So, I’ve had this furniture since I was 10. Not exaggerating. Literally, I picked it out in the fifth grade. At the time it also included a twin bed with a canopy, which I’ve since outgrown. Safe to say, this is some high quality stuff. A couple of scuffs and nicks aside, the furniture itself was in pretty good shape.

Now the paint. It had originally started out as an ivory with gold accents. Perfect for a 10-year-old girl! A couple of years ago, when I was moving in with my boyfriend, we decided to ‘update’ it by spray painting it brown. Right.

I don’t have ‘before’ photos of all the pieces but you get the idea. On top of the hideous color, the spray paint was beginning to peel off in certain areas, making it all look very sad. This prompted my first attempt at a furniture makeover..

I started with the nightstand, then tackled two dressers. After removing the hardware, I sanded off the heinous spray paint. Mind you, my only previous experience with sanding was a jewelry box in 6th grade wood shop. I remembered it being fun. At the time, it had taken me a good two weeks to sand a single jewelry box. Sanding is not fun. It is, however, a fantastic arm workout. If you plan to do this, I would highly recommend purchasing or borrowing a power sander. And wearing gloves. My gel manicure was no match for that sandpaper. Oh well.

Since my paint had a primer mixed in, I didn’t focus too much on getting all the brown paint off. I did try to remove as much of the gloss texture as possible and sanded the wood down to help the new paint go on smoothly. Then I got to painting!

You really don’t realize how much surface area something like a dresser has. This pretty robin’s egg blue is called Indian Ocean by Behr. My boyfriend (an expert painter who repaints rooms for fun) picked up the kind with primer mixed in. 

I also spray painted the hardware a pretty ivory color.

Two coats (and three weekends) later, I had new furniture! Isn’t it pretty? I just love it. I feel like my dresser looks like a Tiffany’s box. And who doesn’t love a Tiffany’s box?! The set also has a desk and a chair which I plan to turn into a vanity (my bathroom is WAY too small to house my growing arsenal of makeup), so stay tuned!

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