Grey Empire Style Dresser

This was a yard sale find in Stokesdale, NC.  We love to go to yard sales because you truly never know what you will come across. When we pulled up to this particular yard sale we immediately spotted this dresser in the front yard.  When it comes to antiques, like this dresser, you never know if the owners are going to be proud and ask an unreasonable price for it, or if they will be willing to part ways with the piece for a decent price.  Luckily for us, the latter ended up being the case.  

​Disclosure: The Sociable Home is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and other affiliate programs designed to provide a means for The Sociable Home to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites at no extra cost to you; this page includes monetized links. Please see The Sociable Home's Disclosure for more details.

When looking for dressers we are always looking for something that has great bones as well as a certain amount of uniqueness.  This dresser fit the bill.  We believe the dresser dates back to the late 1800s or early 1900s, so the structure was really solid.  Also, the drawers were extremely beautiful.  We knew that we had a lot of work ahead of us, but the dresser had the potential to be a true show piece in someones home (especially with those gorgeous drawers!).  ​

Materials

We used the following supplies on this dresser:

• Purdy 3-Pack Polyester-Nylon Blend Angle Sash Paint Brush Variety Pack

• Minwax Special Walnut Oil-Based Interior Stain

• Behr Starless Night Paint

 Minwax Polycrylic Satin Base 32 fl oz Polyurethane

•  Unlike oil-based poly that goes on clear, this will go on milky, but honestly we have been very satisfied with the result thus far.

Staining Pads

• There are many options for applying stain to the wood.  However, we have found that using a staining pads allows for more control over the application process.  Please make sure that you have an old rag around so you can wipe up any excess stain that may have dripped on to areas of the dresser that you do not wish to have stained and any stain that may have dripped on to the floor.  

Bosch 2.5-Amp Orbital Sander

• Just remember, this is a staple item that will continually be used, so you can utilize this on a ton of DIY projects after you make the purchase.  We decided on the Bosch sander because of the quality of the Bosch brand; however, you can probably get away with a cheaper option if you don't want to invest in a nicer sander, and if you only plan on doing a few DIY projects with it.  

Gator 50-Pack 80-Grit 5-in W x 5-in L 8-Hole Hook and Loop Sanding Disc Sandpaper

• Depending on the type of stain that the original manufacturer of the dresser used, you may be able to get away with just sanding down the dresser without using any type of stain remover (This is huge, because stain removers are a pain).  Just keep in mind that if the dresser is not solid wood, then you may want to go with a more gentle approach; i.e., a combination of stain remover and hand sanding.  

• Gator 50-Pack 5-in W x 5-in L 120-Grit Commercial 8-Hole Hook and Loop Sanding Disc Sandpaper

Pro Grade Precision 9 in. x 11 in. 60 Grit Coarse Advanced Sanding Sheets

• You will need to purchase some sandpaper for hand sanding purposes. We like the 60 grit sandpaper for more precision stripping, and it seems to be more effective than 80 grit (in terms of hand sanding, not to be confused with what we use on our orbital sander). Make sure to get a pro-grade because it will last much longer than the cheap sandpaper, and the price difference is truly just a few dollars. We also recommend that you purchase the sandpaper in sheets because you can cut them in half and double the amount of sandpaper per purchase (this is preferred over purchasing the thinner strips of sandpaper; most hardware stores will sell both options). Finally, if you plan on doing many DIY projects, then buy the contractors pack (bulk pack); this will save you money over time and the frustrations of having to go back and forth to the hardware store for sandpaper. 

Pro Grade Precision 9 in. x 11 in. 120 Grit Medium Advanced Sanding Sheets 

• A lot of what we said for the 60 grit sanding sheets apply here. However, we use the 120 to smooth out the wood after being stripped to give it a smoother surface before applying the stain. 

Pro Grade Precision 9 in. x 11 in. 320 Grit X-Fine Advanced Sanding Sheets  

• This sandpaper will be necessary for smoothing out the surface between coats of polyurethane.  This will definitely help you to accomplish a great final product.  

3-2/3 in. x 9 in. Imperial Wet or dry 800-Grit Sandpaper Sheets

• You want to use 800-grit sandpaper for wet sanding after the polyurethane has been applied to give the piece a silky smooth finish.

Frog Tape Trim Painter's Tape

• Frog Tape is a lifesaver if you are going for a more professional look. Generally speaking, it is a time-consuming task to tape up the dresser, but you will be happy that you did when you see the finished product. ​

• Staging items that can be purchased online: 
  • Metal Hurricane Lantern
  • Books
    • Coolidge by Amity Shlaes
    • Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow
    • Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
    • Charles Dickens: Five Novels
    • To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee

Before Pictures

Step 1: Removing the Original Stain

Our first step was to sand down the body and drawers.  As we usually do, we start our sanding process with our orbital sander using an 80 grit sandpaper.  We also sand down the areas that we sanded with the orbital sander with a 120 grit sandpaper using the orbital sander.  Then we use 60 grit sandpaper to make sure all of the original finish has been properly removed.  Finally, we hand sand with a 120 grit sandpaper to get a smoother wood before applying stain or paint.  ​ 

Step 2: Tape Part 1

This piece was a little bit different than most of the pieces that we have worked on so far because we decided to do a two tone top.  The top already had a slight molding around its edge so we had a natural crease that made it really easy for us to create a two tone top.  However, we still had to tape ​off the edge (that we painted later) so we could prevent as much stain as possible from entering that area.  As you can tell, we also taped off the edges around the square on the sides of the dresser, because we also did a two tone stain/paint combo there as well.  

Step 3: Stain

After we were finished taping the top and the sides we went ahead and stained those portions of the dresser, as well as the drawers.  This was our first time using the Minwax Special Walnut stain, and we were very pleased with the result. 

Step 4: Tape Part 2 and Paint

We only have one regret on this project, and that is that we wish we would have taken a few more pictures of how we taped the stained areas so that we could paint.  As you can tell, we taped the inside portion of the square on the sides, so that we could prevent the paint from getting on the stained surface.  We also taped the outer edge of the stained surface area on the top of the dresser, but we had removed that tape before we could get a picture of it ( sorry about that).  The Frog Tape that we generally use would not stick to the stained areas, so we had to get 3M's Hard-to-Stick Masking Tape, and it worked well enough for us to get the job done (but was still not incredibly sticky on the stained surfaces).   

After we finished taping the dresser we went ahead and painted the body of the dresser using Behr's Starless Night paint color.  We used two coats of paint on this dresser.

Step 5: Finish

After the stain and paint was dry we were ready to apply a coat of water based Polycrylic to both the body of the dresser and the drawers.  

Poly does two things: (1) it creates a layer of protection for the furniture from everyday abuse; and (2) it creates a smooth finish.  We typically apply two coats of poly, but some projects may require more. After the poly has dried we use a wet sanding technique with extremely fine sand paper to ensure that the stained areas are smooth to touch.  The wet sanding process is really simple, just spray on some lemon oil and lightly sand over the stained areas with an 800 grit sandpaper (you can also do this over the painted areas, but you need to be careful not to sand too aggressively over the painted areas or you will end up with a distressed look).  

This is one of our favorite projects so far!