No Quilting but a Furniture Refinishing Project

I used my recent move as an opportunity for a quick furniture refinishing project, and while it’s not quite a tutorial, I am going to share the process with you.

As a quilter, I have a lot of fabric, and I’ve never had a very good storage system for it.  Here is a picture of the cat bed on top of the plastic storage drawers.  The good thing about them was that they were just the right height for the low front window where we used to live.

Here’s another photo of the same set up from a slightly different angle.  That’s the Christmas Tree Skirt on top.

I had been on the lookout for something better for a while but hadn’t found what I wanted before moving.  So, the same plastic totes and tubs were set up in the dining room of the new place.

And finally, a perfect Facebook Marketplace find!  Total price = $50 for the dresser + 2 ice cream cones in labor/transit costs.  Well worth the price!  Don’t worry about the drawers looking wonky.  We took them out to make it lighter to move, and weren’t careful putting them back in.  They do go in straight.

What Color to Paint the Furniture Refinishing?

I knew I wanted to paint rather than to re-stain, but I wasn’t sure about colors. 

I picked up a bunch of paint chips in some of my favorite colors, although those lighter blues in the lower right are actually bathroom wall samples, rather than furniture.

Of course, I really wanted yellow, but I wasn’t sure if it was too bold.  I got some more paint chips from another hardware store, and taped them all up on the wall where I would put the finished dresser.

Then, I left them there for a couple of weeks, removing the blues and greens, and weeding out the yellows that were too orange or too green.

I ended up picking a yellow called Soft Boiled by BEHR and here is a little sneak peak for what it looks like on the refinished dresser.  It’s a little more “school bus yellow” than I was aiming for, but I am done with furniture refinishing projects until summer, so I have time to let it grow on me.

Furniture Refinishing Part One: Prep Work

The first step in prep work for this project was removing the hardware from the drawers.

Fortunately, there wasn’t any hardware associated with side slides, this dresser has wood slides on the bottoms of the drawers instead.

I may trade out these drawer pulls some day, but for now I don’t mind the burnished silver with the yellow.

The top of the dresser looked like it had been coated in nail polish that was now peeling, so even though some DIY bloggers out there say you can paint without stripping when furniture refinishing, that was not an option for me.

I gave Liquid Sandpaper a try.  You can see it here on the top of the dresser.  I’m not sure it did much, but at least I can tell you I tried it. 

Fortunately, I was able to borrow an electric sander from my brother and that was a much better option for me.  I do feel bad for my neighbors though.  I had just moved into the condo six weeks earlier and then I spent the Saturday of a holiday weekend out on the patio with a sander.  Not cool Darcy, not cool!

I absolutely managed to pick the hottest part of the weekend for the sanding.  Yuck!

The last part of the prep work was taping around the edges of the drawers so that I didn’t have paint or primer impeding the opening and closing of the drawers.

Furniture Refinishing Part Two: Primer

I used Kilz All Purpose Interior/Exterior Primer and while I have no idea if this was the right primer to use, I have nothing negative to say about it.

I wanted the last bit of painting to be the top of the dresser.  That meant that I wanted the dresser upside down when I started painting, and therefore when I finished the primer.  

I primed the top and what I could reach of the front and sides, and then let it dry overnight.

Flipping the dresser upside down early Sunday morning, I snapped this photo and then finished the primer on the lowest parts of the legs and left to dry.

I didn’t take a photo of it, but I painted primer on the drawer fronts at that time too.

Dresser Refinish Part Three: Paint

I gave it all many hours to dry, and then started the first coats of yellow.

I don’t remember now exactly what the timing was, but both the primer and the paint had specifics right on the cans for how long after a coat until the object was dry to the touch and how long until a second coat could be applied.

At this point in the weekend furniture refinishing project, it was late Sunday evening, the dresser and two coats of paint (and needed a third!) and the drawers only had primer.

Monday morning I flipped the dresser right-side up, and gave all of the unpainted parts three full coats, as well as the third coat on the parts that had only had two coats the day before.

I pulled all of the drawers out into the yard, just in time for it to start raining!  Good thing I watched the news that morning and there was NO RAIN IN THE FORECAST!

Later Monday afternoon I was finally able to get the drawers back out to paint, just in time for the landscapers to be right outside the fence, blowing dirt my way.

I gave the drawer fronts three coats of paint as well, and thank goodness they had such a small surface area because I was down to the last couple drops of paint.  Luckily, I squeaked by with none to spare as I had only accounted for two coats of paint when shopping.

I brought the dresser in late that night, as well as the drawers, but I left the drawers to dry for another day before taking the tape off.

Furniture Refinish Part Four: The Finishing Pieces

Removing the tape from the drawers was so satisfying!

I put the hardware back on and fitted the drawers back into place.

Now to fill the drawers with quilting and sewing goodies! Also on the to-do list: get more plants!

Do I have more plans to refinish furniture in my future? 

Not at this time!

That’s not to say that I won’t take on a similar project in the future, but for the moment, furniture wise, I’m pretty happy with what I have in my new little condo.

I’m hopeful that next year’s house projects will be around setting up the backyard into the garden that I’m dreaming of. 

And, I am (very selfishly!) going to make myself a new bed quilt this winter or early next year so you’ll definitely see that tutorial at some point.