Back when I was pregnant with my son I had so much fun picking out furniture for his nursery. I fell in love with the clean lines of the Ikea Hemnes dresser however, due to the fact we were living in a small town in NFLD I wasn’t able to have the products shipped there. Basically my only option was to purchase something from Sears. There was a small outlet in the town and I could have the furniture shipped there. Now this really limited my choices but I ended up going with a Storkcraft dresser that I would use as a changer as well.
Now the dresser arrived and I bought new hardware for it as I wasn’t a fan of the original pine knobs. Although it has been a functional piece for the past couple years, I have never really been in love with it. So I decided it was time to switch it up and try to cater it more to my taste. I love the look of two-toned furniture, it has a freshness to it and gives lots of options for mixing in other pieces of dark or light furniture. So it was decided…I was going to two-tone the dresser.
Now the first thing I did was give the dresser a good wipe down with water and a rag and then I taped off the areas that I didn’t want the white paint to go:
Then I primed the piece with Zinssers Cover Stain. This stuff is seriously amazing and it’s my go to primer with a lot of my projects. It sticks to pretty much everything and is a really great base for your paint.
I did two coats of primer making sure I got the top and corners really well. I
know this dresser will take some wear and tear from my toddler.
Now I let the primer set over night and then I went in with spray paint. Yes spray paint. It took a total of 3 cans and I used my go to shade by Krylon called “Dover White”. I love how simple spray painting makes a project and there is literally no clean up (make sure you properly dispose of your empty cans tho!) Also when you have one of these handy dandy spray can handles…
It’s a game changer. It seriously takes spray painting to the next level and really makes such a difference when you are tackling a bigger piece of furniture! So after painting I let all that set for a day and a half (I’m not the most patient person when it comes to projects). Once it was dry I went in and did two coats of Polycrylic in semi-gloss.
Now after this I would say is the hardest part….waiting. Waiting for everything to cure and for the dresser to be aired out enough to put back in my sons room. I waited about a week and then moved it back in and loved the results! It gave a plain old dresser a fresh look and brightened things up. I think its going to work perfectly with another up coming project I will be doing in his room soon so check back for that!
Cheers,
Lauren Elizabeth