The 7 Stages of Re-doing Furniture.

Oh you didn't know there were 7 Stages of Re-doing furniture.

Well there are.

Let me run through them real quickly before I show you the dresser I/we redid for Bitsy's room.

1. The Concept- You have an idea

2. The Acquisition- This is when you scour yard sales & craigslist for the piece of furniture you wish to re-odo

3. The Excitement- You are staring at your piece of furniture that you've acquired and you are filled with the excitement of what it is about to be changed into!

4. The Frustration- HEY!  No one ever told me it would take more than a few hours to re-do furniture.  I always envisioned this being a 3 hour project!  WHY IS IT SO HOT!  UGH!  ANOTHER coat of paint?!?

5. The Exhaustion- I'm too tired.  I don't think I'll ever finish.  

6. The Anticipation- You reach this once you realize you are applying your last coat of finish!

7. The CELEBRATION- Once your piece is complete and you place it in it's rightful home, you do a little jig!  Much like child birth you forget the pain and discomfort you endured to create your masterpiece...that is until the next time you decide to take on a refinish project!

So here it is.

This is the dresser we acquired for $40 off Craigslist.

I loved the lines.

It was solid.

The downfall:

It didn't match the room.

It had laminate on top.

 First we removed all the drawers.

 Then my awesome hubby took on the sanding project.

He did a great job helping prepare this dresser for it's transformation!

 After sanding he went around filling holes and evening surfaces with filler.

 Then it was all mine.

I was excited at this point.

 I primed.

In the garage.

In 100+º weather.

WHAT WAS I THINKING!
After your prime and before you paint you should do another light sanding job and dust off your surface.
This will help ensure a smooth coat of paint.

 I had to do all the legs with a brush.

  

 So thankful Bud got these pictures before I was dripping with sweat!

I used KILZ primer.

Valspar Contractor Grade Interior Semi-Gloss Paint (Contractor grade is less expensive!)

And 2 trial size colors of Valspar paint in Twilight Meadow & Bay Mist.

 After I got the entire piece primed I was able to cover it all with white paint.

Then began the taping. 

 The best way to tackle my ombre paint job was to go from lightest to darkest.

That way if for any reason I got any of my light color on the next level down, I could easily cover it with the darker paint the next time around.

 I painted the Bay Mist stripe all the way around the dresser...

 And onto the appropriate drawers.

Each stripe got 2 coats of paint.

Amazingly there was still left over paint.

Those trial size paints are PERFECT for these projects!

 When I was ready to do my 2nd color I taped.

I taped so that a little of the lighter color would get painted and I used the handy iHandy Level app on my phone to ensure my tape was straight.

 Then came the coat of Twilight Meadow.

 I carefully worked my way around the sides of the dresser...

 and had to use a brush to do the front portions.

 As you can see I almost got some of the darker shade onto my lighter shade!

 The rollers for cabinet painting are perfect for this kind of project!

 Once everything was dry...

I sealed it all with a water soluble polyurethane.
I used a brush to do the poly on the entire dresser, I don't think those rollers would work, but I could be wrong.

 I could have skipped the poly, but I wanted to make sure it was easy to wipe up and keep clean.

 After 3 days of painting in 100+º weather I can't tell you how happy I was to see my project come to a close!

We successfully moved it up to Bitsy's room and every time I walk in there it makes me feel happy!

Next week I will show you the dresser I re-did for OUR room.

No.  I did not learn my lesson about re-doing furniture.

In fact I think I progressed to Stage 4 much quicker the 2nd time around and lingered at Stage 5 even after completing the project, but more on that next week!

Have you re-done a piece of furniture before?

What was it?

Any tips for the rest of us?

I hope you have a Blessed Thursday!