From Retro to Revamped

This old dresser with top compartment was my latest adventure in furniture reincarnation. It was in one of my great aunt's homes for years until it made it's way to our home.

You won't believe what it looked like before...



This was one of my easier projects.  The bones were great, they just needed to be cleaned up and freshened.  I decided to keep a basic pallet of black and white.  This will allow it to work in most rooms.  The discrete thin black lines add interest without being overwhelming.  I used a coat of black paint over the roll out to break up the white.

Brown, yellow and white just didn't do this piece justice.

The bulk of the time was spent getting the yellow paint off.  It took about 4 hours to strip it all.  I used a paint stripper, a scraper and a couple sanding blocks, eventually it all came off. 

I used white primer to cover some of the dark spots and even out the color.  Then I followed with white spray paint to coat the piece and give is a more finished look.  After that was dry I painted the black line detail by hand (with a little help from painter's tape).  I kept the original knobs, but I spray painted the smalled ones black to give it a more cohesive look.  One coat of poly later and the piece was finished in under a weekend.
*Note, when putting poly over white, make sure your sponge/brush doesn't have too much excess.  The poly has a yellow color and you don't want it to gather.