Finally, I finished re-finishing my dresser 2.2. And it came out fabulous.
If you remember, this is where it was. Waiting its turn in the dusty basement while my chairs got sanded.
But now it was his turn. I started with my handy-dandy sander and sanded the whole thing down.
I had my vision! Dark stained top with the rest painted in a color that would look great against either the gray or the yellow walls in my house that I have recently painted.
I did the first coat of the stain on top and it started looking streaky. Given my experience with my sewing machine table, I knew that, those weren't just going away. The stubborn shellack or whatever it was from before, was not completely removed with the sander alone.
So, I went back to my trusty resource, "Google", and landed upon my best discovery of the season.
CitriStrip!
Why?
1. It smells great.
2. It can be used indoors and you won't faint from it.
3. It is environmentally safe.
4. It actually works well. I was able to get the whole top stripped in about 2 hrs tops. It actually starts to work while you are applying it to the other parts of the project.
5. It is available at Home Depot which is at a walkable distance from my home.
Then I used Minwax water based stain (again, environmentally safe, quick work time and easy clean up) in Onyx, and did about 3 coats.
The top had original imperfections. But that's what makes it even better.
pic
I finished the top with 3 coats of water based Polycrylic.
Environmentally safe, quick work time and easy clean up. I guess you guys are getting my basic strategy, right?
pic
After the polycrylic was completely dried for about 48 hours, I started working on the rest of the dresser, which was a little easier because I was going to paint it, and finally going to give spray painting a try. On my last visit to Home Depot I had stumbled upon the beautiful Rust-Oleum Pearl Mist spray.
I sanded the drawer fronts and the dresser sides down lightly. I gave a whirl of the Pearl Mist spray to one drawer front. But it was very opaque and started looking almost sad gray.
pic
So I decided to do a base coat of white using a few coats of Behr semigloss white paint that I had leftover from my kitchen cabinet paint job.
After doing the first coat I gave the Pearl mist another try and realized that there were too many imperfections in the surface for the beautiful pearly color to look good.
So, I filled as many of them as possible with wood putty. Let it dry for a few hours and sanded it down.
Gave another of white to the entire dresser and started with the spray paint, only to realize I was not afraid of spray paint for nothing. Even with the new easy spray handle of the Pearl mist spray, it was going on blotchy, and at $7.5/bottle, I was not going to buy beyond the two I had already purchased. So I decided to keep the back just white. Spray painted the rest of the dresser as evenly as I could.
And, I have to say, I like it. The white base coat gives it the color I want and the unevenness of the pearly shimmer makes it look great!
Ofcourse, some mushroom knobs and a quick cleanup of the existing hardware with vinegar + hot water soaking completed the look.
Then I drilled hole to the back side of the center-middle drawer and a coordinating hole on the back side. That is where all the wired things go with cables coming out neatly on the back.
pic
I love it against my sunny yellow nook, along side my thrift store finds filled with colorful Christmas ornaments and my beautiful antique mirror!
If you remember, this is where it was. Waiting its turn in the dusty basement while my chairs got sanded.
But now it was his turn. I started with my handy-dandy sander and sanded the whole thing down.
I had my vision! Dark stained top with the rest painted in a color that would look great against either the gray or the yellow walls in my house that I have recently painted.
I did the first coat of the stain on top and it started looking streaky. Given my experience with my sewing machine table, I knew that, those weren't just going away. The stubborn shellack or whatever it was from before, was not completely removed with the sander alone.
So, I went back to my trusty resource, "Google", and landed upon my best discovery of the season.
CitriStrip!Why?
1. It smells great.
2. It can be used indoors and you won't faint from it.
3. It is environmentally safe.
4. It actually works well. I was able to get the whole top stripped in about 2 hrs tops. It actually starts to work while you are applying it to the other parts of the project.
5. It is available at Home Depot which is at a walkable distance from my home.
Then I used Minwax water based stain (again, environmentally safe, quick work time and easy clean up) in Onyx, and did about 3 coats.
The top had original imperfections. But that's what makes it even better.
pic
I finished the top with 3 coats of water based Polycrylic.
Environmentally safe, quick work time and easy clean up. I guess you guys are getting my basic strategy, right?
pic
After the polycrylic was completely dried for about 48 hours, I started working on the rest of the dresser, which was a little easier because I was going to paint it, and finally going to give spray painting a try. On my last visit to Home Depot I had stumbled upon the beautiful Rust-Oleum Pearl Mist spray.I sanded the drawer fronts and the dresser sides down lightly. I gave a whirl of the Pearl Mist spray to one drawer front. But it was very opaque and started looking almost sad gray.
pic
So I decided to do a base coat of white using a few coats of Behr semigloss white paint that I had leftover from my kitchen cabinet paint job.
After doing the first coat I gave the Pearl mist another try and realized that there were too many imperfections in the surface for the beautiful pearly color to look good.
So, I filled as many of them as possible with wood putty. Let it dry for a few hours and sanded it down.
Gave another of white to the entire dresser and started with the spray paint, only to realize I was not afraid of spray paint for nothing. Even with the new easy spray handle of the Pearl mist spray, it was going on blotchy, and at $7.5/bottle, I was not going to buy beyond the two I had already purchased. So I decided to keep the back just white. Spray painted the rest of the dresser as evenly as I could.
And, I have to say, I like it. The white base coat gives it the color I want and the unevenness of the pearly shimmer makes it look great!
Ofcourse, some mushroom knobs and a quick cleanup of the existing hardware with vinegar + hot water soaking completed the look.
Then I drilled hole to the back side of the center-middle drawer and a coordinating hole on the back side. That is where all the wired things go with cables coming out neatly on the back.
pic
I love it against my sunny yellow nook, along side my thrift store finds filled with colorful Christmas ornaments and my beautiful antique mirror!
