Using a Paint Sprayer to Transform a Thrifted Dresser

Updating an Old Thrifted Furniture

This is a sponsored post written by me in partnership with HomeRight. All opinions are 100% mine.

A few weeks ago, a friend asked for some help redecorating her daughter’s room. The full reveal is coming up in a few weeks, but today I wanted to share a furniture makeover I tackled for the space. Storage was a big priority for the small room and the little girl didn’t have a good dresser, so I thrifted one at the Restore for $50. But it needed some TLC…

Step 1. Set up your work station

My assistant and I set up the large spray shelter off to the edge of the driveway and lay a couple of tarps down.

Step 2. Remove the Knobs

Grab a screw driver and unscrew all the knobs from inside the drawers. Tip: Label your drawers before you remove them to make sure you put them back in the right place!

Step 3. Sand and clean

I used an orbital sander and went over the entire piece to give the primer a little ‘tooth’ when I painted. I went back over the dresser with a damp rag to remove ALL the sanding dust and let it dry.

Step 4. Prime

I also used the Finish Max Extra and was able to paint the entire project in under 2 hours.  Because this dresser was stained, I used a Zinsser 123 primer to ensure the stain didn’t bleed through.  The FinishMax requires you to dilute the paint a bit, but it’s truly the easiest sprayer I’ve ever used. The manual tells you which spray nozzle to use for each type of paint.

Fill the sprayer with paint and set the spray direction of the nozzle. Slowly pull the trigger, and move the paint sprayer back and forth similar to how you would use a can of spray paint. The FinishMax applies a super fine coat, so I gave the paint a few minutes between coats until the dresser had a solid continuous coat of primer.

Step 5. Clean the Paint Sprayer

Remember when I said this was an easy paint sprayer to use? Well this is when that matters! There are *maybe* 4 parts to rinse off.

Step 6. Paint

For this dresser, I grabbed Snowfall White by Behr. The walls in the room are a warmer creamier white, so I didn’t want a pure white dresser to feel too bright! Fill the sprayer with paint, dilute as needed per paint can and repeated Steps 3 and 4!

Step 7.  Color

You KNOW I can’t leave something alone and not add a little color… I was worried the walls and the furniture and the bed would be too bland so I wanted to bring in some color. The little girl’s favorite color is blue, and you know I love an ombre,  I taped off the edges of the drawer and used a brush to give each drawer front two coats of paint.

Step 8. Add Knobs

Replacing the knobs on a piece of furniture is one of the easiest ways to update and change the look.  You can find knobs at all different price points… I picked these ones up on Amazon and love the clean updated finish of the gold.

I didn’t do anything to finish the drawers as I chose a semi-gloss paint finish. After a couple of weeks, the paint will be totally cured so until then, we’re being sure to treat it carefully!

My friend was in charge of going through her daughter’s wardrobe, but I’m hoping that these 6 new drawers for her clothing will free up some necessary space in the other storage pieces in the room! Check back in a few weeks for the full reveal!