The Lazy Girl's Dresser Makeover

I have very little patience. The idea of sanding and stripping furniture is not my cup of tea.

So I present to you: The Lazy Girl's Dresser Makeover.

I've had this dresser since I was a little girl. It was originally a blonde wood with cute little flowers on each drawer. And by the time I hit high school, I was tired of it. My mom let me redo my room, so I covered the walls in a gorgeous sage green and slapped some chocolate brown paint on all the furniture.

Fast forward to me graduating college and and moving to Wichita. My parents let me take all the childhood furniture wanted, so I did. And it hasn't matched anything since.

It just sat there, shoved in a corner, looking all sad and unmatchy. And now it doesn't even fit in my bedroom, so it has spent the last four months hanging out in the spare bedroom (aka the storage room).

I hate not taking advantage of such prime storage space, so I decided to drag it out to the living room to be used as a buffet cabinet. And if I'm going to use it in the living room, we're going to be done with this tragic unmatchiness.

Please take note, this all happened in the living room. In front of the tv. I told you this was the lazy girl way.

I read a few tutorials that used a heavy duty cleaner to scrub down the piece before starting. I opted for a simple rag with warm water. There really wasn't any build up on the dresser that required something so harsh, and I didn't want to have to buy new cleaning supplies. The water appeared to do the trick.

While I waited for the first coat to dry, I used Elmer's wood filler to fill in the knob holes.

The existing knobs are nice, but not the style I'm looking to achieve. I planned to buy new hardware, so I wanted to be able to have options on placement.

The dresser got a second coat of paint, and I waited a day to sand down the wood filler and put two coats on each of the drawers.

I used a satin finish paint, so there is not much gloss to the finished product. I think I'll leave it like that for a while and see how it holds up. Depending on what I decide to do with the other furniture in the room, I may add a polyurethane to make it shine more.

And while the piece looks nice, I don't think it really makes a statement as is. I suppose since it's just there to hold junk, that's probably for the better.