Eve was my first BIG furniture make-over (hence the name “Eve”…get it?). I had done a couple of small projects that just required a little paint or stain and loved transforming pieces to fit our style and home and was itching to do more. Also, we were in need of a dresser. My husband and I are in our 40’s and have never had proper bedroom furniture. It’s just never been a priority. But I decided it was time and that I wanted to refinish a piece and make it our own.

The first step is stalking the swap pages and facebook marketplace. I quickly learned that cheap and free things go FAST and it is really hard to snag them unless you are checking all day. I had almost given up hope and then…..HAPPY ACCIDENT! I was out checking out a new photography location for an upcoming shoot. I noticed this location had nice bike trails and there were a lot of people riding. Hmmmm, my kids had been pestering me to get a bike so we could ride together. Before I knew it I was scrolling through Facebook Marketplace in search of a bike. That’s when I saw this beautiful piece of furniture pop up for FREE! Now I should stop right here for a minute and mention that although I’ve never been diagnosed, I’ve come to the conclusion that there is a pretty good chance my son acquired his ADHD from me. I’m not sure it’s normal for most people to go check out a park, decide they need a bike and come home with a dresser but it’s really just another day for me. Anyway, I messaged them FAST because I knew it would be gone soon and hurried to grab it up and then returned home to a husband that was probably fairly surprised that I went to a park and came home with a dresser (he’s not surprised anymore when this happens).

So technically, Eve is a buffet, but we needed a dresser more than a buffet so that’s what we are calling her now. The piece was overall in pretty good shape but in order to get the end result I wanted I was going to have to do a lot of things I had never done before which was a little scary. Since this was the first time I was doing these things I did have to purchase some products, but hey…the furniture was free and I could use these things on future projects, so totally worth it!

The first step was sanding. A lot of sanding. I used hand sanders because I didn’t want to overdo it on this piece and because it didn’t need heavy sanding in most areas. It did have some scratches and someone’s name scratched into the top (why???) so I was able to work a little extra in those places. It also had some small but fairly deep gashes in the top so I filled those with a stainable wood filler. I knew I wanted the body painted blue and the top a dark walnut so after googling some options I chose Rust-oleum’s Coastal Blue Chalk Paint and Verathane Dark Walnut stain. The brass handles were very tarnished and I really wanted them to pop so thanks to the recommendation of a friend I purchased a bottle of Brasso to clean them up and make them POP against the blue. Brasso works great but does require a lot of elbow grease and patience (and is messy) so be prepared for that.

Once the paint and stain was finished I applied a good 2 or 3 coats of polyurethane on top letting it dry between each coat. The color of the wood turned out beautiful!

To finish it add some shine to the finish and details, I used a furniture wax by Behr (lots more elbow grease). We absolutely love this piece and I LOVE finally having a proper dresser! I instantly knew I needed a gold framed mirror to hang above her so back to Facebook Marketplace I went and found exactly what I wanted! So happy with the finished look!