DIY Before & After - Dresser How To

The other day I posted my dresser reveal on my Instagram page @home_bycourt and I received a lot of questions on how to do this, what kind of paint to use, how to sand them down, how I made the hardware work and so on. Therefore I figured what better way to share the steps on how to do this and hopefully answer all of your questions than a blog! (pictures below show the after and then what the dressers looked like before).

Step 1 - Make sure you have everything you will need - my checklist is below -

1. Paint brush (small enough to get the tedious spots) - don't cheap out on the brush! Cannot stress that enough. The better the brush the better/easier the paint goes on.

2. Advance Benjamin Moore paint - I have only used this brand so that's why I always recommend Advance paint. This doesn't mean there aren't other options out there but coming from experience with this brand, I have had no issues with it. It goes on smooth and nice, and it holds up VERY well. For this specific project I purchased Advance Benjamin Moore Paint in the color White Dove in a Matte finish. It was my first time getting the Matte finish, usually I get Satin, but I LOVE how the Matte came out. It left a much more flat finish - almost chalk paint like. I purchased a quart and it was more than enough for two dressers.

3. Stix Primer - Does not have to be the "Stix" brand. There are many different primers you can use. Using primer tends to be up to you if you feel as though you need to use it. I did not use it on these pieces and they came out fine but I did use it on my kitchen cabinets and my dining room table because they could get wet and such. Totally your call if you want to apply a coat of this on before going in with the paint.

4. Mini roller cage & mini rollers - These smaller roller cages and rollers/frames (the sponge like part that you use to paint - not sure if there is another name for these lol) are perfect for all projects like this! They can get in smaller areas and they put the paint on so evenly. HIGHLY recommend using these.

5. Sanding blocks - All brands do the same but some are linked here. I would purchase more than 1 - I used 4 different blocks for the two dressers.

6. Paint Tray - Need this for the roller. They even have mini ones for the smaller rollers.

7. Drop cloths - Put these down to make sure the paint does not get on the floor or splatter anywhere. You can use towels, cardboard, or whatever you would like.

8. Hardware - If you plan to change this. The hardware I used is linked here.

9. Screwdriver & screws - For the hardware when it's time to add these.

Step 2 - Sand down the piece you plan to paint. Unless the piece is previously painted and is chipping or has some serious stains on it, you don't have to go crazy with the sanding down. Just lightly sand down the wood and then wipe off all the sanding dust with a towel.

Step 3 - Take out all drawers if they can come out & remove all hardware. On these two pieces, the drawers would not come out so therefore I just painted the front sides of the drawers to make it look the best I could. No one really see's the sides of the drawers or inside anyways so it doesn't bother me that they are still the wood color.

Step 4 - If you plan to use Stix Primer, then this is when you would apply it. Using a mini roller, apply a light coat of stix primer to the entire piece including the drawers. Let this dry for a couple hours before moving forward.

Step 5 - Begin painting! Use the paint brush to get the tedious spots and then use the mini rollers to get the rest of the piece. Wait a few hours in between coats so it doesn't just continue to take the paint off.

Step 6 - Once you've applied the last coat of paint, let it dry, and the painting portion of your piece is done!

IF YOU ARE CHANGING THE HARDWARE - CONTINUE ON...

Step 7 - Now is the time to put on the hardware that you purchased. When purchasing the hardware, usually I will bring the old piece with me to line it up and make sure it will work. For me with this piece I ran into some issues because I planned to reuse the ones that were on it and just distress them. I then decided I wanted to do different hardware so I had to sand down the areas we painted around the knobs since we didn't take them off. Therefore I recommend always taking the hardware off before painting! If you decide to reuse them then you can paint them after. Not worth making the paint job on the drawer uneven.

Step 8 - I would also purchase different sized screws or bring the old screws from the original hardware with you when you look at hardware options. Most dressers use different sized screws so I have definitely ran into that problem before. Make sure you have options when it comes to the screws so you don't have to run back and forth to the store multiple times!

Step 9 - Once you have the screws and hardware use the correct style screw driver to attach them to the dresser and from there your dresser should be complete!

There are many other styles you can do when painting dressers like leaving the drawer faces wood and paint everything else around them, distress the whole piece after painting it with sanding blocks, distress the knobs, only paint the drawer faces and so on. Totally up to you and the style you have going on in your home! It's a great way to take an older piece and totally revamp it to look brand new!

Hope this helps XO