Abigail August 12, 2024

In being wannabe furniture flippers, my husband and I last summer picked up an old dresser off the side of the road to eventually refinish and sell. Let’s just say, that dream only became a reality when we were in need of a dresser for our first baby’s nursery.

I mean…who doesn’t love free furniture and some elbow grease?

With the help of my wonderful handyman, we were able to turn this drab, old yellow dresser into the perfect nursery masterpiece!

Materials Needed

  • A dresser (this might be something that you picked up off the side of the road like us, or something already in your home that needs a refresh
  • Orbital Sander (The ULTIMATE game changer. With the amount of proper sanding that this piece of furniture would take, you would be working on this thing for weeks!)
  • Sandpaper discs (We got 40, 120, and 220 grit. I thought this was going to be overkill when it came to sanding, but with the results that we got, I am never going to look back.)
  • ShopVac (Huge for cleaning out the dresser initially as well as the sawdust that the sanding produced.)
  • Tack Cloth
  • Wood Filler
  • Paint (We used a satin sheen instead of enamel furniture paint to save some money.)
  • Polycrylic Finish
  • Paint Sprayer
  • Drop Cloths
  • Hardware (This is only if you are replacing the existing hardware!)

The Process

My goal was to finish this dresser in a weekend. Since we wanted to use a paint sprayer to get the most professional finish possible, this had to be done outside and in good weather. We had our fingers crossed because the weather looked perfect.

We started by taking out all of the drawers so that we could look at each piece individually. The application of the paint and polycrylic would also look more clean if these pieces were separated.
 
After that, the dreaded sanding began…
I am very thankful to have a husband who has pretty good knowledge when it comes to projects like these. He assured me that three rounds of sanding was going to give us the best finish.
I reluctantly agreed.
With our Dewalt Orbital Sander, we started sanding down the whole dresser with 40 grit sandpaper. We used 40 grit because we really wanted to get it down to the bare bones so we could see what we were working with. We quickly found out that the majority of the dresser was wood but had a veneer strip on the top. 

My dreams of staining this piece quickly faded as I saw the plywood appearing on the surface. Oh well, paint it is! 
We were able to get most of the dresser with the orbital sander, but obviously there were some surfaces you can see that I had to do some good-old fashioned hand sanding to get as close as possible.

We then applied the wood filler to the gap between the real wood and old veneer finish. Wood filler needs about 1-2 hours to harden up and dry before you can sand it off. In the meantime, we finished up sanding down the drawers.

With the wood filler now dry and the rounds of sanding with the 120 and 220 grit were completed, we were FINALLY ready for the part that I was looking forward to…

The color!

 I was going back and forth between a neutral white color or a fun-bold statement color. We tinted a gallon of the Ovation Plus HGTV by Sherwin Williams  with the color Sherwood Forest which is a mid to dark green color. Needless to say, I was OBSESSED! We also picked up Miniwax Polycrylic Crystal Clear Topcoat to help protect the dresser and make it more durable.

In the past when we have refinished pieces, we hand painted them. My in-laws let us borrow their paint sprayer this time around. Can I just say, this little machine was a GAME CHANGER! We were able to get the first coat on this dresser and all of the drawers in less than 10 minutes!

The next day after the first coat dried overnight, my husband took 220 grit sandpaper to the dresser and drawers. By gently sanding the piece, we were going to get an even cleaner second coat finish.

With the dresser freshly coated with a second round of paint and dry, we then hand applied the polycrylic with a paintbrush. We tried using the sprayer for this, but when we tested out a small section, it wasn’t laying as clean as we imagined. This whole process of applying the finish with a paintbrush took about 45 minutes. 

With a day to dry and cure outside, the piece was finally finished and ready to be taken into the nursery!

What We Learned:

  1. Make a Plan! All things considered, this was a quick turn around for this piece of furniture. We planned and set aside a whole weekend to be able to do this project. Normally, we just work on other pieces whenever we have a free moment. Having this time set aside to finished this project made it so much easier to complete.
  2. Sanding is a Must! I thought that three rounds of sanding with different grits was going to be excessive, but at the end of the day. It made the dresser look so clean and professional.
  3. Paint Sprayer! If you are able, either rent or purchase a paint sprayer. This saved us so much time and the final product looks pristine!

Needless to say, we absolutely LOVED this project and are looking forward to more DIY furniture flipping in the future!