Isn't she pretty?!?!?!

**WARNING: I don't think I know how to write a short post. You've been warned.**

Well, I FINALLY got around to finishing something!! Yay!! We have this dresser that was purchased for $20 at a garage sale nearly 2 years ago. Seriously. It sat in my parents' garage (since we were living there at the time) for the first several months. When we moved into this place it became Payson's dresser. Then we inherited my childhood bedroom furniture (which I'm just realizing I still haven't posted pictures of). Anyway, so then it was moved into the main bathroom. Why? I don't know. It was just the only place the thing fit. It sat there empty for about a year. Eventually we started throwing games in it. Yep. We stored our family games in a random dresser in our bathroom. Random? Yes. So this last week we FINALLY brought it downstairs and decided to finish it!! And I couldn't be more excited!

Before pictures: Oops! I forgot to take pictures of the whole thing all together before we started. And I was way too lazy/anxious to get started to put the drawers back in and take a picture. So here it is. Game filled drawers sitting on the couch. Loving that pink contact paper inside the drawers, aren't you? :)


And the topless dresser. When we bought the dresser there was this weird Formica top on it. It literally looked like this:


In that bottom color. Seriously. With the metal trim and everything. Ew.

We thought we would be able to pull that off and refinish the solid piece of wood underneath. Then we found out the there was no solid piece of wood underneath. Lovely. So this is what we were left with:



So I measured and sent Jason to pick up a piece of pine from Home Depot. They cut it for free, so it was actually super easy and convenient.



Next step? Cleaning! Quick detour: So several years ago I decided that it would be so cool to refinish some furniture. We were broke and I wanted nice, pretty stuff and I was willing to put some work into it. So I started shopping thrift stores. Ha! I was so naive. I had no idea what I was doing. I ended up purchasing a wood laminate table. I peeled off the laminate thinking I'd be able to refinish whatever was underneath. Double ha! MDF particle board crap. Ew. I ended up trying to paint and sand the top anyway. It was awful. I had no idea what I was doing. It really was a laughable attempt.

My next attempt was a headboard. This one Jason and I actually built. We found directions on a DIY website and followed them pretty closely. It turned out pretty well, actually. I wish I had pictures! Oh! Wait! I found one! Kind of. This is as good as it gets. You can at least see the door part and the finish. It had a pretty cool mantel type top on it with lighting underneath for reading. It was kind of awesome. I'm trying to remember why we got rid of it, actually...

Anyway, so back to the dresser. I was a little worried about starting the project because of the previous attempts. I didn't want it to look cheap. Especially since I have some professional furniture coming soon. I didn't want it to look out of place. So I called the company making my furniture (it's Four Chairs, by the way) and asked them the name and brand of paint they were using to finish one of the pieces I ordered. I wanted the shades to match so I just ordered paint and stain from them.

So first we took out the drawers and removed that ugly pink paper. Then it was time to clean! I had emailed one of my favorite bloggers (thanks, Becca!) for some tips on refinishing furniture and checked out some different posts on refinishing. She recommended this for cleaning:



I enlisted some adorable helpers and got to work. (Had to throw on Daddy's old t shirts to make sure they didn't get anything on their clothes. In case you were wondering about our fashion sense.)



Next was primer. And then the first coat of paint after the primer was dry.



While coats were drying we did fun things as a family. We played the Wii, went to the bowling alley, grabbed some lunch. It was such a fun family day!

After the second coat of paint:



Two coats of paint was really all this one needed to look even and covered. Once it was completely dry we started sanding. I wanted it to be aged and antiqued looking. So I sanded every edge and then a few spots here and there on the drawers. At this point Jason thought I was just ruining all the hard work we had done. He didn't have the vision. :)

The white paint came through and it was interesting to find some silver metallic paint under that as well before I got to the wood. But none of it bothered me at all. I actually really liked it!



The next step was to actually attach the top piece and cover everything in a walnut stain/glaze. When it was dry I had to stick the drawers back in for a minute to see how it was coming along.



Once that was dry we added a coat of poly and let it dry. Then I lightly sanded it and added another coat. When I woke up this morning, everything was dry and ready to be put back together! So I added some new antiqued brass knobs and put the drawers back in and slid the dresser into it's permanent place!





These guys were almost as excited about the finished product as I was!



I know it's not perfect, but it's exactly what I hoped for! I think it will blend it nicely with the new stuff. I couldn't be more proud of my work! And now I can't even tell you how excited I am to finish the next piece!! Can you believe this pretty little dresser cost me about $60? And only that much because I had to spend $25 on that piece of pine for the top. Anyway, tell me how awesome I am and how pretty she is, because I'm ridiculously proud of this thing!! :)

edit: I linked up to Blue Cricket Design's Show and Tell and Finding Fabulous's Frugalicious Friday and Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday!!