Our old Pine Dresser gets a make-over

If you’ve been following me for a while you know I just love a good up-cycle to get a brand new look! Like this Pine Dresser. There’s something soooo satisfying about turning a piece of furniture around and giving it a new lease of life! And not to mention save a few pounds in the process. I’ve even been known to take stuff from the roadside … sometimes it’s the best stuff (who knew, right?!) Don’t worry, I make sure it’s bug free first 😉

We’ve been in the process of re-decorating our bedroom recently. Well, when I saw recently, actually, it’s been going on for the last few months. I may just have mis-timed how long this was going to take. And I may or may now have started ripping out carpets and stripping off wallpaper just before Christmas. I admit, that wasn’t one of my brighter ideas! But, it’s going to be well worth it! You can’t see it yet as there’s still loads to be done, but I will be sharing it with you all when it’s all done!

One thing I can share with you is the process of our bedroom pine dresser that was hanging on for dear life. This is it .. poor thing. It’s feeling very sorry for itself and just about hanging in there..

I think we can all agree that it needed a bit of TLC. OK, quite a lot of TCL ..

THE MAGIC OF PAINT

It’s amazing what a bit of glue, sanding and paint can do though to give things an new look.

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First of all, I removed all the hardware. The pine knobs are no longer! .. Well, I’ve kept them for another project, but they’re not going back on this baby!

The second step was to fix any wonky drawers. Fortunately there were only 2 that needed fixing. I forgot to take photos at this stage (note to self!!) but all it took was a bit of wood glue into the holes of the drawer front, fit the drawer back together and secure with some clamps overnight. The following day they were as solid as a rock!

I then took out all the drawers and sanded everything down, including the base of the unit (using 80 grit, then 120 and finally finishing off with 240 grit sandpaper). I treated myself to a new sander recently which really did the job beautifully! Smooth as a .. you get the idea .. (If you’re interested in getting a good sander – this is the one I use .. highly recommend!)

Once everything was sanded, I wiped the whole pine dresser down with a cloth with white spirit and let it dry. This is just to get all the dust off before getting to the fun part of this project..

Let’s paint!

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We had some paint coloured matched with our new Ikea wardrobes. It’s a Valspar paint for wood and metal which has great coverage although it took quite a few coats to cover the wood grain on the drawers. I used a roller rather than a brush so I built up the layers slowly. The finish on it is much better as it doesn’t leave streaks. Also, I actually think it’s faster in the long run!

White washing the top

I stained the top an oak colour but knew I wouldn’t keep it in that stained finish. Our new wardrobe has an oak white oak wood frame / white doors combination, so I wanted to try and recreate this as much as possible, to match it with our new wardrobe. So, I made a watery paint wash (50% paint and 50% water) and painted the top with the wash mix. Just brush on the mix and wipe the paint off in the direction of the grain of the wood with a lint free cloth. Turn over the cloth to get a “clean” bit and repeat the process until you’ve completed the top. The wiping motion creates the grain effect and the subtle haze of the paint over the wood grain. I let it dry and then followed the same process again.

It’s always a bit of a hair raising moment covering your precious project in paint when you’ve spent time getting it to look the way it did, BUT .. I’m loving the white wash effect. It just blends in so much better with the bright white drawers. I’ll definitely be using that technique again for future projects.

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Adding the hardware

To complete the new look I added some new handles. I was never a fan of the large pine knobs on the original chest of drawers, so wanted to go for a sleeker look as part of this makeover. And these are the ones I settled for! I think they complete this piece perfectly and I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out.

And here’s what it looks like in our bedroom 🙂 It’s hard to believe that’s the same pine dresser at the top of the post!

Now we just need to finish off the rest of the bedroom before moving on to the next project (don’t tell my husband I said that!).

** UPDATE ** We did some more work on a paneled wall in our bedroom. You can check out the post here.

What do you guys think? Please let me know if you like it and if you do, please share with a friend.

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