One day, I spotted a tired old dresser. Scratched, stained wood. Dulled, dingy finish. It was quite literally begging for new life. The lines were good. Dovetailed drawers. Wood, not particle board. The hubs was kind enough to cart it home for me (he’s a pickup man!), and there it sat in my garage while I looked for inspiration. It was free, so a great time to take a daring step out of beigedom.
Pinterest had lots of great ideas and with chalk paint, I didn’t even have to sand the darn thing down before getting in there with the red paint I was dying to apply!
I wiped the whole thing down and dried it to get it prepped for the red chalk paint (Valspar Chalky Paint in Ruby Earbobs). I removed the yucky, rusty brass hardware and ran them through the dishwasher hehe! (the white porcelain knobs looked great). Three nice coats of chalk paint later, it was very, very red (I used a paint roller and a brush to apply all the coats of paint). The red was a bit… brighter… than I pictured, frankly. The hubs was skeptical.
Valspar Antiquing Wax rubbed on with a cloth darkened it into that lovely old, red of the inspo piece. The results were dramatic and immediate! It looked 100% better. whew!
I spray-painted the rusty brass pulls black. Then I distressed them with a fine grit sandpaper to let some brass peek through. Much better!
I knew just the place to stage it in my main living area, and it’s a perfect fit! Im loving the way it looks – a little color in our life. And it looks great with the accents and Esty sign above it.
It needs to dry for 30 days and then I’m going to give it a nice coat of satin poly. Anyone have other thoughts? Have you refinished a found piece? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!
