One Weekend D.I.Y.

I had plans to take before pictures, but it slipped my mind until I began painting the front of my dresser. So my apologies for not having a true before and after.

Much of my Grandpa's antique and old furniture now lives in my basement. It's been stored there for about six years now. After my Grandfather was hospitalized from a fall he took, he was admitted to a nursing home for physical therapy and rehabilitation. We moved his things out of his apartment and into our home, in the hopes that his stay at the nursing home would be short and we could move him into another apartment in a few months. Unfortunately that didn't happen and my grandfather passed away. Not a day goes by where something doesn't remind me of him, and all the stories and wisdom he passed on to me.

Out of the furniture that he left there was one piece that I always thought was pretty cool. A three drawer dresser, or a chest? I'm not sure, apparently I'm wrong for calling it a dresser... no one else in my family refers to it as such.

Anyway, when my Grandpa lived close by I would often clean his apartment and polish the furniture, this was one of my favorite pieces because it held random knick knacks, vintage photos, a short story my grandpa wrote, letters, and even a typewritten family tree that was written in German. The piece doesn't hold any value aside from sentimental, so I thought it fitting to keep.

Upon graduation next year, I intend to move into an apartment once I find a job. New York apartments tend to be small, as I'm sure they are in most places. But I figured having an extra dresser would be nice for storage. The dresser is pretty solid, and the drawers, although hard to move because of the lack of tracks, are dove tailed (which you just cant find nowadays... at least not in the price range of a college student).

"Before"... after sanding, and partially painted

This whole project was done, with the help of my Dad in two days. This is an easy weekend DIY for any student or apartment dweller on a budget!

The first thing we did was sand the dresser. We used cabinet paint, which doesn't require you to strip the furniture down to bare wood. You simply need to remove any shine or gloss. We sanded some parts down further to try to even out any dents or scratches. This was super easy to do with an electric sander.

I captured a Rattata while my Dad finished up sanding (ignore the socks and sandals 😅)

Next I wiped the dresser down with a cloth to make sure everything was even. I then followed with a damp sponge to remove any remaining dust.

Next we began painting. I chose a Valspar paint from Lowes. In order to make furniture or cabinet paint it was mixed at the paint counter with the proper solution.

My quart of cabinet enamel

I chose Valspar's 'Grand Hotel Mackinac Blue'

Coat Number One

This is what it looked like after the first coat. I also decided to spray paint the original knobs. I may decide to change these eventually, but I figured spray painting them would be easier than attempting to sand them and paint them the same color as the drawers.

My Metallic Drawer Pulls

Also this happened. "Midas Touch"

Now the piece is complete! I'll be sure to post the completed piece to my instagram, follow me @simplyluxeblog!

Have you done any DIYs recently? Link me to your pictures, I would love to see them.

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