Gradient Green Dresser

Last week, I decided to get the power window fixed on the passenger side of our van. It took forever and was done just in time for me to get my oldest from school. One week to the day, the driver power window decided to fail - and fall down into the door. Monsoon season in Arizona? Yep, I was at the mechanics first thing Tuesday morning. This time, they got done faster and I had time for a trip to Home Goods (nearby-ish) before heading home. I found the perfect nightstands for the master bedroom... at a pretty decent price too!

However, I came home with the feeling that I really needed to get something out of my garage and into my house, especially since I was adding 2 more pieces of furniture to an already full garage. (I think I've got about 10 pieces in my garage counting the new nightstands, plus about 6 more in my house waiting for a remake or resell) So, I pulled out my "new" mid-century retro dressers and tackled the long one. I picked them up on Craigslist a couple of weeks ago. They're Basset furniture and according to the woman I bought them from, at least 52 years old.

Here's the before of the 9 drawer dresser:

The finish on this dresser was so worn that it looked and felt scaly. I had to sand it to the bare wood to get the dresser smooth. So, I sanded with 80, 150 and 220 grit sandpaper and finished that up Tuesday night. Wednesday morning, I moved it into the house and started painting. Most of the white was done by that evening. After 3+ coats of white and 3 coats of the 3 greens, I finished up the top coat with water-based polyurethane on Thursday night. I love it! and so do my boys...

After:
We'll be moving the dresser into the boy's bedroom Saturday night once the finish has cured a bit. I'll be selling the dressers currently in their room since I just don't have the room to keep every dresser that I've bought over the past few months.

Here's the before of the 4 drawer dresser that matches my green gradient dresser. After looking at the paint swatches against my girls room fabric, I discovered that the greens look really good with it and this one will get the same color scheme. I'm hoping to start this one either tomorrow or (more likely) on Monday. When it's done, it'll go into the spare room (future girls room) until we can make space for it in the boys room or at least that's the plan for now. If you haven't noticed, I change my mind a lot!


I chose the 400D paint chip from Home Depot's Behr paint line. The colors are Jungle trail (bottom), Grape Leaves (middle) and Grass Cloth (top). The 4 drawer dresser's top drawer will be Corn Husk Green which is a little lighter than the Grass Cloth.

I've also decided that when I use up all my water-based polyurethane, I'll switch back to polycrylic. I think I like it better.

So, the most amazing this about this dresser makeover? It only took me 2 1/2 days start to finish! It normally takes me weeks if not months to do this kind of extreme makeover, so I'm pretty proud of myself. Now I just have to catch up on my mountain of laundry and dishes...

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