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Hello! I'm Suzannah, a serious DIYer and mom of two little ones. Follow along with my DIY fixer upper house renovations, sewing and crafty projects, real food recipes, and de-stressing goals.
I believe you can love your home just the way it is, AND have the power to design and make big changes to make it better.
I'm also the author of DIY Wardrobe Makeovers!

Before & After: Dresser makeover!

With moving and everything, our needs for storage have changed a lot and I've been on the lookout for cute dressers and other things to store clothes, linens, etc.  I found this dresser at Goodwill Outlet for $15 and took it home for my bedroom.
It had quite a few chipped places, and I didn't like the color...
I washed it down with TSP to prep it for a new coat of paint.  I had a quart of high-gloss burnt orange paint that someone had given us, so I figured, why not see how that looks?
It ended up taking several coats of paint... like, 6.  Luckily the paint dried really, really quickly, so I was able to do a few coats a day.
I don't like the way painted furniture looks with brush strokes, so I used a small memory foam-type roller to put the paint on everywhere except around the handles where the roller couldn't reach.  There, I used a small brush and then a foam dauber to get rid of the brush strokes.
Ta-da!  I don't looove the color, but I added some pretty birthday gift flowers from a friend's garden and my vintage aqua jewelry box, and it's looking better...
Yay!

We haven't painted the bedroom yet, so I don't know what it'll look like for sure when we're done, but it works for now, too.  Although I did put on the last spot-touch-up coat shortly before getting dressed this morning, and so of course I had to get my jeans out of the bottom drawer veeeeery carefully!!  Haha.
Furniture painting is so easy and makes such a big difference!  Have any of you done any great furniture piece makeover projects recently??

13 comments

  1. Nice work!
    A layer or 2 of white before the new colour helps hide the old one too :)

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  2. I have the same vintage jewelry box!! It was a gift from my BFF and it needs re-doing (the paper covering is peeling away) but the inside is beautiful. I love it!

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  3. The accessories really compliment the color you chose. It seems very soothing! We just got a new shelf from Ikea and I think the accessories really made the different.
    http://silverrosesewing.blogspot.com/2010/09/thank-you-ikea.html

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  4. Very nice! I would have never chosen that color, but it looks so well put together with all of your lovely accessories. Keep the ideas coming... I recently moved too :)

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  5. Great job! This makes me want to go look for cheap furniture to spruce up.


    Just Better Together

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  6. you have done a great job on a not (IMHO) very inspiring piece. Looks like there is lots of storage.

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  7. My husband and I just moved to Portland about a month ago, and I've been following your blog for a bit. I love it and your creative ideas! We did some furniture re-dos when we first moved into our new place: http://apearledlife.blogspot.com/2010/08/keeping-busy.html

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  8. The color looks pretty awesome when you have those fun accessories on the dresser! Very cute!

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  9. Lovely! To re-use old things is to love them (and the environment). Who doesn´t want a long life?
    My son is moving out so I´m taking över his room. It will be my study. Some old things will be re-used.... :-)

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  10. Anonymous9/10/2010

    If I had that lovely piece, I'd have to paint the pulls/handles a contrasting color. Or even replace them with something funky! My kitchen cabinets were the same burnt orange with off-white trim. I don't know why the previous owners of the house painted them that color, but the off white helped a lot!!

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  11. That orange looks great with that teal box on top. Nice job on the paint. It looks very smooth in the photos.

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  12. I have that same jewelry box - it was my grandmother's :) Unfortunately it suffered a bit during my last move (overseas) and part of the top looks rat-eaten. But it's on top of my dresser, still being used.

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  13. Great job. Thumbs up. It really looks new after re furnishing it. :)

    Toddler Dressers

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