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!”
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 this dresser. I’m a “pink” kinda gal and when I saw what you did to this poor old dresser I just thought you did it justice. So pretty now. I have a table I’ve had the bleed through problem with so maybe it should become pink?…
Definitely, Becky! Experiment and see if you like it! And if you want to try to cover it, people recommend the oil-based Kilz primer for bleed-through. I haven’t tried it yet because I’m worried about how stinky it might be. But that might be an option for you, too! 🙂
Three words: O H M Y G O O D N E S S ! This makeover is STUNNING! I wasn’t necessarily a fan of pink furniture before, but I sure am now. I love this and am positive your customers are going to as well! I can’t imagine that it’ll remain in your inventory very long. Yay! =0)
So glad you liked it, Julie! 🙂 Thank you!
You are inspiring me to find a fun piece, restore it or paint it and then sell. Great for a single mom, yes?
Go for it!! It’s a lot of fun. The transformation is fun, but the after is the WOW! 🙂
Again, beautiful work! Love how you got creative to deal with the bleed through. Perfect solution. I’m actually hoping to do this, in aqua’s on a tall, dark dresser too!
The dresser came out beautiful !. I used Scandinavian pink with old white on fabric on a chair and loved the color.
I just love this dresser!! How much are you asking for and how can I get it from you??
that turned out SO cute! love it!
I am still painting a mahogany chair that I started last summer. Same issue. At one time I had sanded it as the armrests were chippy. I too used spray on shellac (didn’t work) and finally a million coats of Kilz. Then more shellac and more Kilz. Now I actually have to paint it white. I feel your pain! If it don’t work this time, that damn chair will be painted black.