{Wood & White Dresser Makeover}

Hey, y'all!  I have been very busy for about a week now since school started back.  I haven't had the chance to be my normal crafty self, so I don't have any awesome projects in the works right now.  I do have a project to share that you haven't seen yet.  A while back, I bought a dresser from my local Habitat Restore.

As you can see, I paid $50 for this old gal.  Because I could tell the dresser was older and had dovetailed drawer joints, I figured it was worth the $50.  I had been seeing wood tone and white dressers around the web, and I knew this dresser would be perfect for that treatment.  (I did the combo on my Sad to Fab Table Makeover, and I've wanted to do it again ever since.)  I started by stripping the drawers.

I used Citristrip for the first time on this project, and it was like unwrapping a present when I scraped the paint off and saw the beautiful wood underneath!

Of course after I stripped the drawers, I gave them a good sanding.  I then stained them with a dark stain and sealed with with a few coats of Polycrylic.  Next I had to work on the body of the dresser that had a few more problems that I originally realized.  You see, I see old furniture through my makeover-maven rose-colored safety glasses, and I don't always take the time to notice problems.  That happened with this dresser.

The top layer of wood--I guess you'd call it the veneer even though this piece is wood--was missing in places.  I thought I could just patch those places, but upon closer inspection, I realized that the veneer was loose in quite a few places.  My dad and I decided the best thing to do would be to peel all the veneer off the top.

We replaced the veneer with a thin sheet of plywood and then I sanded the entire body of the dresser.  I sprayed it with a coat of Kilz primer and a few coats of white Krylon spray paint.  The last step of the makeover was to find new hardware for the drawers.

I posted this pic on Instagram (@PitterandGlink) when I was trying to decide which handles to buy.  I ended up buying both, but I decided to use the mercury glass ones on this dresser.  I think they were the perfect finishing touch.

I am in LOVE with the dark wood paired with the crisp white paint!

I want to makeover every piece of furniture now with a dark wood and white finish, but I'm trying to practice self-restraint.

I have actually had this dresser finished for a long time.  I took these final pictures a while back, but I didn't really like them.  Since I haven't had time to do any new projects lately, I decided that I'd just go ahead and use them so I could share this project with you.  I guess Pinterest puts a lot of pressure on bloggers to have "Pinterest perfect" photos, but even though I don't consider these final pics Pinterest perfect, I think they adequately show you just how much different the dresser looks now.  

So I'm curious: what cool furniture finishes have you seen on the web lately that you'd like to try out?