Childhood French Provincial dresser makeover

Thanks to Behr paint for supplying product and sponsoring this post.  I have used Behr products in my home for years so all opinions expressed are all mine.

I am slowly working my way through my house making over furniture, rooms, and furnishing rooms.  And honestly I am nearing the home stretch!  Just in time to probably move next year and start the process all over again – isn’t that how it always works?

This dresser is actually a childhood dresser.  I think when it was bought years ago it was a yard sale or flea market type find and it came with a mirror attached to it and a headboard/footboard which I recently replaced with a yard sale headboard which is much bigger and fits the taller mattresses that are now on the market.   This was the dresser and bedframe that I used growing up from about the age of 8 or 9 until I went off to college.   After I married and we bought our home this bedroom set came to live in my guest room and in the room that my nieces use.   It has needed a makeover that entire time.  But you know… it served its purpose and seemed to never quite make it to the top of the to-do list until now.

I LOVE French Provincial furniture.  Maybe because I had this set growing up?  But I still love the lines and curves and details especially in the dressers.  I have added several other French Provincial dressers to my home over the years and they have all gotten makeovers – this $20 one I used as an entryway dresser, and this smaller chest version I used as a decorative/storage piece in our upstairs hall but now has become a large nightstand in our bedroom.  Then I picked up another smaller chest dresser to use a second nightstand for our room and another one I will show you soon that is in our second bedroom.  So my love for French Provincial furniture runs pretty deep 🙂

But finally it was time for this dresser to get some love.  This dresser is not real wood so there is no sanding/refinishing/staining it.  This damage to the top has been there for years since I set a bottle of fingernail polish on it as a child… and there just wasn’t any fixing it except for sanding it down and painting it.

I always use to say that the design on the front were “C’s” just for my name!

I sanded down all the areas that were chipped and damaged and got it all smooth.

Then it was time for paint.  I need to actually pick a color of white Behr paint to use and plan to do that for all our trim and accents in our next home.  But since I already had several pieces of furniture in this room painted with Ultra Pure White, I just stuck with the same thing for this dresser.     By the way this is why I love using regular paint for furniture makeovers – I used this one quart of paint to paint this dresser, and this nightstand I just did, one other smaller project and it cost less than $20!

Look at the difference in between these drawers – one painted and one not.  I loved it already!

I just took the drawers out and moved the dresser onto a paint cloth and painted it with a small Wooster roller right there in the room.  I didn’t want to have to move it down the stairs and into the garage and then back up the stairs again.  It was a beautiful day so I just opened the windows, put on some music, and got busy.  The nice thing about this line of Behr paint is that it has no VOC’s and honestly has no odor that I could detect.  And 2 coats later and by the end of the day it looked like this!

I left the handles as is – they are sort of a dark brown color.  But they were in great shape and I sort of love that they are still in the vintage condition so I just left them. 

So glad all those chips and damage is gone and just a pretty after is left!  I may change out the lamp and spray paint it a different color – it was part of the brass set I got at a thrift store and spray painted a few years ago.  And I am not completely done finishing decorating in this room but for now it works. 

Loving this update to my childhood dresser!

So pretty!  I will let it cure for a week or so more and then put a clear coat of poly on top to help protect it.

Do you have a childhood piece of furniture that could use an update?  Or maybe a yard sale find that could use a makeover?  Pick up a can of paint and a roller and tackle it!