I turned $50 into $475. Seriously! And I’m able to do that is by refinishing furniture. There are so many forlorn furniture pieces just sitting at garage sales, Goodwill or in your own home BEGGING for a makeover. Check out this Thomasville dresser I refinished to see how I made $425 on a furniture makeover.
I’m always looking for a piece of furniture to makeover. I always look for solid wood pieces that I can rehab. The best places to look are Facebook Marketplace, garage sales, consignment stores, Goodwill, etc. If you keep an eye out, you’ll find many pieces that are priced extremely well (and sometimes FREE!).
Never chalk paint!
One thing I don’t use is chalk paint. UGH. It’s way over-rated and I don’t like the feel. Sure, it’s easy to slap it on most any piece, but the finish never seems to last. So, I stay away from chalk paint when I’m refinishing a piece of furniture. And it’s really not the right tool if you want to make $425 on a furniture makeover!
Wipe it clean!
As I was looking online one day, I found this awesome Thomasville dresser. It was solid, beautiful and would be the perfect piece to refinish and turn for a profit. I scored it for just $50!
When I first get a piece in that I want to refinish, I wipe it down really good. Clean, clean, clean! I then inspect to see if anything needs fixed. I try to only buy pieces with simple fixes, such as gluing a part down or simple fill-in area that I can sand and paint. This particular piece didn’t need any fixes, so I was good to go!
After I gave it a good wipe down, I took off the doors and popped out the drawers. A lot of people just paint over hinges for doors and I can’t stand that! First, the paint easily chips and wears off the hinges and it looks terrible. Secondly, it’s just lazy. Take the hinges off and paint the piece properly! Ok … end rant!
Here’s what the piece looked like originally – I didn’t get one with all the drawers in, but you get the idea! Additionally, I also took off the gold embellishments on the doors and tossed them.
Sand and prime!
With the cabinet all pieced out, I then took sandpaper and roughed up the surface areas that I’d be painting. Just rough enough that the paint will stick pretty good. Then, I wiped it down again. I know it seems counterproductive to wipe it down, sand and then wipe again … but you never know what’s on a piece, which is why I give it a good wipe down when it first arrives!
Once I’ve sanded, I get out my trusty ol’ primer. I put on a coat and if it’s too thin in places, I do a second coat. A clean surface and a good coat of primer is critical to refinishing. Extremely critical! This part lays the groundwork for a nicely painted surface that will last!
Oh, I also want to mention that I try not to paint any drawers that are inside of cabinet doors. If they look nice and the wood works for the piece, I just leave them natural. They aren’t seen when the doors are closed and it still looks super nice!
Paint time!
With the primer on, it’s time to paint! I used pure white surface paint from Sherwin Williams for this piece. I always put in 4-5 thin coats with my trusty Purdy brush. Thin coats are key, with ample drying time in between. I painted the bottom portion, drawers and drawers in white and left the top for a different color.
As a touch of spice, I grabbed some Naval blue paint I had on hand and mixed some water with it. Using a foam brush I wiped it all over the outsides and insides of the drawers. This just brings a little color to the piece when it’s opened and looks pretty cool too! You can read a bit more about the wash effect here.
Gray “effect” for the top
Once I’ve gotten my coats on the body I moved to the top. For the top, I wanted it gray. I did the base in gray and let it dry. Then I did a thicker coat of gray and while it was wet put in some tans and whites. Not a lot, just to give it a multi-tone effect. This took a while to dry, but after I sanded a bit back to the original surface to distress it a bit.
Antiquing glaze is awesome!
Now that the top was done with my gray “effect”, I put antiquing glaze all over the base and drawers. As you can see, I was liberal with the glaze. I did this in sections and immediately wiped off with an old t-shirt. This gave it a super cool look!
Easy hardware upgrade!
The hardware was in great shape, just the wrong color. I ran to Home Depot and purchased some metallic black spray paint, along with spray primer. I cleaned then primed the hardware (drawer pulls and knobs). After that dried, I used the metallic spray paint and ended up with two good coats. Lastly, I followed it up with a clear coat spray paint for protection.
Protect your paint job!
So, at this point the top is painted gray, the bottom white with antiquing solution and the drawers and doors too. I give it a couple days to dry and then it’s time for top coat. Since the top will be heavily used, I go with my trusty General Finishes gel top coat. It’s easy to wipe on with a sock and keeps the surface very protected!
I sand in between my three coats and it’s ready to go. For the bottom half, including drawers and doors, I use a polyacrylic in satin finish. I do the same as the top and apply three coats.
After a good drying period, this piece is done! I place the drawers in their spots, screw in the doors, attach the hardware and it’s ready to go!
Time to make a profit!
In order to sell the piece, I stage it with some décor and take some photos. I then list it on a few sales sites such as Let Go or Facebook and wait for some bites! Sometimes it can be slow to sell at the price you want, but it’s worth sticking to the price you set as a buyer does eventually come! This one took me a couple months to sell, but I got my list price at $475 for it. With $50 invested in the piece, plus supplies which I already had on hand, I made a good profit!
Now on to finish another dilapidated furniture piece to make another $425 on a furniture makeover!
Have you turned a profit on a furniture makeover or have you made one over for your home to save money? Let me know in the comments below.
Be blessed!
6 comments
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post. I have been thinking about trying chalk paint (I’ve always used regular semi-gloss for all my projects). I thought that I was missing something not using the chalk paint. Now I know that what I’m doing is fine. I really enjoyed your post.
Chalk paint is so overrated! And the texture .. ugh! lol!
That is awesome! What a great profit, plus you saved something that might have otherwise gone to a landfill.
Thank you so much! It’s a lot of fun bringing new life to an old piece!
Your piece turned out so well. I have a dresser very similar to this one that is from my parents bedroom set – so old and dated. I am going to have to give it some TLC after reading your post.
Definitely pull that old and dated piece out and give it some love!
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