I wanted a long dresser for my new office/guest room. I loved the simple design of this one, and I really liked the color, a bluish gray, because it went well with the rug already in my room. (By the way, when you’re looking for furniture, don’t overlook Facebook Marketplace. I jumped on this piece and was able to snag it for free.) One problem, though, was that the drawers were pretty marked up and it had been poorly painted with chalk paint at some point years ago. Sometimes, if I like the color of a piece, but it’s got a lot of scuffs on it, I pull out my Magic Eraser. For this piece, I used it on all nine drawers and they came out remarkably clean.

Even though I liked the bluish-gray, there just wasn’t enough “sweetness” in this room. You know what I’m talking about: the soft, warm pinks and whites and gold accents with delicious sickly-sweet candles. A cotton candy kind of sweet. That’s what I was going for. So I decided that I needed to up the sweetness factor on the dresser and went with a pretty peachy pink instead.

If you’ve followed any of my furniture renovations you know that I’m not afraid of a little work. This piece was no exception. It had what looked to be a Dairy Queen Blizzard explosion all down the back side of the dresser with Nerd candy in it. You wouldn’t believe how incredibly hard it is to get hardened candied ice cream off of furniture! I needed to bring out the sander.

At some point someone had also taken off the back to the dresser. After I scraped and sanded down the Nerdy ice cream mess, I went to Home Depot and grabbed 1/4-inch board that’s made for furniture backing. I had it cut to size at the store and used my nail gun to attach it to the back of the dresser.

With all of the fixes made it was time to sand the top, which was in really bad shape. I can’t tell you how many colors have adorned this dresser, but it was gray when I got it and at some point it had been white and canary yellow as well.

When it came time to paint, I wanted to try a new method. Because it was so difficult to find colors to match the pillows and rug that I had already purchased, I decided to take my Sherwin-Williams paint fan deck and pick a color that matched both the rug and the pillows. That’s how I came up with this beautiful peachy pink.

I am in love with this color. The problem with most furniture paint is that they have limited colors. These paints usually have a thick primer built in for good coverage and a light sheen finish, making it a one-stop solution, but it can also run between $45-$55 a quart. I had already blown my budget on this room, so I decided to buy Glidden flat paint at Home Depot in the Sherwin-Williams peachy pink color. I already had a solution for a protective clear coat finish, so I knew that wouldn’t be a problem.

I started with the piece upside down. If you’re brush painting, rolling, or spraying you’ll want to begin this way. It will ensure everything is painted, and it’s much easier on your low back.

It took 3 coats of flat paint to really cover the piece. Alternatively, you could use a primer and maybe get away with only 2 coats of your paint color, but you’re still painting 3 times, and the beauty of this method is that regular flat paint is relatively inexpensive.

The finished product is a dresser sprayed and rolled in Sherwin-Williams Blushing SW 6617 and finished with three coats of Dixie Belle’s Gator Hide water-repellent clear coat.

I finished it out with these drawer pulls that I got off of Amazon. They’re not real metal, but they have the look of metal, and it’s exactly what I needed to keep my costs down and the style intact.

I just love this dresser. It would be perfect for a little girl’s room . . . or a little girl’s office. I’m just saying.

Now the only thing left to do is my old desk and accompanying file cabinet. Another project for another day!

Don’t be afraid to tackle a piece that needs a little woodworking help. Have you worked on pieces outside of your comfort zone? Need help getting started? I’d love to hear about it!

For more step-by-step details of the furniture rehab process, check out the antique chifferobe that I brought back to glorious life.