Naval Striped Dresser Redo

I'm not necessarily a trendy person. Never have been. I'm too cheap, too concerned about comfort and how long things will be useful, and frankly just too detached from what the rest of the world is up to. I don't watch much television and haven't since my daughter was born. Seriously, once kids enter the picture who has much time for that??? I don't read fashion magazines and I spend very little time shopping. Which means that until Pinterest I had no idea what the fashionable people in the world were up to.

Except of course when my awesomely stylish friend Nichole would look amazing (which was every. single. day.). Then I'd see myself in the mirror and cry a little on the inside at my..... basic-ness. The thing about it is that I looked good - just, plain. In the sense that I pretty much always wore the same kind of basic pieces. I bet that any picture that could be found from my teenage years would see me wearing something almost identical to what is in my closet right today. 

Now, however, I am changing somewhat. Part of that I owe to the coming seasons apparent emphasis on stripes, which I happen to love. 

Perhaps it's the Navy brat in me, or the fact that I had this awesome red/white/blue sailor jumpsuit when I was a kid that I would have worn every single day if mom would have let me, but I LOVE STRIPES! And I'm seriously loving that they are "back." So when it came time to spiffy up this little bedside dresser for my girls' room, I turned to stripes. 

There really is nothing too out of the ordinary about the process here - just your basic sanding and repainting. The dresser was something the Hubs brought with him from his previous life. Someone had already painted it (either the ex-wife or the girl that almost took my spot before I came along) and I'm assuming replaced the hardware. Which meant I had the great advantage of not starting from scratch. 

First I sanded the surface of the existing paint. It was chipped in places and I wanted to get an even coat when I painted over it so this was necessary. I tell you what, this is the first time I've been grateful to have crappy industrial carpet with no padding in our apartment. I sanded right in the living room and it all vacuumed up with no problem. 

After wiping the sanded "crumbs" off with at damp cloth, I painted over the whole surface with two coats of white paint. I let this cure for a day or two and then it was time to mark the placement of the stripes. This was actually crazy easy. I started with the drawers. The drawer front has a curved/routed edge that is perfectly straight. I simply lined the edge of the painters tape up with the edge of the drawer and had perfectly even striped marked off. 

From there, I put the drawer back into the dresser and measured where the stripes met the side of the dresser. Using one of Squirt's plastic school rulers, I measured from the top of the dresser to make sure the tape remained level as I continued the stripes around the side.

Few thing ruin a project like this as quickly as paint bleed through. With the stripes all marked off, I took some of the white paint and brushed the edge of the tape. Any bleed through would then match the white and the black paint would be left with a clean edge. The black stripes took three coats of paint to have even coverage.

When I started peeling the tape, I was seriously scared. The idea of re-sanding and re-painted did not appeal to me and I was terrified that I'd goofed on measuring somewhere and would be left with a crooked stripe that would make me as crazy as Monk. Fortunately, that was not the case and I did a giddy little happy dance to see it all coming together!

Look how beautifully the stripes line up from the drawers!!! I could just scream from happiness. 

I left the inside of the dresser the same wood it was before. The first time it had been painted, it was just the visible facade that was done and I just went with that. I actually like how it looks to have the wood inside. I did add felt pads to the back of the drawer corners to help the paint not get so beat up from normal use. I mean, it's going in a kids' room. I'll be glad I took pictures because it may not look this fantastic ever again. 

When we had a non-rainy few hours (80% humidity instead of 100%) I took it all outside and sprayed 3 thin coats of polycrylic over all the painted surfaces. Let that cure some more and then put all the hardware back on. 

I'm seriously enamored with it and am looking for more things to paint. Best part? I did it all for the price of 2 sample tubs of paint from Lowe's. True dat. 

Price breakdown: 

Dresser: $0: already owned

Paint: 2 @ $2.94 = $5.88 (I used Valspar Dove White 7002-7 and Lincoln Cottage Black 4009-2 both in Satin)

Polycrylic: $0: already owned. 

Plus I have 80% of the black paint left and about 1/3 of the white. Which is good, because I have some lumber in our storage unit just screaming to be used up :)

Have you ever given something a new life with a coat of paint?