gray stripe dresser makeover

so i bought this little dresser off craigslist forever ago!  at the time i couldn't decide how i wanted to finish it (it came completely unfinished) so i ended up just filling it up with junk and so it stayed for several until i decided on a design.  i bought it because i really liked the interior because each drawer is separated into 3 little compartments based on where the trenches are but i wasn't a big fan of how all the little knobs and trenches looked on the front.  my boyfriend likes that sort of apothecary look but it was just too busy for me.  

so i totally redid the whole of the dresser and it looks completely different now!!  much more sleek and modern and the darker grey stripes are done in chalkboard paint so i can label each drawer with what's inside!  

if you want to redo your own dresser, start by cleaning up your dresser.  notice i have crap all over mine and in the background..and a little bunny cave in the back.  

next remove all the knobs and fill in the holes and any other imperfections (aka giant trenches) with wood putty.  i sanded it after a couple hours while it's still sort of softish then let it dry completely.  it will shrink a little bit after it's completely dry so it's best to wait then reapply.  this is what took me the longest since the dry time is usually pretty long hence the lack of pictures.  

that whole fiasco took me like 5 days just cause i could only do about 10 minutes of work a day.  after that i kind of forgot about photos sorry!!  so after you'd filled everything in so it's all smooth in the front, you can cut the handles out.  i actually did mine by hand with a leatherman, 'cause i'm hardcoare like that hah.  and it actually went pretty fast.  but i think that's because this dresser is made of pine which is pretty soft.  and i had a lot of sanding to do afterwards but it only took me about 45 minutes to finish all 3 handles.

after that, it's pretty simple: just clean the dresser again making sure you get all the sawdust and other particulates off.  prime and paint!  the lighter color is a mis-tint and the darker grey is 'sweatshirt gray' by benjamin moore.

to get the chalkboard effect, just add 1 tablespoon  unsanded grout to 1/2 cup of paint and mix!  this makes the paint super thick and chunky so if you have to do several layers like i did you might feel a definite ridge wherever you tape it off.  to prime your chalkboard just lay a piece of chalk down against the surface and lightly run it all over, wipe and it's ready to use!

and that's it!  i was really intimidated at first to change the look so much but it was a lot easier than i thought.  it was really hard to imagine how i wanted it to look with all the knobs and trenches in the front.  but i really like the way it turned out and now i have a cool place to store all my crafting supplies!

do you have any old outdated furniture you want to makeover?  or maybe a cheap CL find?  

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