Distressed Dresser

I have been SO excited to write this blog!! Antique/distressed wood furniture is very popular here in San Francisco. It starts with the Victorian and Edwardian homes that give our city it's signature feel and charm. Well, I was shopping in my favorite neighborhood of Noe Valley when we first moved here and I stumbled across the most adorable store, When Modern Was. The locally owned shop is filled with old dated 1900 dressers, tables, mirrors, clocks and more! Sometimes I think I should have been born in a different decade because I fell in love with every single piece they had. The prices are reasonable (Adam feels differently;) and the wood and paint jobs are gorgeous. SO, after talking Adam into buying a $300 dining table and drooling over the $700 dressers, we decided we would first try to refurbish and distress our own piece for much less. I researched for weeks on how to do this process and took several notes before we were raiding both Craigslist, for old wood furniture, and the hardware store. We found a $30 dresser, here are the before and after pictures: (silly me took the piece apart and started sanding before I took a photo but you get the gist!) You can click on each picture to see them in better detail!

1. After you have found the wood piece you would like to re-do, the first step is sanding. As annoying as it may be, don't be tempted to skip this step! Proper sanding is essential to achieve an even, smooth surface that your paint will latch on to without chipping. I have read people using electric sanders, we do have one, but opted out because we found that doing it by hand gives you much more control. You can also bend and fold it to reach into awkward areas. Our purpose was to have the original color of the dresser show through when we got to our distressing step, so we sanded it very lightly to begin with. (Started with 80 grit paper and finished up with 120 to even out the surface). Once you've finished sanding, remove all the dust with an old rag to help the primer and paint stick to it. Also, don't forget to remove your hardware, you'll reattach everything at the end.

2. Once you have prepped and cleaned up your piece, you've gotta prime it. You can buy a spray primer but we bought the brush on and painted it. Zinsser was the brand we used. We only did one coat which seemed to be efficient enough. Since we are aiming for a distressed look, it's ok if your wood shows through the primer. Luckily, distressing is very imperfect, there are no exact ways to do this! Be sure the primer is dry before painting. The primer we used was stark white, I think this varies a bit, but it seemed to work.

3. Ok, now onto the fun part! We used a latex paint in a very light green color. These pictures are really hard to see, but it's a gorgeous green. We bought a quart of paint and barely put a dent in it, as it goes a very long way. Did I mention paint brushes? Don't cheap out them!!! We bought 2 brushes by the Purdy brand and spent about $15-$20 on them each. But they will last forever if you take care of them and they don't shed their bristles. We painted on 1 coat of paint, but there are several ways to do a paint job that we are going to try in future projects. (I have also read priming and painting with several thin coats works better at getting a smooth finish but again, we are distressing, so for our purposes we just "went with the flow" not really knowing what we were doing).

4. Next, you'll want to wait at least 2 days for your dresser to dry. I was taking a vacation, so we waited 2 weeks. This will be hard for impatient people but I have read waiting the 2 days is a much better idea before distressing. So, 2 weeks later, I took 80 grit sand paper (lower the number, coarser the grit), and "willy nilly" sanded down the piece in areas that would naturally get more wear and tear. (Corners, where the shelves open, legs). I sanded down rough enough to have the dark original color of the dresser show through. We also took chains and beat up the top of the dresser along with using a hammer to chip away some of the paint. I used just my regular digital camera for these next photos which I will never do again, they didn't turn out as well.

5. First, soak your brushes in a paint thinner to preserve the life of those expensive brushes. ;) Attach all of your hardware back onto the dresser and find a cute place for it in your home. :) We opted out to buying new hardware or painting over it, which you can do with spray paint. We liked the color and the "old" feel so we kept the originals. This is our very first project and I know with time, we will learn different techniques and find which ones work better than others. I will be sure to share our experience, as I know there are a lot of "crafties" out there! I should also mention that we didn't have any supplies when starting. We spent close to $100 on brushes, paint, primer, sand paper, etc. BUT we will be able to use most of these time and time again, and the paint/primer lasts so long. You gotta make that first big purchase but then you'll be able to start saving. :) Thanks for reading!!!