I told you this happened awhile ago.

Now, that dresser was the only thing I could see that was worth anything.  Sure it needed some love, but look at those lines!  And the hardware was beautiful!  They were asking fifty, but were willing to come down to thirty-five {because it was all the cash Handsome Hero and I had between us}.  Thirty-five dollars for a beautiful, dovetailed, antique dresser.  Come to mama, little dresser.  I'll make you the star you always wanted to be.

Now, Handsome Hero would tell you that I would spray paint everything hot pink if I got the chance, but that's not quite true.  I have a hard time painting wood furniture that is in good shape.  Even if I know it would be prettier painted, if the wood is in good condition I have to really think about it.  If this dresser had been nice on its own, I would have left it as is.  The stain color was really lovely.



It wasn't in good shape, though.  The veneer had large chunks missing.  Even the table top, which I would have loved to sand and restain, was not salvageable.  In the picture above it looks like it just needs a good sanding, but in person it was more detailed than an amateur like me could handle.  I have no doubt someone with more skill could have done it, but I'm not that girl.

The little dresser sat for awhile.  You can see in the pictures above that we hadn't painted the sunroom when we got it, but in the picture below, it was all done.  I am so glad I waited.  Originally, I had thought I would paint the dresser a crisp white, but after finishing the white table and chairs I showed you earlier in the week, I thought the room needed a little jolt of color.

After wood putty

I found a fabric I loved that had the same blue as the walls in it, and pulled another color from it to paint the dresser.  It's called Parakeet by Sherwin Williams, color matched by Behr.  We'll call it grellow.  A very yellow green, or a very green yellow.  Whichever.

It's bold, no doubt about that!  But in such a large room, it doesn't overpower.  And I just love those pulls.  They stand out so much more now.

As to my process, I used a deglosser first to help take the finish off.  If it helped cut out some of the sanding as promised, you could have fooled me!  I won't bother with that again.  After much sanding and cleaning, I primed and painted with a high gloss latex paint to which I added a paint conditioner.  The paint conditioner is supposed to slow the drying time so that brush strokes are less noticeable and the end result is a more lacquered finish.  I don't know that it helped a ton {you can still see some brush strokes}, but I do know that it has held up very well.  Originally I had wanted to use an oil based paint for a really lacquered look and extra durability, but you can't do an oil based paint in a color with this much yellow.  Who knew?

After painting, I left it for a couple of weeks with the drawers out so that it could cure fully before putting it back together.  That was hard. The patience of Job I do not have.

I use it as a buffet or whatever the situation calls for, and so far there's not a scratch on it {knock on grellow wood}.

Oh, and those awesome butterflies?  Those were given to me by a lady from whom I bought a coffee table off of craigslist {soon to be upholstered ottoman}.  They are wicker, and were just hanging in her garage and she had no use for them.  I spray painted them white and gold and they are now one of my favorite parts of the room.  They're huge at around eighteen inches tall!

See?  I don't paint everything hot pink!  Sometimes I use white and gold!  Or grellow!

Side note:  See those switch plates?  They're gold.  We've been switching out all of the plates in the house to white, but I kind of like these being gold.  It is pretty against the blue.  But they're not all in good shape, and none of the outlet covers are gold.  Should I keep the switch plates gold {since they're up at eye level} and change the outlets to white?  Or should they all be the same color?  Which color?  Gold or white?  Should I paint them all the same blue as the walls?  I usually don't like painted outlet covers because they scratch so easily, but these are really noticeable where they have been placed.

These are the things that keep me up at night. 

I live an exciting life.