Small Dresser Upcycled Furniture Flip
There are few things more satisfying than upcycling a piece of furniture. Seeing the before and after (plus know I’m keeping it out of a landfill and giving it a whole new life chapter) is extremely satisfying.
My husband and I have started flipping furniture together, and decided to start with this small wood bookshelf. It was about $7 from the thrift store and we already owned all the materials needed to upcycle it. In total, it took about a day and a half to complete.
Materials:
Hand sander + 80 grit & 120 grit sandpaper
Wood filler
Chalk paint
Wax finish
Peel and stick wallpaper
Handles
Baskets (optional)
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Yikes - this before photo is scary! Granted, this was already after we did one pass with the hand sander and 80-grit sandpaper. We quickly realized it was going to be impossible to get the original dark stain off and therefore painting it was going to be the best option.
When using chalk paint, you only need to do a scuff-sand to knock down the original finish (pictured here). That simply means going over the whole piece with a hand sander, but not sanding all the way down to the raw wood. A scuff sand will give the new paint something to grip onto.
There were a few sections that needed wood filler, which is really easy to apply. All you need to do is scrap on the filler until the damaged section is filled in. Let it fully dry, which takes about 30 minutes to one hour. Then, take the hand sander + 120-grit sandpaper and sand the area down smooth.
Next, I finished scuff sanding the rest of the piece to get as much dark stain finish off as possible. Wipe down the whole piece with a clean rag afterwards.
The next step is chalk paint. I needed three solid coats of paint to make it look even. The first two coats helped to hide the darker stain, and the third coat evened out all surface areas. Chalk paint is one of the easiest products to use because it’s really forgiving, it’s hard to mess up, and it dries really fast.
After the paint is fully dry, go over the whole piece with a wax finish. This seals everything and gives it a nice protective coating.
To give it a little something extra, I added peel and stick wallpaper to the inside of the drawers, as well as the back of the dresser. It goes on as easy as applying it to a wall. Just peel off the backing and smooth it out using a smoother tool.
I splurged on fancy new hardware to give the drawer fronts a facelift. When picking out new handles, it’s easiest to measure the existing holes and find hardware that is the same width. I love how the chrome of these ones pops against the white chalk paint.
And just like that, this dresser has gotten an entirely new look! I love how it turned out, and I could totally picture it going in a playroom or outdoor-themed nursery.
Have you ever flipped a piece of furniture? This small dresser upcycled furniture flip sold for over $100 and we had fun working on it together. Flipping furniture is a great way to make some extra money on the side and I love how this piece turned out!
Keep following along for more flips. What kind of piece should we do next?
