dresser day one

nic & i needed a dresser (or chest of drawers as I call it, though everyone else seems to think that's weird) for our master bedroom. we spotted this one in December at Savers (Littleton, CO) and fell in love! This was before we had plans to buy a house or picked one- so I didn't include the money spent on it into our $1500 budget, because it was really before the budget was even invented!
But... let me brag. It was $20.
my dad knows a lot about wood furniture and was so impressed by it's craftsmanship. The drawers are dove tailed and made of mahogany & all around, it was just a really beautiful piece. But, it did have some surface imperfections and we have really dark "wood" (it's from ikea so i use the term wood loosely) bedroom furniture, which we didn't want it to compete with- so, we decided to paint it. At first we were planning on this lovely shade of red, but in the end- yellow just seemed to fit better in our sunny bedroom.


I've never painted a piece of furniture before. In fact, the only thing I've ever painted is some frames (with spray paint) and that was only a couple of months ago. So, I was a bit weary of this project and rightfully so; painting can be intimidating! I followed the instructions from Young House Love with some of my own tweaks (which i may regret once it's done!)

I went to home depot this morning and bought behr paint & primer in 1 (eliminating both the primer and the gloss step- or so the old man in Paint told me) the shade: golden chalice.
I wanted mustard but definitely not bright & crazy- more muted and subdued. It's not looking very subdued in the pictures but it is in person, I'm really liking it.

The paint was $14 (i bought a quart) and then I bought a mini sponge roller, 2 roller refills & a 4 pack of 100 grit sand paper. Total: $31

I would totally recommend the post from Young House Love- but here's what I did:

sanded each piece with 100 grit sandpaper. (i used an electric hand sander for most of it, and just by hand for the edges)
dusted it completely (use an air compressor if you have access to one)
painted the first coat

(The blue is painter's tape- don't worry. we're leaving the rattan drawer inserts in their natural, woody color- you'll see :)

and now i patiently wait till tomorrow where I'll sand it gently and then paint the 2nd coat. Still debating about adding pulls. I'm excited to see what nic thinks about that when he gets home from work.
more photos to come of the finished project!
What we got:
a 1960's 9 drawer modern dresser with rattan drawer inserts.
paint & supplies to make-it over.
What we spent:
$31
Budget remaining:
$1469