Re-Purposing an Old Dresser

Hello everyone! So sorry for the lack in posts the past few weeks, its been a hectic time for us Smith girls! Paige has been busy working as a daycare teacher and doing her online summer classes. Taylor just got her first job working at American Eagle and doing the massive amount of summer homework she has. We promise to keep posting something every week from now on! So to get on with this post....

Do you have old furniture laying around the house that just doesn't "work" anymore? Maybe an old chair or dresser that just doesn't fit in anymore? Instead of ditching the piece and buying something new, try re-purposing it!

Here is a quick and easy way to re-purpose an old piece of furniture...

What You'll Need

• Old Furniture
• Painters Tape
• Newspaper
• Sandpaper/Sanding Blocks 
  
• Primer
• Paint
• New exciting drawer pulls 

Steps to Success

Our old furniture piece was a brown wooden dresser that had been around our house since we were little. Since Paige is moving into her first apartment in August {yeee! lots of excitement} we needed to find inexpensive furniture. And re-purposing an old piece was the perfect thing to do!

Prepare

1. Take all the drawers out of the dresser. Ours was kind of old and there were some rough edges and nails sticking out, so make sure to clean up any edges and remove excess nails

2. Take your sanding blocks and begin to sand the front of the drawers. It doesn't have to be a super hard task, its just to smooth and break the surface so the primer stays. Once sanded the front of the drawers should be a lighter color than the rest of the drawer.

 

 

3. Do the same for the rest of the drawers and the dresser. Since our Dad has lots of power tools we were able to use a sanding machine for the rest of the dresser so it was pretty quick. *Helpful tip: If your drawers or dresser have edges to them make sure you remember to sand that part as well! The small edges are just as important as the entire piece.

  

4. Don't forget the feet! Flip your dresser over and lightly sand the feet

Once your dresser is completely sanded... 

1. Cover  with newspaper and tape the edges of your dresser so that paint wont get all over your dresser drawers and dresser. {our dad is SUPER SUPER OCD so our drawers had to be just right before he would let us paint, you don't have to cover to the extent that we did}

2. Cover all the drawers and the inside of the dresser...

Once covered....

1. Use the primer and paint the drawers and the dresser. Make sure you are in a highly ventilated area if you are using spray paint primer. If not, make sure to use a ventilated mask like our dad did... {what a cutie}

2. Make sure the primer layer isn't too thick because if it runs you will need to lightly sand the drawers and dresser again

Once primed...

1. Paint your dresser the desired color. Again, make sure you are in a ventilated area and that the paint doesn't run.

2. Let the paint dry and add additional coats if needed.

And there it is, you just re-purposed an old dresser. It was quick and easy to do! Now that old brown wooded dresser that took up space is a fresh looking, apartment ready dresser!

To add some additional spunk to the dresser, Paige added contact paper to the inside of the drawers. This will protect the drawers and your clothes. The contact paper she found had a vanilla scent which will {hopefully} keep things smelling fresh too! Once the contact paper was added, she put some shabby chic glass drawer pulls on the drawers. Voila!