Pink Frenchy Dresser

This lovely dresser was waiting just for me out in the back of our local thift shop.  Once again, it wasn't even priced yet! 

As I was checking to see how the drawers worked, I found this inside~

The work of some litte creature, I'm sure! :)  I got a good deal on the dresser because of it, but I wasn't sure how I (well, um, my husband) was going to fix it.  Any suggestions??? 

Once again I used my spray gun.  A few girls asked after my last post the brand of my gun.  It is a Graco Truecoat Plus.  It was my birthday present! :)

I sprayed on the Kilz Clean Start zero VOC primer~

(I really need a different picture of this stuff!)

Since the drawers did not overhang or underhang (is that even a word?) onto the dresser base, I didn't even bother to take the them out ~ just sprayed them right where they were. I did have to go back later and roll paint on the tops and sides of the drawers where the spray gun couldn't get to.  

Hmm..looks pretty good, maybe I should just quit here!

After I use my little rollers, I just put them in a sandwich bag, roll them up, seal, put in a grocery sack and thow into the bottom of the fridge to be reused. 

After a quick sanding with 220 grit, I sprayed on the pink Pale Peony~

So far so good!

The previous owner had been a bit.. shall I say free-spirited painting the drawers, so the sides were smeared with brown paint.

What to do?  Then I saw Ann Marie's post over at Twice Lovely.  She used blue painter's tape cut in half in a wavy line to create a lovely edge on a desk she was refinishing.  This was just the trick I needed! 

Here is the tape cut and placed on the side of one of the drawers (I used Frog tape.  I don't know if it works better than the blue, but the name is way cuter!)

This was how the drawers turned out~

What do you think? 

I noticed this ugly business on the top of the drawers, too. 

Now this may be a "duh" to some, but I discovered that a little bit of light sanding takes that unwanted overspray right off!

I mod podged the drawers with the same pretty Paris wrapping paper from the pink desk project. 

More details about how I mod podge can be found here in a previous post!


Next I distressed all the edges with an 80 grit sandpaper.

Now this is where my new favorite came in~

LOOOOOVE this stuff!  For so many reasons!  I needed to give the top of the dresser a light sanding. 

When I wiped the steel wool over the top, it left the most beautiful gray glazed look.  It's not showing up super well here, but it looks so natural!

The great part is no mess really, except for the little particles that come off the wool, no cost of glaze, and so fast!  It's also pretty easy to control how you much glazed look you want.  If you want more, just run the steel wool over that area again.  Of course I decided to run the steel wool all over the dresser~

 When the steel wool party was over, I gave the whole dresser a nice coat of Minwax Paste Finishing Wax and then buffed it out with a cloth. 

      Now, I'd like to say that after this the dresser looked great, but the truth is, it looked like I'd turned the kids loose on it~the top looked unevenly shiny and streaky.  I put at least 3 coats of wax on the top of this baby, and I still was not winning!  After about the 4th coat (and coincidentally the dresser was 1/4 inch taller now, ha ha)  I finally got it right.  Turns out I wasn't letting the wax dry quite long enough.  :) 

After buffing the top with a cloth that final time, I took my steel wool again and rubbed it across the top (not for the glaze look, but as a buffer), and it just seemed to smooth things out and kinda melt it together.  LOVE you, steel wool!!! 
    

The pulls were in excellent condition, but I thought the silver still needed an update.

 Of course the pulls got a quick shot of primer and then were coated in my hammered brown spray~

Once the pulls were in place, the dresser was complete!

Of course I must first show the before~

Here is the after~

I snuk into Maya's room after midnight and tried to grab a few girly things to throw on.  This is all I could grab before she woke up.  SHHHH! 

Maya and I found this precious rag doll at the same thrift shop as the dresser!

Thanks for stopping by!!!