Two Tone Dresser and Chest

*Post contains affiliate links*

Hey friends!  I have another two tone furniture project to share with you tonight!  I shared this two tone makeover here if you want to check it out.  One of my friend’s contacted me in search of a dresser and chest of drawers for her baby’s nursery.  She really liked the wood and olive dresser I painted, so I was on the look out for a similar set with her in mind.  This 1950’s era, Maple furniture is pretty common around this area and before too long I came across this great set on Craigslist!  She scored a dresser, chest of drawers and nightstand for an excellent price!  It was in perfect shape too, I love it when that happens.  Here are the before photos:

All in all, it’s a really awesome set of solid wood furniture, but it’s just…..bleh!  Her son’s nursery is gray and navy so I chose Benjamin Moore Hale Navy (mixed at Sherwin Williams in All Surface Enamel Satin) for the body of the pieces and I stained the wood using General Finishes Java Gel.

When using GF Java Gel on previously stained and varnished wood, all you need to do is sand the surface with medium pressure with 220 or higher sandpaper.  This is some of my favorite sandpaper.  In this instance I hand sanded the drawers and surface tops with 220 grit paper being careful to only take the shine off of the existing varnish.  I didn’t want to sand all the way down to bare wood in spots otherwise my new stain would be blotchy and uneven.  After sanding and cleaning up the dust, I applied the GF stain in the direction of the grain in an even coat.  I let this stain sit on the surface for maybe 30 seconds, so, not very long at all.

As you can see in the above photo, the color difference is subtle.  The top drawer is after applying and wiping off the Java gel and the bottom drawer is the original color.  I just wanted to tone down the yellowness of the wood.  If you wanted the Java Gel to be darker, you could do one of two things…..1) sand the existing varnish completely off until you have the bare wood or 2) Let the stain sit on the surface longer and do more than one application.

Once I stained all of the wood that would be exposed, I let it dry overnight then taped it off.  I sprayed Sherwin Williams ProBlock Oil Primer on the bodies with a Devilbiss Finish Line 4 HVLP with a 2.2mm fluid cap.

Super gorgeous photo, yeah?  Ha!  This primer dries pretty quickly thankfully, so I was ready for some color soon afterward which is always my favorite part.  After two coats of Hale Navy it was looking pretty good!

While the paint was drying, I started polishing the brass hardware.  I love using BarKeeper’s Friend for this. Unfortunately this hardware had some pretty significant corrosion or something going on.  There were some really ugly looking spots on a few pulls. As badly as I hate to do this, I resorted to using gold spray paint to cover it up.  It just makes me sad to spray paint brass!  But, no worries, Rustoleum’s gold Metallic spray paint is super pretty!  My last step was spraying on my top coat for protection.  I sprayed two coats of Minwax Polycrylic in Satin over all surfaces.

That’s about it as far as the process goes!  All that was left was putting it together and getting my friend Lacy over to snap some pictures!  Man, she is so good!

Such a handsome look for a sophisticated nursery, don’t you think?  I hope that Holly and eventually her little man will enjoy this set for years to come:)  Thanks for reading along!

Linking up to Friday’s Furniture Fix via The Chelsea Project Blog