Girls Bedroom Dresser Makeover

This furniture project sat on my to-do list for a LONG time! Last year I decided to upgrade my daughter’s small single wardrobe, to a much better storage solution, a large pine chest of drawers.

The original plan was to paint them white.   A few months back I started painting them with several coats of primer and then matt white wall paint.  I just used what I had on hand at the time.  It was a half painted dresser.

But then ripping up the bedroom carpet and laying laminate wood floorboards for this tween girl’s room makeover, was the incentive I needed to finish the dresser.

Of course, by then I had changed my mind about how I wanted to refurbish it.   I decided to go with a raw pine and white look, rather than an all white bedroom dresser.

What I Started With… A Cheap Dresser

I happened to find a dark brown, wood chest of drawers or dresser while out second hand shopping one time.  

Can you believe that someone once paid $699 AUD for this dresser (it had the original price sticker on it) and I picked it up for $150 AUD?  

However, because of some damage to the top, the dresser needed either sanding back and re-staining, or painting.

Click here for more Painted Dresser Ideas For Kids.

How to Paint A Girls Dresser

1. Sanding

First, I took my orbital sander to the drawer fronts and completely sanded back the areas I had previously painted.  (OK it is better when you don’t change your mind about what you want to do.)  I had to make sure that I not only removed the paint but all of the brown stain underneath. 

2.  Paint for Bedroom Furniture

I chose to repaint the  top of the dresser rather than sand it back to the wood.  It had some damage which would have been tricky to completely sand out.

I then used painters tape to make a line across the drawers.  Yes, for some unknown reason I decided to vary the size of the sections that would be white.  

This time, instead of matt wall paint I painted the dresser with 2 coats of Dulux Semi-Gloss Aqua Enamel paint in Antique White.  

Aqua enamel is a water based paint which has a much tougher finish than wall paint.  Since these drawers would get a lot of use in my daughter’s room I wanted the finish to be really durable.  

I know there are a lot of chalk type furniture paints you can use and sometimes for my furniture projects I do go with a speciality furniture paint.  Either way is fine I reckon!

3.  Dresser Handles

When the paint was dry (read- I left them for a few days on the back verandah and forgot about them), I removed the tape and fixed up any areas I felt needed  a bit more paint.

Since I was on to other projects by then, and my daughter wanted it finished, she got the job of applying a beeswax furniture polish to protect the raw pine wood.  We used l’essentiel Beeswax Polish.

Next I re-attached the original brass handles, which my daughter and I both loved the look of.  Plus, they went well with the other bits of gold colour I was using in her room.

You can find similar gold brass drawer pulls here…

Vintage Brass HandlesGold Brass Dresser KnobsAged Brass Drawer Pulls

The End Result… A Beautiful Painted Girls Dresser

Update (4 Years Later):

We recently changed around my daughter’s bedroom again! Now in her mid teens, she had out grown her current set up and needed a wardrobe and study desk. However, the girls dresser above is one thing we did keep. The paint had chipped a bit on the top but overall it has held up well!

Check Out More Girls Bedroom Ideas:

• What Does A Girl’s Bedroom Need?
• How To Hang Posters Without Tack
• Girls Bedroom Makeover: The Reveal
• 23 Cute Stuffed Animal Storage Ideas