Dresser Before and After
…And you thought I’d be bored on my Maternity Leave…
This dresser was a wedding present from my mom, and we’ve had it for over 7 years. I love this dresser. I even loved it white but it was getting pretty dirty after so many moves. Here are the highlights:
- The dresser was almost raw wood so dusting and very little sanding was needed
- I had four of those little knobs left over from another project, so I decided to save a little money and use these knobs instead of purchasing a whole new set. I was able to purchase the remaining knobs at Home Depot.
- Paint color was Elegant Silk Interior Satin Latex Valspar Paint from Lowes. This was my first time using Valspar and my review is mixed. I thought the coverage was great but the paint dried too fast. Of course, this has to do with many variables, such as the weather, but I had to work in double speed to not leave brush marks
- I almost never have a plan when I head out to get paint. I knew I wanted a fun color, and that’s about it. I spent about 10 minutes looking for a color, and decided on this fun teal. I like how it looks with the black and white and even lime green {risky move!} in my bedroom.
Here are some tips for a quick paint job
Roll the paint first using a small roller.
Get the paint into the crevices with a brush. Use the same brush to smooth out the nap marks left by the roller. Be sure to go with the grain of the wood and make your brushstroke last the entire length or width of the brush so it doesn’t leave a mark where you started or where you ended.
Keep the bottom of the piece raised a little bit. I had my dresser on a furniture mover so it was elevated and I could easily rotate it to paint comfortably. You can use little pieces of cardboard underneath each corner so you can be sure to get paint along the very bottom of the piece.
Painting Tips
By now, I am half-way to Oahu, but I wanted to share some trusty tips that help me get through painting a room. Over the Labor Day weekend, I decided to finally paint our guest bedroom grey. And I found the PERFECT grey (Behr Premium Plus Antique Beige).
To my surprise, Behr (At Home Depot) has a new line of paint that is primer + paint in one. The walls are so new in our condo that I’ve had to prime EVERYTHING, which turns into a big fat hassle, and is probably why it has taken me a year to paint that final bedroom. BUT, with this new Behr Premium Plus Ultra, I was done in two coats.
Despite the fact that I have painted nearly 100 rooms in my lifetime, I didn’t want to use up a whole day to paint. 3-day weekend? I needed to do some movie watching and eating and shopping too. So… these are my tricks:
1. The Handy Paint Pail - This is a lifesaver. See how that brush is rested nicely on the edge of the pail? There’s a magnet there so you can set your brush down without getting messy. It also has a square lip on the opposite side where you can remove the excess paint from your brush before you start painting… no drips! I always start painting a room with this paint pail, so I can cut in the baseboards, door trim, window moldings, and ceiling. I don’t use tape for those jobs, you can see in the background of the picture, I just cut it in by hand, and with practice, you’ll hardly need to touch up afterward. I only have one of these pails, and I don’t lend it out, for fear that I’ll lose it!
2. But with my tall ceilings, I didn’t cut the whole room in at the same time. I needed a snack and a nap, you see. So I wrapped it up with a grocery bag, air-tight, and I can keep it that way for about a day or so without remorse. The paint won’t harden and your brush won’t dry up.
3. Same goes for the paint rollers and tray. When you let the room dry before the second coat, no need to rinse out the rollers just yet. Use a kitchen trash bag to tie them up tight for later.
4. And because this paint was particularly stinky in my teeny-tiny 3rd bedroom, we wore respirators so we didn’t go loopy. We ARE smiling under there…
