DIY Pink Dresser

Hey friends! I’m back with a makeover that’s out of my comfort zone, but I’m so glad I did it! Here’s our DIY Pink Dresser Makeover with BB Frosch Paint Powder and latex paint.

Find more DIY Dresser Makeovers here!

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6 drawer dresser with ornate detail before getting painted.

I love these dressers with all of the ornate detail.

They aren’t usually the best quality though. This one is made of mostly laminate, some MDF, and a little bit of real wood.

Let’s just say that I spent way too much on it, but I couldn’t pass it up because of the detail on those drawers!

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Table of Contents

Supplies Used:

Krud Kutter
Wood Filler
Foam Sanding Pads
Clear Shellac
Behr Latex Paint in the Color Cranberry Cocktail from Benjamin Moore
BB Frosch Paint Transformer Powder
WaterBased Polyurethane
Gold Spray Paint

Tools Used:

Multi Tool (fixing the drawer track)
SurfPrep Sander (Use code RAY10 to get 10% off your order)
Respirator
Fuji Q4 Paint Sprayer
Staalmeester Paint Brush

Step 1: Prep for Paint

Fix Drawer Track

One drawer was a little wobbly. The front of that drawer track was worn out, so we tried to just flip it around and screw it back in.

The track sat up too high though, so the drawer couldn’t go in all of the way.

So I cut a notch out of what was now the bottom front of the track so it would sit down like the other end had before.

Cutting a notch in the end of a drawer track on a dresser.

That was the ticket! Now it works great again!

This blog post gives a bunch of tips for fixing drawers too!

Remove Hardware and Clean

Then my husband unscrewed the hardware and cleaned the dresser off with Krud Kutter and a damp rag.

Learn more about how to properly prepare a dresser before painting here!

Wood Fill

And he filled in a couple of spots with wood filler.

Remove the Base

I really wanted to put a new base on this dresser, so we flipped it over and unscrewed the old base.

This is the kind of base I wanted to put on the dresser.

And then I stared at it for a while and we tried to figure out how we were going to do it.

Upside-down dresser with the base removed.

We could cut the sides off, but they are made of MDF, so we didn’t feel good about attaching a new base to those.

We thought of a few different plans, but when it came down to it, I wasn’t up for the challenge this time.

So we put the base back together.

Sand and Clean Again

Then my husband sanded the wood filler… and the base… and some hard spots on the top.

And then cleaned everything off again.

Prime

Then he moved it into the spray room and sprayed 2 coats of clear shellac on it, waiting at least an hour for it to dry between coats.

Since this dresser is mostly laminate, we didn’t need to worry about bleedthrough.

But we did need to worry about the paint adhering.

This shellac somehow does a really good job of making paint stick to slick surfaces.

And we didn’t want to have to scuff sand all those details. Not gonna lie.

See the test that convinced me that shellac is a great primer for laminate furniture!

Step 2: Paint with BB Frosch Paint Transformer

This time I used regular Behr Latex paint in the color Cranberry Cocktail by Benjamin Moore.

And I mixed it with some BB Frosch Paint Powder.

This stuff basically turns latex paint into chalk paint. I’ve used it once before and I really liked it.

You can also turn latex paint into chalk paint with this little trick we used on these rustic blue nightstands!

How to Use BB Frosch Paint Transformer Powder

So they say to mix the powder with water until it’s the consistency of donut glaze.

They have exact measurements on the back of the container as well.

Mixing BB Frosch paint powder with water to make chalk paint.

Then you mix it with the paint.

I added some more water to thin out the paint so I could spray it.

Get the details of how to spray chalk paint on furniture here!

Spray the Chalk Paint

Then I sprayed the paint. I think I may have thinned the paint a little too much, but it was still workable.

And honestly, my sprayer was giving me fits.

That doesn’t happen very often with this sprayer, and usually, it just means that I need to replace some things and give it a really good clean.

So I did that between coats.

Then I sprayed the second coat…the spray was a lot better…but I sprayed too much. Look at those drips!

So I stopped halfway through spraying and brushed out the drips before they could dry.

Using a paintbrush to brush out the drips from spraying too much paint.

Then I let the paint dry, and I sprayed another, much lighter coat all over.

After that coat was dry, I sanded the paint a little.

Between brushing the paint, and the extra gritty texture (I think from the BB Frosch), it needed a good sanding.

By this time, I was running out of paint, but I needed to paint over everything that I sanded.

I put the small container on the sprayer so then I could spray a smaller amount of paint without it running out when it couldn’t reach what was left in the bottom of the bigger container.

And then I sprayed 2 really light coats.

Thankfully this paint dries pretty quickly!

Step 3: Topcoat

The next day I put some polyurethane and a little bit of the paint in the sprayer.

And I sprayed a coat of polyurethane all over.

Spraying a coat of polyurethane top coat on a pink painted dresser.

Then I sanded it ever so lightly to smooth it out.

And then I sprayed 2 more coats of polyurethane all over.

Click here for all of my tips for spraying polyurethane!

Step 4: Update the Hardware

Between the paint drying, I worked on the hardware.

How to Clean Hardware

First I cleaned it so I could see if I could get them gold without any paint.

I got it close, but I decided to paint them to make them look really polished.

Read this post for all the details on how to clean hardware.

How to Paint Drawer Pulls

So I primed them, and then painted them very lightly with this really pretty gold spray paint.

Spraying hardware gold with Rust-oleum metallic spray paint.

Read this blog post for more information on how I paint drawer pulls.

A couple of days later I put the hardware back on, and moved it upstairs to take photos.

Step 5: Enjoy!

And here’s what it looks like now!

Pink painted dresser with gold hardware.

Inside of drawers lined with flowery gift wrapping paper.

Side view of pink painted dresser with gold hardware.

This bold of a color kind of terrifies me. I usually stick to blues, greens, and neutrals.

Every once in a while I go outside of that (like on this purple china cabinet). But I love it on this piece!

I typically change out the old hardware, but with these really ornate pieces, I like to leave the big chunky hardware.

What would you have done?

As far as the BBfrosch powder, I don’t remember it being like this last time I used it, but I didn’t like that this paint was so gritty.

More gritty than chalk paint usually is.

Maybe it was something else and not the BB Frosch? I don’t know. I’ll have to test it again.

Close view of ornate detail on a pink painted dresser.

But it did adhere very well!

That’s it for me today, I’ll see you next time!

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DIY Pink Dresser