Soooo.... This is a horrible picture of my disastrous closet, I decided to try arranging my clothes by type instead of color, it has since been corrected! My closet is also a dumping place for pieces of decor not being used elsewhere in the house (see the stars in the floor and rug on top of my shoe storage?) but It was the only before picture I had of (almost) the entire dresser... see that awful thing? Great design... yucky finish. I had planned to paint it since I talked my in-laws into giving it to me when our house was finished 7 years ago... That sounded really hard though so I put it off again and again.
Not long ago Dina at There's No Place Like Home posted her "non-process" for painting furniture. I LOVE her gorgeous house, all her painted furniture looks great, and it seemed so easy. This of course means I put it off for almost 2 more months and THEN used her process, NO SANDING! Yay!
Sunday we went with our honorary nieces to do a little school shopping, have lunch and stopped off at Lowe's. I bought Crown Liquid Deglosser NEXT because it was low VOC and biodegradable and I guess I'm a sucker for those words. I pursued paint sample cards for 15 minutes trying to find the right shade of pink and a fun secondary pink but when I got to the paint mixing counter I found gallons of pink and lavender "oops" paint (Valspar Signature Hi-Def Paint + Primer) and decided I'd much rather pay $10 a gallon than $35.
That evening we had a birthday party to attend but I was itching to get started. I took out one of the drawers and removed the pull. I put on vinyl gloves and used an old washcloth to apply the deglosser. I just used paper towels to wipe off the excess and let it sit for 30 minutes. Then I used a foam Doors and Cabinets roller to paint the drawer. While the first coat was drying I let the pull soak in hot soapy water and then scrubbed it was a toothbrush and Magic Eraser. I was able to get 2 more coats on the drawer before the party and that seemed to do the trick.
Here is the painted drawer in the dresser below an unpainted, yucky drawer.
When I got home from the party I repeated the process for the other 3 drawers, using a foam brush for the more difficult parts and soaking and scrubbing the rest of the hardware. The 6 small knobs on the top drawer had some painted inlay that I'm guessing was white at some point but was now peeled and yellowed. I used acetone free nail polish remover and it all came off fine without damaging the chrome surface of the knobs.
Here are the painted drawers in the unpainted dresser. While in this picture the dresser looks an okay yellow, it's really horrible.
The next evening I moved the dresser base into the living room and covered the floor with black garbage bags because I forgot to buy drop cloths and couldn't find my masking paper.
I deglossed and got on three coats of paint that night.
Bubba had taken possession by the next morning.
I painted everything pink and then came back with a small foam brush to add the lavender accents. Everything was done without masking tape because I was a little scared of peeling up the fresh paint. I used a piece of thin cardboard to edge around the the accent piece on the bottom drawer.
The next morning Frank had taken up residence... the kitty condo market is very competitive.
That evening when the Mr. got home from work I had him help me carry everything back into my closet and put the drawers in. I'm thrilled with the dresser, and kicking myself for waiting 7 years to paint it!
Total Time: 3 days. It could've been done much more quickly but I'm not complaining.
Total Cost: Around $40 including 2 gallons of (oops) paint, paint opening tool because I always lose those, foam brushes, deglosser, replacement roller heads for my cabinet and door roller, and a disposable paint try. I still have plenty of paint and 4 new roller heads left. I already had vinyl gloves, magic erasers and nail polish remover on hand.
