I’m so excited to share the new look of our buffet dresser today because I love it so so much. I’ve had this idea in my head for a long time and when I was dusting the dark wood dresser one day I just had enough. I was so sick of seeing the dust and finger prints on it all the time even right after I cleaned it. The dresser had also seen better days and since it is wood veneer over cheap MDF, I had no guilty feeling about changing the look of it.
Quartz Pink Dresser Makeover
I prepped and painted it the same way I have explained so many times before:
- I gave everything a good sanding
- Followed by some cleaning with TSP or Krud Kutter degreasers.
- When it was completely dried after the cleaning, I wiped it with a tack cloth (such an important step).
- I taped everything off that I didn’t want to get painted.
- Then I used Kilz spray primer (my favorite primer) on the taped drawers and dresser body.
- When the primer dried, I ran a very fine sandpaper over it again.
- Then I wiped it down with a tack cloth again.
- After that it was time to paint and I’m glad I used my HomeRight sprayer, it just gave everything such a nice smooth and professional look.
- I applied two coats of the Valspar Ultra 4000 Quartz Pink and then followed that with three coats of General Finishes Water Based High Performance Polyurethane (Semi-Gloss). Between every coat I used the fine sandpaper again followed by the tack cloth to avoid any dust, bugs, hair or drips to ruin my paint job.
You are probably wondering why I didn’t use the Kilz primer in the sprayer too instead of buying spray cans. I just prefer it that way. The nozzle on the can is made for the thick oil based primer and works great. I also don’t want the chemical cleaning of the sprayer afterwords, which would be necessary to get out all the sticky oil-based paint. It’s so much easier to just clean it with water after using it with water-based paints.
Here are the 4 subtle pink colors I considered:
Oh and by the way did you know that Valspar has a Love Your Color Guarantee? Depending on your retailer they give you another can of paint if you didn’t like your first color.
Aren’t they all pretty and very similar?
Let me refresh your memory of what the dresser looked like before again:
It’s hard to take good photos with your iPhone while working on a project. And I didn’t want to drag my good camera into the mess.
I love taping drawers off with individual garbage bags. All you have to do is stick the drawers into the bag and tape the top. It works great:
the sanded pieces
Then I spayed the Kilz primer that I mentioned above. Lightly sanded and wiped it again with the tack cloth.
Before I started to spray the pink, I tried it on the back of the dresser to make sure the flow was good:
I also tried the varnish on the back before spraying it over the pink to make sure it was flowing right.
And boy was it good! It looks like it was always this color and changed the look and feel of the entire room:
Find the chandelier HERE, similar lamps HERE, similar urns HERE, the gold pineapple HERE and the hardware HERE
I truly love how it turned out and the hubby and kids like it too.
Tschüß,
(Youleeya)
oh my gosh it turned out sooooo lovely! the color is perfect and i love the hardware and tassel! beautiful job, my friend!
Thanks Cassie, I truly love the color and dresser so much better now.
It’s PERFECT!!!!
xo
Patty
Thanks Patty
Beautiful!!!!!
Thank you Lois
It’s beautiful Julia! I love this color and definitely pinning it for later!!!
Thank you Summer. It’s amazing how much better I like the piece now
It looks SO GOOD! Those knobs are just amazing, and the pink is perfect 🙂
And my husband likes the pink too 😉 Yay! Thanks Gretchen
Wow! You really made it yours… Fits your style and home so much better. Great job!
I feel like it matches my home so much better now too. Im aware that some people cringe that I painted the dark piece but for me it was the right choice
I love the pink color, it really looks great…love that tassel:)
Thanks Debby
Spectacular! Seriously.
Thank you Phyllis
Wow, Barely Pink is just perfect. I really love it now!
Thank you Sheryll, glad you like it.
Wow what a transformation! Very stylish. 🙂
Thank you Nikki
Love it!
Thank you
I love it! If the dark doesn’t work but the piece does, then paint it! The pink makes it look like Hollywood Glam from the 40’s.
Thanks for sharing the tips to getting this great finish.
Thank you Barbara Ann. I think it does too.
Wow, surprised at how much I like the colour! The transformed piece looks better with your decor. Unrelated question: Do you have to dilute the paint to use the sprayer?
Great question, I should have included that in the post. I actually didn’t have to dilute it. The sprayer comes with a guide on what you have to dilute and what you don’t. The paint and varnish worked great the way they were.
I absolutely love it! Crazy the color isn’t too girly it’s so subtle! It’s gorgeous Julia!!
Thank you Laurie, I think that’s why my husband can handle it too
LOVE the pink and I have those same pulls in my stash just waiting for the right piece (haha maybe the one that has been sitting in my garage for two months.) Love that you used them vertically. Great job!
Thank you Maggie, the reason i did the knobs vertically is because of the door knobs being so close together and I couldn’t have done them horizontally. I like them this way.
Gorgeous – I love it! You did an amazing job. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you
Zehr gut!!? Nice job!!
Danke
Beautiful! Love the color! Great job!
Thank you so much Jen
It is so beautiful! I love it. And I really appreciate the step-by-step instructions you provided. I want to try this soon and your instructions are so helpful.
Absolutely beautiful!!!
I love how beautiful this piece turned out ! Do you use a latex or oil based paint? I appreciate the step by step instructions!!
Looks great.
With all the sanding, priming, painting drying between coats– how many days do you think it too from start to finish?
Sorry I missed your comment. The longest is always the prep which took me a little less than a day. The painting of the different coats isn’t all that bed because one coat is done in maybe half an hour? And then you have time to waste in-between the different layers. So all together maybe 3 days
Julia, this is absolutely stunning! I love the pink color you chose! It looks so fabulous!!!
Oh it’s just stunning! I absolutely adore it – what a transformation!! xx
Thanks my friend.
I love this! The shade of pink is absolutely perfect. Where would one find those boxwood balls? Thanks so much!
Thanks so much Katy, I linked to a similar boxwood in the post. There is a photo slide. And I have a couple different ones linked in my porch post here: http://cuckoo4design.com/2016/04/painting-crisp-black-white-stripes-textured-front-porch.html I love boxwoods and have them in all kind of different sizes. I buy the individual balls so I can swap out the containers.
Amazing! You have me wanting to paint something pink!
Haha thanks! Do it 😉
Stunning! Such a lovely shade of pink and the hardware is perfect.
Thanks Pat
Hi ! I absolutely LOVE this ! Just started making over my walk in closet…. I have a family antique tall dresser in dark wood which I want to paint a light pink, and this is PERFECT ! I know, I know – the wood purists out there would freak over me painting it… but my husband actually HATES it and has tried to put it out at the curb for trash pick up a few times. Some struggle might or might not have ensued…. 🙂 Soooo that makes me believe that I can do whatever I want with it, right… ? The dark wood just doesn’t fit my style anymore… So excited to paint it now that I have seen what it can be like ! But – I do have a question… Seems like the link to the hardware isn’t working. Can you pls tell me where you got it ? Thanks so much !