DIY Distressed Dresser

For the past couple of weeks, I have been working on repainting and updating the look of an old dresser that was sitting in storage. If you ever had a chance to step foot in my room, you would see that I clearly need more storage space. My closet is filled with so many clothes, that most of them over flow into my room. I was currently using these plastic storage bins for under garments, socks, leggings, and bathing suits. Those compartments were also so over loaded that I had a separate hamper for anything that could not fit.
I bought paint about a year ago, and procrastinated up until this point. I don't know what I was thinking because the color I chose was purple. It looked awful! At first I didn't want to use it, but I had no choice. My Fiance helped me sand the drawer, and helped me take off the original knobs.

Before I started doing any painting, I used a damp cloth to clean the dressers. I also took all the drawers out and made sure to look for any damaged areas. I'm not very handy, so I asked my fiance to help fix any of the areas that needed work.

I saw on pinterest that many DIY'ers use wallpaper to help spruce up the drawers. I saw a really cool textured wallpaper and decided to add it. There were no directions on the packaging, so I had to wing putting the wall paper onto the dresser. What I ended up doing was taking a towel and soaking the sticky side of the wall paper. Then I took a damp cloth and wiped the area I wanted to add the wall paper. I applied the wall paper, and took the same damp cloth, and wiped over the wallpaper and dresser in order to get rid of any air bubbles.


I waited at least 3 days before painting the dresser because I wanted to make sure that the wallpaper was completely dry. I didn't want to risk the wallpaper coming off. When I started painting the dresser, I really couldn't get over how purple the shelf looked. I hated the shade. Again, I still don't know what I was thinking when I bought the shelf. It was so purple, like Barney purple. So what I decided to do was contrast the purple with another color. I managed to get extra gray paint from my sister, and decided to give the shelf a more distressed look.

How to get a distressed look:
I made sure that the pain was completely dry. In this case, the color that I wanted to show underneath was the purple. I then took VASELINE, and put in in the areas that I felt would become distressed or worn out over time. I put the gray pain on the side panels of the dresser, and put in on the borders of the dresser. I let the pain dry for 24 hours, then took a damp rag and wiped the areas I had put Vaseline. This was such a simple procedure, and it really made my drawer looked naturally distressed.
 
When the paint dried, I was still completely unhappy with how the paint looked. It was such an ugly purple, and such a light gray. I wanted a more antique look. So I went back to home depot. While I was in the paint isle, I found a nice stain that I thought would give the dresser a more antique look. I also decided I would buy some polyurethane because I wanted to protect the wood from any damage.


I really thought after I stained and sealed the dresser, I would be done with this project. But then, Teddy reminded me that I needed to get knobs for the dresser. Luckily Teddy had an old dresser he used, and he was able to give me the knobs.



I really was happy with the way the dresser turned out, and I am now finally able to get rid of all the extra hampers in my room!!