Farmhouse-Style Dresser

"It was painted an ugly green color, but we could tell that there was potential, and ultimately we are glad that we rolled the dice on it."

This piece of furniture was also available from our auction-attending friends, and we were glad we were able to take it off their hands. It was painted an ugly green color, but we could tell that there was potential, and ultimately we are glad that we rolled the dice on it. This dresser had some amazing drawers with dividers and lots of space. We knew that this would be perfect for someone that lacked space. ​

---

​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.

---

We used the following supplies on this dresser:

• Purdy 3-Pack Polyester-Nylon Blend Angle Sash Paint Brush Variety Pack
• HGTV Sherwin Williams Mercer White - HGSW4054
• Minwax Red Oak Oil-Based Interior Stain
• Stain and Polyurethane Brush
  • There are many options for applying stains to wood. One such method is brushing on the stain. Make sure that you have an old rag around to wipe up any excess stain that may have dripped onto areas of the dresser that you do not wish to have stained and any stain that may have dripped onto the floor. Some other methods that you might consider using are using Staining Pad or just a cloth. 
• Minwax High-Performance Wood Filler
• Minwax Paste Finishing Wax
• 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 stain remover (This is huge because stain removers are a pain). Keep in mind that if the dresser is not solid wood, you may want to go with a more gentle approach, i.e., a combination of stain remover and hand sanding.
• Frog Tape Trim Painter's Tape
  • Frog Tape is a lifesaver if you are going for a more professional look. Generally speaking, it is time-consuming to tape up the dresser, but you will be happy that you did when you see the finished product. 
• CitriStrip 32 fl oz Paste Multi-Surface Paint Remover
  • CitriStrip is extremely effective, but we must give a warning; due to the fact that CitriStrip is thick and sticky it requires a little extra work to ensure that all of it has been removed from the wood, and it can be a headache later on if it is not properly removed (for us,  a combination of mineral spirits and steel wool seems to do the trick).  

---

---

The first step is to remove the paint from the dresser, so we turn to one of our favorite stripping gels, CitriStrip. We used a cheap paintbrush to apply the CitriStrip, and then we let it sit for a while. You will be able to tell when it starts to work because the paint will start bubbling up (the picture on the bottom left shows this). After letting it sit for a while (on this project, we let it sit for a couple of hours), we used a scraper and scraped off the paint. Sometimes you might need to use a little muscle to get the paint off. As we noted above, it is important that you ensure that all of the CitriStrip is removed, or it could affect your finish later on. ​ ​

We applied the same paint stripping process to the drawers of the dresser.

Dresser with CitripStrip.

Dresser after being sanded and Citristrip was cleaned off.

After we stripped the dresser, we still needed to sand it down. We started with our orbital sander using 80 grit sandpaper. Then, we hand sanded it with 120 grit sandpaper. This process seems to be quite effective in putting the dresser in its bare-bones state. ​​

After we sanded the dresser down, we made sure to tape the inside of the body and the inside of the drawers. It is always important to remember to tape the inside of the body where the drawers will slide in and out of it. Taping is not a necessary step, but if you want to have a re-purposed dresser that looks professional-grade, then every detail matters.

Next, we put a coat of primer on the body of the dresser before painting it. We usually don't do this, but because the wood of the dresser was fairly dark, we decided to go ahead and apply a coat of primer, so the color of the wood didn't bleed through the paint. 
 
 Then, we applied a coat of red oak stain to the drawers of the dresser. Some of the old paint was still embedded in the wood of the dresser (white color, not that ugly green), which worked out great for more of a rustic look.

After the drawers were stained, we painted the body of the dresser. It still took three coats of paint to prevent the wood's original color from bleeding through (This tends to be the case when using lighter colors, like white).
 
 Once the stain and the paint had completely dried, we applied wax to the dresser. This project was the first time we used the Minwax paste wax, but it seemed to do a sufficient job smoothing out the surface of the dresser and providing adequate protection. 
 
 The last step was to put the hardware on the dresser. The friends from whom we purchased the dresser had the glass knobs on the top drawer, while we used the dresser's original hardware on the rest of the drawers. 
 
 The transformation from the ugly green to its current state has been completely stunning and is everything that we hoped it would be. 

"The transformation from the ugly green to its current state has been completely stunning, and is everything that we hoped it would be."