Painted Furniture: Grey Changing Table

I fall in love with every painted furniture project I complete.  It's amazing how a coat of paint can transform a piece.  It turns an outdated piece of furniture into something fresh and modern.  And that is exactly what happened when I painted this antique dresser grey.

I think grey is my new favorite color for painted furniture.  It's a neutral and soothing color that will withstand time.  There are a zillion different shades of grey (not just 50).  Some greys are more blue or yellow or tan which can make it a little difficult to pick out the perfect one. Luckily I had a piece of fabric to match my grey to.  One of the best tips I can give you when trying to match fabric and paint is to pick out your fabric first.  It is a lot easier to match paint to fabric than the other way around.

This dresser belongs to my friends who are expecting their first child in October.  They are planning to use it as the changing table.  I absolutely love this idea!! It allows the piece to grow with the child since it will become his dresser when he is older.

This is probably one of the sweetest husbands I have ever met.  While his wife was away on vacation he had me redo this piece for her.   He wanted it to be a surprise - I know isn't that so thoughtful!  Where can I find a man like that?!?

This piece definitely needed some TLC.  The wife has had the dresser since her childhood and her brothers kind of abused it.  It had scratches and writing all over it.

Plus the drawer stops had stopped working and were scraping the bottoms of the drawers.  So I removed the old metal drawer stops and filled in the holes with wood filler.  I wasn't sure how to fix this issue so I decided to ignore it until the last minute - I don't recommend doing this, but luckily it seemed to work out just fine for me. 

Now that you have filled in all of the holes and the wood filler is dry it is time to sand.  A lot of primers and paint don't require sanding but I always sand my pieces.  I think it helps the paint adhere better and it smooths out all of the dints and scratches.  I use my Ryobi sander to sand furniture and it is a life saver!  It makes the job a lot easier and quicker.

Before you start priming and painting you'll want to tape the drawers.  I like to leave the insides of the drawers and dresser unpainted so I tape the edges - this way I can be a little messy when painting.

 After taping everything, it is time to prime this baby.  Make sure you use a good primer when painting with latex.  You want to make sure the paint adheres and that will all depend on your primer.  I always use Zinsser.

  

Now it's time to paint this bad boy!! I used Sherwin Williams Summit Gray paint for this piece in a semi-gloss.  I also suggest Behr from Home Depot, Benjamin Moore and my new favorite Annie Sloan Chalk Paint for painted furniture.  

I gave this piece three coats of paint (both primer and the top coat).  In between each coat I lightly sanded the piece to ensure there were no rough or uneven spots.  

 After avoiding the elephant in the room for long enough I decided it was time to address the drawer stop issue.  I searched the web for possible solutions and ultimately decided to create my own drawer stops.  Once they were cut to size I glued and screwed them in place. To protect the drawer bottoms from future damage, I then covered each drawer stop with grey felt.  

To add a special touch to this painted dresser/changing table I lined each drawer with grey and white striped liner.  Actually that is kind of a lie - I lined each drawer with wrapping paper.  I wasn't able to find drawer liner in the correct color and pattern but I did find this awesome wrapping paper.  It's fancy wrapping paper from TJ Maxx/Marshalls so it's a lot thicker and more durable than your typical wrapping paper.

I decided to keep the original drawer pulls.  I spray painted them white to update them.  I use Rustoleum spray paint for my projects - it's one of the best.  Plus they have tons of colors!

Let's check this baby out one more time from start to finish.

 

I think this piece turned out great!! I love using modern paint colors on antique pieces.  This piece is going to make a great changing table in the couple's nursery.