A new obsession

This summer, while my husband was away doing his commercial fishing thing, I discovered a new passion, or better yet, obsession. But let me start with the back story.

About a year ago, the hubby and I went to a neighbor's house for a party. While there we saw their TV on a dresser which they had gotten from IKEA - and let me tell you, it looked fantastic. As adorable as our puppy is, he has a nasty habit of chewing DVD cases and we had relegated our collection of DVDs to the garage - which wasn't at all conducive to movie watching on a whim.

So we loved the idea, but stalled on the actual implementation for a variety of reasons that included money and (to be honest), pure laziness. From time to time we browsed Craigslist but never saw anything that was "perfect" in our minds.

Time passed, but that idea never left my mind - it was always on the top of my to-do list. With the advent of my other obsession, Pinterest,  there was no going back. On that amazing website I saw all kinds of tutorials on how to re-paint all types of furniture, and thought - "Well, maybe I could do that." One morning, bored and browsing Craigslist, I came upon 2 dressers for $75. One was tall and skinny (perfect for my guest bedroom), and the other was short and wide- perfect for an entertainment center. At $75 for both - the price couldn't be beat. I could show you both projects, but in the interest of time, for this post I'm going to focus on the short dresser.

The dresser in it's original state

Granted, it wasn't the most pretty thing out there, but the size was exactly what I wanted. My awesome brother drove me to go pick the dressers up, and I started doing my research. I knew I wanted them to be black (my favorite furniture color), but couldn't decide whether to spray paint them or roll the paint on. I went to Ace Hardware and decided to ask the expert. He recommended that I roll the paint on and even suggested the best paint for the job. (I only needed a quart for both projects.) I took off the mirror and gave it to my neighbor, then washed the dresser down real well and waited for it to be clean and dry - ready for me to begin.

Once it was time to get started, I started with a spray on a spray tinted primer (in grey) from Rust-oleum. It went on smoothly and quickly. You could immediately tell a difference.

The dresser after spray primer

Amazing, right? I was stoked.

Once it was dry (I just followed the instructions on the can) I began to roll on the actual paint. That's where things got dicey. I couldn't seem to figure out how to get the roller marks to go away. The paint guy had told me this was a "self-leveling" paint - meaning it wouldn't have brush marks - but my eyes were seeing them EVERYWHERE - especially on the top of the dresser and the drawer fronts. I was horrified.

My neighbors had come over to see what I was doing and, in a panic, I asked them what to do. The spray primer had gone on so well - should I start over and just spray it? That seemed to be the general consensus - but I wasn't sure. I really didn't want to screw this up.

I had some time to think about it though because it was going to take a while for that first coat to dry. I decided to try spraying the other dresser (the tall, skinny one). That ended up deciding the quandary for me. While the spray primer went on like a dream, the spray paint was a pain in the arse. It was hard to get a smooth, even coat, and I had drips despite trying my best to prevent those. Plus, my finger hurt from holding down the nozzle. So that looked awful too, and I really started to panic.

I finally went back to the entertainment center dresser and re-looked at it. As the paint had dried, many of the brush marks had disappeared, and it looked much better. Given that, I decided to go ahead and try one more coat to see what would happen. Would it even out the remaining brush strokes if I was really careful about how I rolled on the paint?

After the 2nd coat of paint.

Luckily for my sanity and self esteem - it worked!You could still see some brush marks, but it wasn't as noticeable. As it dried, even those disappeared! Once I was able to take it inside, you definitely couldn't see any marks. I was ecstatic! After a few coats of spray poly, it looked even better!

Shall we see it all together now?

I love it so much!!! It was a huge undertaking, but it looks so good! 

Now it's in it's rightful home - and houses all our DVDs and our TV! Behold!

What do you think?

P.S. - I ended up continuing with the spray painting on the tall skinny dresser as well - once you've started it's easier to keep going. The rolling on method definitely wins my vote. No cramped fingers and it looks WAY better. Lesson learned for next time... and oh yes, there will be a next time. (I need a side table now along the wall we first saw the dresser along.)