Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Getting Undressed

...this has little to do with actually getting naked. But does have everything to do with nudity. My nude dresser that is.

I have had this dresser for almost 10 years and its in amazing condition. There are a lot of knicks, scratches and even chunks of wood that have chipped off, but it creates a certain character that you can only get with real wood furniture and with all the faux wood furniture out there, you have got to respect a little character. She's pretty much perfect. But the color? Oh the color was killing me! It wasnt a bad finish or a bad stain but the color was not working for our bedroom at all. We needed something sexier. Something a little more modern and a little younger. I thought white would be perfect with super modern hardware to tie in the other modern elements in our little love nest.

Here's the befores...



...and a courtesy before shot with my little helper



and now...my new dresser, all jazzed up



...and a close up of the hardware



How'd I do it? It was ridiculously easy.
1. Undress this pretty little thing. Take all the hardware off. Simple enough.
2. Use wood putty to fill in the holes were the old hardware used to be.
3. Very lightly sand the entire piece. This piece didnt take much sanding because it only had a very light stain. Anything shiny or with any kind of gloss would need MUCH more sanding.
4. Give her a bath. I took an old wash cloth and wiped down the entire thing. It helps clean up all the dust from sanding so your paint goes on smoothly.
5. Paint! I used a simple straight off the rack white paint in a satin finish. If your prego like me I suggest a low VOC paint, a room with lots of windows and a mask. Just to be safe.
6. Add new hardware. Measure and line it up. Drill the holes and screw in the new pieces. Easy peasy!

AND it was super cheap.
I literally paid...
$12 paint
$9 brush
$0 sandpaper (already had on hand)
$17 hardware
$38 TOTAL!

The makeover was super simple, super cheap and changed the entire look of our bedroom. With a piece this big we needed something that would pull everything together and I think this did it. High paint brush fives!