You need a dresser makeover. Daily life can be hard on dressers, especially if you have kids. They get beat up, their drawers start to fail or fall apart, and eventually they just start to look plain ugly. After having completed many dresser makeovers, I’ve learned there are a few things you need in a dresser. Find out how to pick a piece of furniture that will be durable and beautiful for your dresser makeover.
Here are a few questions I ask myself when I am looking for furniture to repaint:
- How is the dresser structurally?
- Do the drawers slide smoothly? If there are drawer guide problems, can they be fixed?
- What about the structure of the dresser, is it solid? Is it heavy?
- Is there creaking or parts of the dresser frame that are coming apart?
- How solid are the legs? Look at the bottom of the legs to make sure it is made of wood, not particle board covered with a fancy wood like covering.
Sometimes, with the wood on wood drawer guides, you can get them to slide a little smoother by just applying furniture wax to the guides. I would say a dresser that has structural problems, unless it has a high value as an antique, isn’t worth saving.
Check out the finish of the product. How much sanding will be required to achieve a smooth finish?What product does it have on top? I bought a beautiful claw table once that had been painted and given wax finish. Two full days later, the wax was removed. If it is painted, ask the owner why it was repainted. Some furniture is painted to hide water damage or mold.
A lot of the dressers I paint are styles that in my opinion look a lot better painted than restored to their original finish. (30-50 years old) Restoring one dresser to it’s original finish may give you the look you want or allow you to sell it for enough to buy yourself a new dresser as well. A dresser makeover requires time and effort but it can save you hundreds of dollars.
If you’d like to learn from other mistakes check out this article:
5 Common Mistakes Made When Painting Furniture
