BEFORE and AFTER: Pink Mod Ombre Dresser
Don’t you hate projects that kick your BUTT!
Like this $20 dresser from the thrift store:
When painting it, all the old reddish-colored stain bled through the chalk paint!
I almost threw in the towel and shouted, “Alright! That’s it! I’m scrapping this!”Â
BEFORE
Thankfully, I took a step back and decided to let its fault be my inspiration!
AFTER
The Big Problem
The dresser was in pretty good condition on the inside, but the outside finish was chipping on top. I didn’t want to apply chalk paint on top of chipping paint, so I knew it would need some sanding to smooth it out.
All sanded out and I thought it was now perfectly ready for a fresh paint job, right???
WRONG!!
All that sanding must have “activated” and exposed even more of the old red stain. There was no stopping it from bleeding through!
I tried shellac in the spray can……no luck……I tried Kilz water-based primer…..no luck.
It bled through all over–the top and the sides! I knew that if I didn’t figure out a solution, I was going to scrap the whole thing. But it was too cute of a dresser to do that.
The Solution
After fooling around with multiple coats of paint and primer with no luck, I decided that if I couldn’t beat it, I’d fool everyone. HA!
Instead of trying to fight the red bleeding stain, I decided I would paint the dresser a shade of pink that would likely hide the bleeding red.
The Right Shade of Pink – Ombre Dresser
I had originally wanted to do a white dresser with turquoise ombre drawers. Scratch that. I needed pink.
Remember that vintage vanity I refinished recently? I used Annie Sloan Scandinavian Pink Chalk Paint on it, straight from the can, with no lightening at all.
It was kind of a “controversial” color but apparently, hardly anyone ever uses Scandinavian Pink right out of the can. It’s too….salmon. But I loved it!
This time around, however, I did what most people do–mixed in some Old White Chalk Paint to soften up the shade of pink. Then I mixed in more Old White to get varying shades for the drawers.
At first, I liked it….then I hated it….and now I like it again. 🙂 These are all the struggles you don’t see, behind the scene of any DIYer. We’re quite indecisive sometimes. 🙂
I really liked the original hardware so I decided to keep it. Even though they were already gold, I spray painted the handles with gold spray paint so they were more uniformly gold and not worn looking.
The layered look at the drawers were just begging for an ombre effect! I’ve never seen cool dresser drawers like this before. Very unique!
I also bought this basket at the thrift store for about $3.00. I absolutely LOVE it! What a great dresser top find!
 I love waxing furniture. As physically arduous as it can be (you’ll have biceps of steel if you wax for long enough!), the results are usually pretty shiny and impressive.
And no more chipped top!
 So what do you think?! Do people love pink furniture as much as I hope they do? 😉 Leave a comment below!
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I love the Scandinavian Pink from AS. Personally, I think it’s an underused color. This dresser would pair well with something turquoise/teal.
Love it Serena!
Thanks Kimberly! I totally agree with you on the Scandinavian PInk. I just haven’t seen it “out there” as much, which is why I love it. It’s such a gorgeous color that I think pairs well with turquoise, too. You should have seen me–lugging it up a flight of stairs just to photograph it next to my Sherwin Williams Rainwashed bedroom walls! LOL
Luv the color! I’m working on a magazine rack right now with the same problem. The red is bleeding through.
Hey Wendy! UGH, I hate the bleeding through. Someone above mentioned using the Kilz OIL BASED. Try that and see if it works. This is the first real probably I’ve ever had with bleeding furniture. Let me know if it works! Would be good to know for next time! Thanks for commenting!
I really like the dresser style and amazingly the pink. You have demonstrated your creativity and resilience,
Thank you, Dorothy! 🙂
I like to guess what you are going to do with the furniture before I click on your link and I thought ombre would look great so I was so glad when I saw that is what you did! Looks terrific and a great way to deal with the bleed. I’m painting 3 window frames in our house which are cedar (?) and I have two coats of primer and 2 coats of paint and you can still see the bleed, although faint in parts. 5th coat going on this week, but believe me, pink is a much quicker idea, but I don’t think my son would like it in his room 🙂
HAHAHA, yeah, pink is NOT an option in his room! Someone in the comments section suggested OIL BASED Kilz. Try that and see if it works well. I usually don’t buy oil based anything (other than stain). But I’m going to grab me some of it to help these kinds of problems in the future. Then again…..sometimes these problems just make us get more creative, right? 😉 Thanks for commenting!
Next time use OIL BASED Kilz. My hubby used to have that bleed through problem with regular water based Kilz and everything else. Only thing that works for him.
PERFECT suggestion! You got it. I’m going to buy the stuff ASAP! Thanks for the tip!!
OMG! Love love it. Color me inspired….
I love it!! Total inspiration for a dresser that I have!
It looks GREAT! Love the pink……your creativity is really an inspiration Cant wait to see what you do with the buffet 🙂
Ooooh…..the buffet it DONE! 🙂 Can’t wait to post it! I sure hope everyone likes it! 🙂
Way to turn a frustrating situation into an awesome piece of furniture! Once again I love it! You continue to inspire me!
Wow Serena! Another fantastic project.