coral painted dresser1

I am dying to find a dresser like this beautiful coral one that Destiny from A Place for Us painted.  It looks similar in shape to the yellow painted dresser I did for a friend.  The card catalog library pulls just makes me swoon.  This is Destiny’s debut project here on IC, so give her some love.  I know you will fall in love with her style like I did.

Dresser makeovers are one of the easiest projects for DIY beginners. A little sanding, painting and drying, and you got yourself a “new to you” piece of furniture. With painted furniture being one of the biggest trends of 2013, I knew it would be the perfect addition to my office space. I chose a beautiful coral color by Benjamin Moore (Coral Gables) and to make it extra special and fitting for an office I added some card catalog pulls with labels. PERFECT!

coral-painted-dresser

Come check out how I did it.

Like I said before this is an EASY beginner project, great for those who want to get there DIY feet wet. What your going to need to complete this project is:

Supplies:

Sander

various grits of sandpaper

Extra Rags

Primer

Beautiful Paint Color (Coral Gables by Benjamin Moore)

Polyurethane (Optional)

Paint Sprayer or rollers

Pulls

First take your dresser and give it a light sanding with a fine-medium grit sandpaper. You want to take any shine off or any imperfections you might see. After that wipe it down with a dry cloth or tack cloth to remove any sand.

Coral Dresser

Next, use a really good primer. This is important because you want your paint to stay put and not smear or chip away. I always use KILZ oil-based primer in a can for furniture redos. Just make sure you give it a real good shake before you spray it on, other wise when you spray you are going to get a rough texture.

Primer on Dresser

Give it one good coat, two if you want to be an over achiever Smile.

After it has dried overnight or a few hours sand it again, very lightly with a fine grit sandpaper. Take your towel and give it a good wipe down to remove any debris.

For the next step I suggest you use a sprayer, because it will give you a pretty finish! But you can definitely use a sponge rollers to paint it by hand. I don’t like using brushes because of the marks. I found that sponge rollers are the next best thing if you haven’t gotten yourself a fancy sprayer.

TIP:For a pretty finish move your gun back and fourth, and follow through from edge to edge. Never stop in the middle of a piece because it might give you some drips!

painting a dresser

As you can see I was anxious to get going on the knobs, but I slowed down to snap a pic! Isn’t that color lovely?

At this point you can spray it with a clear coat of polyurethane for extra protection. Let it dry for a couple of day before you attach any hardware.

I knew I wanted this dresser to be labeled so I purchased these labeled pulls from Vandykes in brass.

Card Catalog Pulls

I printed out some labels from my computer and slipped them right in! This is one of my favorite pieces by far!

Brass Pulls for Dresser

Confetti Wall-1-1

I would love for you to join me as I make over my office this year! Come learn how I did that fun confetti wall here. Thanks friends!

Here is another project that you might enjoy….

Kitchen Shelves

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61 Comments

  1. Your dresser is beautiful and it looks so simple to do. I have a few questions: when you are sanding it, do you use your sander on every part of the dresser? How do you get into the crevices and around the molding? Did you spray the dresser with the drawers in or did you do them separately?

    I have a few dressers in my garage waiting to be transformed.

    Thanks!

  2. In love! I cannot wait for some nice weather so u can drag some furniture outside and get to painting! You have such a great eye :).

  3. And I thought I hated this color! Wow, this is fantastic; I’m on the lookout for something to do in this color. Great job!!!

  4. Linda! Great questions! I actually had a shot with the drawers out but I forgot to add that to the post:0) You definitely want to take them out. As far as the sanding, its really not that important to get into the crevices, but the mouse sander that I used does a great job reaching those areas. It’s really just about giving it a matte finish so you can prime. Now if your going to stain it, that’s a whole other story!:0) Hope that helps!

  5. Thanks Chris! You’ve always been such a great cheerleader for me! You were the first to pin my paper flowers!;0)and well, that lead to some awesomeness! Your the best! xoxo Destiny

  6. I have the desk that matches this dresser and have been trying to decide what could to paint it. I love this coral color and the drawer pulls you used. I plan on turning my desk into a bedroom vanity and think I might copy you. Now I just need to dig it out of storage. It really looks wonderful! 🙂

  7. I always use Benjamin Moore paint for everything. Could you please tell me what kind of paint you chose? Was it latex enamel, eggshell, oil base? Thanks.

  8. Love the colors. It looks a bit more complicated than I dare to attempt. Am getting lots of great ideas and inspiration from your site. Thanks.

  9. I purchased a can of BM’s Coral Gables paint a few months ago but haven’t used it yet. It’s so lovely on this Hepplewhite-style dresser. The style of the brass pulls is great, and I love how the brass and coral work together. Very nice!

  10. What a beautiful dresser. LOVE the labels. Every Wednesday I feature a few great posts from other sites on my Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop. This week, this post is included. Would love it if you would stop by and add a link. It goes live tonight at 7:30 pm EST.

    Sinea from Ducks ‘n a Row 🙂

  11. STUNNING! What brand/style number/name or whatever is the paint? 🙂 I’d love to do a copy-cat version!! Thanks for the inspiration!!

  12. love the dresser, i would love to feature it. if that would be ok with you please let me know
    lauren

  13. Hello, I would like to subscribe for this weblog to take most recent updates, so where can i do
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  15. Did you use a flat, semi-gloss or eggshell finish? Also, about how much paint did it take you to cover this dresser?

  16. Hi Ritney, This project was actually completed by one of my past contributors, Destiny from A Place For Us. If you click on the link to her site in the post, you can contact her directly and I am sure she can answer your questions. Sorry I can’t be of more help.

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  18. I am totally a newbie at this DIY stuff and I bought a piece of furniture to paint for my first attempt. You said to first use a primer and the one you used was oil based. My question is, if you use an oil base primer can you then paint the piece with a latex paint or should you use another oil based paint?
    Thanks for your post

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