Boy’s Room – A fun dresser gets a little love, the rest of the furniture get the leftovers

Despite the fact that I appear as though I’ve been bathing in black paint, I am so excited to share this refinish, that I can barely contain myself!

Most of the furniture in Ayden’s room had lived in other places before coming to him. Until now, they were all different finishes, different colors, and different styles. You can see Mis-matched styles as eclectic or cluttered – unfortunately, in this case, it was the latter!

We started with the chest of drawers. Both dressers were part of a childhood set belonging to my husband’s Uncle Rusty. They were a little beat up, but I loved the clean lines and especially the brass hardware. The style reminded me of steamer trunks. Still, they needed some love – It was as if they were screaming at me, “Love us!” and I was screaming back, “I do! I do! But only for your personality!” Looks aren’t everything, right? 

When deciding on the finish, we considered a few things that Ayden already has. Ayden has a platform bed, in black, that we made for him last year based on the Hailey Platform Bed from Ana White’s design plans, and we love it.

The other consideration was Ayden’s ceiling fan, most importantly, the metal detail. I liked the brushed nickel, and thought it gave a kind of industrial feel to the room, which presented a problem with the existing hardware – it’s solid brass. It would be impossible to replace it, as the pulls and side hardware are custom-sized to the dresser, and although I could probably replace the tacks, they wouldn’t be the same without a custom order. So much for a cheap project!

Enter.. da da da dahhhhh – that’s me singing – Rub’n’Buff. This stuff is magic in a tube; I kid you not. You can find it at most craft stores – I got mine at Michaels, and I believe I’ve also seen it at Hobby Lobby. Unfortunately, they do not carry it at Joann’s.

This is how magic this stuff is – It transformed the hardware from brass to this!

It only took about 15 minutes. Really. It was the most straightforward part of the project, and it had the most impact. Win!

As you can see, I painted the dresser black – but instead of painting a flat finish of all paint, I opted for a glazed finish. Glazing is using a clear medium to thin out your paint, making the color more translucent, therefore allowing the underlying color to shine through. I like the smoothness of the finish and that you can still see the woodgrain, and I like the variation in color that you get when glazing. It’s a “soft” black, if there is such a thing.

I removed the drawers and all of the hardware, and thoroughly washed the dresser down – because of the age of the piece under the drawer pulls was nasty!

I then mixed my paint – half to half ratio of Valspar Clear Glaze and Behr Paint in Eggshell finish – Black Suede.

You’ll apply two thin coats – allowing them to dry between them. There was no primer needed, and I used it with a cheap sponge brush.

Expect an exceptionally long drying time though – at least overnight for the final coat to be thoroughly dry. Excuse the photos, my camera is terrible in low light (I’m hoping the Birthday Fairy brings me a new one for my birthday!) but I hope you can see the variation in color.

For the hardware, I used Rub’n’buff in silver leaf. It was the most straightforward process ever – I applied a small bit (less than the size of a pea) at a time and rubbed it onto the hardware with an old sock. It dried nearly instantly. When I re-applied the pulls, I had to touch up the tacks and side hardware a bit, but other than that, I’ve not seen the finish fade at all. Beautiful.

As you can see, with just that little bit of TLC, we end up with something that finishes off the room and adds to the industrial look that I was going for – very manly, as Shay informed me. Just perfect for my about to be six-year-old and even better, it is a style that he can grow with!

With the room painting done, and the furniture refinishing done, we’re on to storage of some kind and wall decorating. Bring on the wall art and get ready for a full reveal!Don’t forget to check out this week’s Monday Madness and sign up for the giveaway!