Adventures in Furniture Painting (long)

I love all the painted furniture ideas I see on Pinterest. As my friend Lindsey said "I have decided that everything, EVERYTHING looks better painted". I have decided that, too! I have a big project to tackle for Alexa's room redo (with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint!), but I thought I would start a little smaller. I did research on all my Pins about painting laminate furniture and painting without sanding and came up with a plan!

This post is long, so for those of you who don't want to read on, here is my project:

Not too bad, huh?

Here's what I did-

My Products:

I got them all at Ace Hardware. Wood filler to fill in the old hardware holes, primer, "Aura" paint by Ben Moore {color-black bean soup} and the top coat. I deviated from most of the tutorials on the primer and top coat and chose products that are water washable {and less fumy/toxic}. We will have to see how they hold up. I also purchased the new drawer pulls at Ace, 75% off for $1.75 each. They match our bathroom fixtures which are all oil rubbed bronze as well.

Tools:

My research said that the Purdy paintbrush is a must, and after using it, I totally agree. It applies the primer and paint so smoothly! The tack cloth is for removing dust from sanding, and I used the foam roller on all the larger surfaces.

It was a long process, mostly due to long wait times, but here goes.

First, I removed the old hardware and cleaned it really well. Once it was clean, I filled in the holes with wood filler:

 I left the whole thing alone for a day. Then came the only, minimal sanding. We sanded the puttied areas and a few other areas that were not level {water damage, peeling veneer} and wiped it down with the tack cloth. Then I applied the first coat of primer:

You can see some lack of coverage with the first coat. I waited 12 hours to paint the second coat, then another 12 for the third:

 {after 3 coats of primer}

I let the primer dry for a few days before moving on to painting. 

 Love the Purdy brush!

First one coat:

 12 hours later, coat two:

 12 more hours, coat 3:

 Then we wait a few days again for the paint to cure and it's on to the topcoat.

You can't really see it, but it goes on thin and milky, and dries clear and is a satin finish. I did 2 coats of Polycrylic with, you guessed it, 12 hours between! 

Finished! Whew!

After that I left it alone for almost a week before I put on the hardware and moved it to its new home in my bathroom:

 Tony got me the really cute contact paper for the drawers.

I love it and I can't wait to get all the clutter put away in it!