February 14, 2013 22 Comments

Painting Furniture is SUPER easy and can save you lots and lots of $$

Happy Valentine’s Day! Why not start the day off with a Pink Dresser transformation. Painting furniture is one of my favorite things to do around here because it can save a TON of money. Most of the time the style of an old/thrifted dresser far exceeds the style of a new dresser and its hefty price tag. 
I have been working on my girls’ beautiful room for awhile, and my cute hubby found this amazing dresser at the DI {Utah’s version of Goodwill} for only $40.00. It was SOL-LID and in great shape. All it needed was a little love, spray paint, and glaze.
 
How-to-paint-furniture
I get questions about spray paint ALL THE TIME, and I think some are surprised that spray paint is my preferred method of painting furniture. In fact, my spray paint 101 post is one of my most viewed posts of all time.
 There are a few main reasons why I prefer spray paint. First of all, spray paint is oil based, and in my experience oil based paint does a much better job at sticking. Secondly, spray paint {once you know what you are doing} leaves a perfect finish without brush strokes. And lastly {not leastly}, Spray paint saves me a TON of time, and that’s even with me taking my time. I go slow when I’m painting furniture because I don’t want it to look terrible at the end of the process. 
I prefer KILZ primer for most of my projects, but honestly it depends on the color I’m painting. But, most of the time I use KILZ spray original primer. 
Even though the picture below shows eight cans of KILZ, I did not use that many cans on this dresser. I only used two cans of primer on this project, and four {three and a half to be exact} cans of Krylon Watermelon. 
refinishing-furniture-products painting-furniture (4) 
After the project has several coats of primer, I sand lightly with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the gritty texture that sometimes remains after priming. It takes literally 30 seconds to sand off the gritty texture by hand.
Then the process of painting begins. I love Krylon brand, but lately I’ve learned to expand my horizons with other brands too. I like that Krylon has a variety of colors, but Rustoleum products have impressed me lately too. I am accustomed to the Krylon nozzle so I still prefer it over others, but if you don’t have a preference on nozzle and can get a smooth result with another one, have at it. 
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In order to get a finish without stripes, I prefer satin finish spray paint, but if I’m going to glaze the piece I use gloss because I know that the glaze will be covering up the stripes anyway and with gloss, I get more of a protected surface. 
Glazing furniture is super easy. I have a glazing 101 post {that even shows instructional videos}, but basically you brush on the glaze and wipe it off with either a dry cloth or a damp cloth depending on the look you are going for. 
refinishing furniture (2)  refinishing furniture (7)
Glazing is super easy. I promise you can do it.
 
glazing-furniture
The inside of the drawers needed a little love, so I found some cute fabric to line them with. I cut them the correct size and then sprayed the fabric with spray adhesive.  
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 When we got done, the dresser was soooo darn cute! painted-furniture-glazed-furniture 
refinishing-furniture (5)We replaced the pulls and knobs to be these girly crystal knobs from Home Depot.
refinishing-furniture 1Although I liked the wooden look of the dresser from the get go, it wasn’t the look I was going for.
 
refinishing-furniture (3)a refinishing-furniture
The top of the dresser was sealed with clear coat polycrylic. If you want instructions on how to seal furniture or whether or not you need to seal something you have painted or not, check out that post.
The dresser looks perfect in the girl’s room. I love that the top drawers mimic the plaid/kris-cross pattern in the walls and on the rug.  Now I just need a few accessories! painting-furniture
My girl’s room is pretty much complete!  The girls’ headboards were super easy too. If you want instructions for the headboard project check it out. 
Pink Dresser
I’m not going to lie, it’s my favorite room in the house and I find myself hanging out up there a lot! I guess it’s time to change up the rest of the house, right!?!

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Comments

  1. Tyra says:
    February 14, 2013 at 6:23 pm

    It’s super cute and I love their room.

    Reply
  2. Alessandra Mulcahy says:
    February 14, 2013 at 9:44 pm

    I need for you and MAndy to come to my house and redo it top to bottom. Love your Page and everything you do!

    http://www.etsy.com/shop/thelinebyalemulcahy

    Reply
  3. Kathy Pruett says:
    February 14, 2013 at 10:00 pm

    How do I pin this? I don’t see a button …

    Reply
    • All Things Thrifty Admin says:
      February 15, 2013 at 3:47 am

      Kathy, if you hold your mouse over the picture, a P should appear in the left corner. Click that and it’ll take you directly to your pinterest account. I have added two pin-it buttons though. One at the top and one at the bottom. Hope this helps!

      Reply
  4. txvoodoo says:
    February 14, 2013 at 10:54 pm

    Hi, Brooke – I have a lot of furniture and cabinet painting projects in my to-do list. I’m wondering if you’ve used, or have considered buying/using a paint sprayer, rather than using cans of spray paint? It seems to me like it would end up being less expensive, long term?

    I’m going to be painting some old furniture, and my bathroom cabinets. I’d love to totally replace them, but that’s not in the budget! My master bath has 1 row of cabinets that’s 102″ (!!) and another 60″ row, plus 1 set of 35″-wide ceiling-height cabinets. I love all the storage, but they’re all the original cabinets from 1985, and are just..well, yeah. :D

    Reply
  5. KC Bailey says:
    February 15, 2013 at 12:49 am

    Love their room! This dresser is perfect! Great job!

    Reply
  6. Amanda says:
    February 15, 2013 at 3:14 pm

    LOVE IT! I follow your blog but never post! I love to thrift and spray paint is my best friend. Love a good bargain! Keep it up and you’ve inspired me to start a different type of blog about our weekend farm. If you have time, check it out. http://www.hookedonthefarm.com

    Amanda

    Reply
  7. decoratewithalittlebit.com says:
    February 15, 2013 at 5:23 pm

    great tute! the piece turned out wonderful. The glass knobs were a perfect choice. Little Bit from http://www.DecorateWithaLittleBit.com

    Reply
  8. AviLynn says:
    February 19, 2013 at 3:40 am

    I love this dresser & that color is beautiful! Jelly! I have yet to glaze though, am I the only diyer that just doesn’t like it? I feel like odd man out on this one.

    Reply
  9. Aldis Green says:
    February 20, 2013 at 6:02 am

    Isn’t this dresser looks shabby after get painted with pink color..? I mean that luster is missing that should be noteworthy.

    Commercial Hotel Furniture

    Reply
  10. Kara says:
    February 20, 2013 at 6:03 am

    I’m a fan of spray painting furniture too, it is such a time saver! I love how you made the insides of the drawers cute. Just perfect!

    Reply
  11. DIY Playbook says:
    March 1, 2013 at 1:48 am

    What a creative room, the pink dresser is the perfect touch!

    Reply
  12. Katie Jones says:
    March 31, 2013 at 9:07 pm

    if you need the matching night stand I found it on craigslist here in new Hampshire! lol

    http://nh.craigslist.org/fuo/3662620669.html

    Reply
  13. Ashley says:
    April 14, 2013 at 4:46 pm

    Can you share where you got the rug? The whole room is adorable! Great job!!

    Reply
  14. Angie says:
    May 7, 2013 at 9:33 pm

    Looks awesome, thanks for sharing. Can I ask where you got the fabric to line the drawers?

    Reply
  15. Kimberly Robyn says:
    May 9, 2013 at 10:04 am

    This entire room is just beautiful. The dresser just makes it even more so. Wonderfully done.

    Reply

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