How to Paint Furniture: don't throw it away, make it new again!

I wanted the perfect dresser for the baby's nursery, to hold her clothes and double as a changing table. I also recently fell in love with coral furniture that I've seen on places like Pinterest and Instagram.

Since coral furniture isn't the norm, I knew I wasn't going to be able to just walk into any ol' store and find the dresser of my dreams. Soooo, where better to look for a little DIY project than craigslist? And for 50 bucks plus the price of paint, and hardware, I knew this this would be a fun and easy makeover!

Here is a wider shot of this corner of the nursery :) 

I love coral against the grays in the wall and carpet, and

of course gold/brass accents always look gorg paired with orangey pinks.

But, before your furniture can be this beautiful.

You must start with a before.

DUN DUN DUN!!!

Not too bad. Just needed some oomph. 

I loved the key holes and the hardware (even though I had to replace it) 

Wah. :'(

First things first, the dresser needed a serious sponge bath.

After removing the drawers, I washed the entire dresser

with some warm water with a tiny bit of dish soap. 

which Cookie is trying to drink in this photo -___-

Then, I removed the hardware and started looking for any splits or cracks in the wood.

I used Sherwin Williams Wood Filler to fill in the imperfections before priming.

I'm no expert, so I just followed the instructions on the package. It was easy :)

While the wood filler was drying, I decided to polish the keyholes on the drawers.

They looked a little dingy so I wanted to restore them to their brassy glory.

I used Brasso and a clean rag and, well.

The results speak for themselves. :)

Now it's time to sand down the wood filler. You can totally do it by hand with some fine grit sandpaper, but since I wanted to scuff up the entire surface of the

dresser, I used my electric sander instead. 

I sanded the entire dresser to get rid of the coating that was on the wood 

it helps the paint adhere better.

And, Finally!

Time to start the painting process.

First, I primed the entire dresser using Kilz spray primer

because it has really good reviews for wood projects. :)

I sprayed the entire dresser with one, thin, even coat.

After the primer dried, it was time for paint.

I used two different brushes for this job: Wooster Pro large and small angled brush.

These brushes are great and will save you a lot of time.

They hold A LOT of paint!

I used Sherwin Williams Pro Classic paint for this project.

Let me tell you, this paint is AMAZINGGGG. It's so thick that you hardly ever need

a second coat, and the finish is so strong and durable that you don't need

a separate top coat! I chose a satin finish so that it would be stain resistant

(it is going in a baby's room, remember?).

You'll be amazed how smooth this paint goes on, seriously.

I chose the paint color Charisma. It's such a beautiful, almost pale,

coral color. Since the dresser will be surrounded by grays, whites, and golds

I didn't want it to be an overwhelming pop of color, just something pretty.

Meanwhile, while this paint was drying, I attempted to spray paint the hardware gold.

Needless to say, 

EPIC FAIL.

The gold was hideous, the tarp kept blowing in the wind and smudging the paint.

They were busted beyond repair.

So I went to Home Depot and picked up some new brass knobs and handles,

and attached them a couple days later after the paint was fully cured.

And everything just came together!

AND THAT'S IT!

I LOVE the pop of color this dresser added to the nursery, and how it pairs well

with the mixed metals in the room. In a couple months there will be a cute

little changing pad on top of that dresser and little Camila on top of that changing pad :)

If you guys have any tips or tricks for painting furniture, please,

don't hesitate to share (with me and all of our other fellow bloggers!).