Easy Painted Dresser Ideas

Painting a piece of furniture can give it a brand new look!  Paint is a great transformer, and it gives a new lease on life to something you already have that might otherwise end up in the garbage or donation pile.  I started my early creative career painting murals  and rehabbing furniture. Even though I do it more for fun nowadays than profit, It never fails to amaze me how much paint can take some old, solid wood furniture with good bones and bring it right up to date! Here are a few easy painted dresser ideas (and a few armoires and nightstands too) with before and afters that can give you inspiration for your next furniture makeover. I am actually going to reach into the past with a few of these makeovers from my archive as well, so some of the pictures might not be the best, but they are great examples of DIY furniture ideas.

 

When you paint furniture, it’s important to really prep  and sand the wood first by removing any old glossy finishes first. That way, whatever you put on top of your DIY dresser will properly adhere whether your using latex, chalk paint, milk paint or even stain. If you don’t like the look of brush stokes and don’t want to use a paintbrush or roller when painting your wood furniture, make sure to watch the video to see one of my favorite ways to paint furniture and avoid brush strokes, and *hint* it’s not an expensive paint sprayer! 

 

See this post about the Top 10 common furniture makeover mistakes you might be making.

This vintage dresser had great curves, but it was straight out of the late 1960’s.

After prepping,pulling our the drawers to paint separately, and giving it a spray finish with latex paint, it’s perfect to use as a small side table that can double as extra storage. See the full makeover of the small chest of drawers here.

The same handles were used over because they fit the dresser so well. You can paint old drawer pulls with multi-purpose paint, metal spray paint or use Rub ‘n Buff.

If you like the abstract artwork above the dresser, and want a DIY project see how you can make it here with a putty knife!

While some people feel that white dressers are overdone, they are still super popular in bedrooms, where white paint has such a clean look. This antique dresser and it’s sister with pink knobs were in a little girl’s room, and finally met it match when the little one was big enough to peel paint off. Kids are funny that way. They like to destroy things.

By adding new hardware, and  giving it  a base coat of primer, painting it with white latex paint, the dresser was ready for the next stage. If you’ve ever wondered the best paint or best way to paint furniture, see this post.

When painting furniture, make sure to use the right wax or polyurethane to seal it with depending  if a matte or gloss finish is desired

Small side tables with glass doors aren’t currently as in style. A current trend is to (carefully) remove the glass and replace it with rattan caning such as in this small side table makeover which makes for the perfect size nightstand.

With new knobs, this is a great way to easily update  to make a transformation of your home decor.

When redoing furniture, not every dresser needs to be painted. This vintage wood dresser was a Facebook Marketplace find. By cleaning the wood dresser to bare wood it allowed the wood grain to show through. Small dressers are perfect to serve as extra storage as entryway or hallway pieces.

 

Other dresser makeover ideas include painting the rest of the dresser and leaving the drawer fronts with plain wood like this vintage MidCentury buffet below.

It’s easy to create a matched dresser set out of an unmatched set with similar lines by painting them the same color.

For this little boys room, by painting both the large dresser and smaller nightstand the same shade of fire engine red, both pieces became cohesive in the room.

The last one is an oldie but goodie. I really love the simplicity of it!

 

 

With this vintage wood dresser, the top was left the original wood color, and the rest of it was painted white.

I hope these easy painted dresser ideas gave you some much-needed inspiration for painting your own furniture!

If you have a furniture item with a damaged top, did you know you can decoupage  a new top with fabric or paper?