DIY Painted Mid-Century Modern Dresser: Farmhouse Style

Mix painted farmhouse and a mid-century modern dresser together to create a modern farmhouse dresser. This DIY painted mid-century modern dresser even has hairpin legs to boost its style.

Get more furniture makeover ideas here!

vintage mid century modern dresser before the makeover

We recently moved across the country, sold most of our furniture, and literally packed all that we had into our two small cars, our pickup, and a 6′ x 12′ Uhaul trailer.

Needless to say, we’ve been on the hunt for cheap dressers for our new home.

*Side note: Can I just say how freeing it was to get rid of so much junk that we had accumulated throughout the years? And since we sold so much, (and saved so much by not renting a huge moving truck), I have a ~~tight~~ budget (but a budget nonetheless) to redecorate our home. Yay!!!

One of the first pieces we found was this mid-century modern dresser. Not only was it missing its legs, but it was also dirty, and sticky, and the corners of some of the drawers were broken off.

But for $25, I couldn’t pass it up for my own home!

Originally I thought about removing the current drawer handles so it wouldn’t have a mid-century modern feel anymore, but the more that I looked at the dresser, the more I fell in love with the handles.

Table of Contents

Supplies Used For Painted Mid-Century Modern Dresser

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I also may earn from other qualifying purchases with other companies or get free product to review and use. All opinions are my own.

Old Dresser
Bondo Body Filler
220 Grit Sandpaper
Krud Kutter
Old Rag
Shellac
Midnight Blue Chalk Style Paint by General Finishes (Not sold anymore, Coastal Blue Milk Paint is the closest to the color now)
Varathane Polyurethane

Before painting, I had to tackle the problems.

First, the broken corners on the drawers and the scratches all over.
Decide how to make the dresser taller. *I didn’t attach the legs until after the dresser was painted though*
And finally, painting a mid-century modern dresser in a farmhouse blue finish.

How to Repair Wood Corners

If you look closely, the corners on some of the drawers were broken off. The drawer fronts were made of MDF, so they easily chipped off.

before photo of a 9 drawer MCM dresser with a natural wood finish

Bondo came to the rescue to fix the broken corners. Learn more about how to fix a chipped wood corner here and how to use Bondo with our tutorial on how to repair damaged furniture.

Get the Secrets!

Grab this super convenient How to Repair Furniture Ebook with all of our secrets on how to repair furniture for only $14.

You can print it out and have instant access whenever you come across damaged furniture, and know exactly how to fix it!

Click on the picture of the book to purchase!

REPAIR14

It is easy to use, dries fast, and it dries rock hard. Honestly, Bondo is a must-have product when working with furniture repairs.

You can even use it to repair broken trim on furniture, fill in hardware holes, and repair chipped veneer furniture.

broken corner of drawer fixed with Bondo

I also used some wood filler to fill the large scratches in the wood. Learn about the best wood fillers for furniture here.

Once the Bondo hardened, we molded and sanded down the corners with 220-grit sandpaper.

scratches on a dresser filled with wood filler

Prepping Furniture for Paint

Then I scrubbed the whole entire dresser down with a wet old rag and Krud Kutter.

Thankfully Krud Kutter easily cuts through grease and grime, making it easy to clean up utterly disgusting furniture.. like this one. GROSS!

Learn more in this post about how to clean furniture before painting. I went through a whole container of this stuff when we moved into our new home!

Not only is it amazing with furniture refinishing, but it easily gets rid of those black built-up dirt/oil stains on fridge handles and trim by door handles and light switches.

After the Krud Kutter, I scuff-sanded the entire dresser and wiped all the dust off with a tack cloth. Read this post to know how important sanding before painting furniture is!

And just for insurance against bleed through, we gave it two coats of shellac. Here’s more about how to stop stains from coming through paint.

Painting Furniture Blue

For the perfect shade of navy, we chose Midnight Blue by General Finishes in the Chalk Style Paint. Check out these navy painted furniture ideas!

**General Finishes no longer makes Chalk Style Paint. Coastal Blue in their milk paint line is very similar though!

You can go to General Finishes website and find blue painted furniture in their colors for inspiration on what color is best for your makeover.

dresser painted with navy blue paint — The lighting in the garage makes it look grey, but it’s really a dark midnight blue!

This color is so amazing and will go perfectly with my farmhouse navy blue decor plans.

It took 2 coats to get even coverage, and then we heavily distressed the finish with 220-grit sandpaper.

I really wanted more of a farmhouse look instead of a mid-century modern look, so heavily distressing was a must. Learn about the 6 best distressing furniture techniques here!

If you like mid century modern painted furniture, check out this post for more inspiration.

To give the paint finish extra durability and make it easier to wipe down, I sprayed on 3 coats of my favorite top coat.

I absolutely love spraying polyurethane with my paint sprayer! Learn all about how to spray polyurethane here!

And check this post to learn more about the best topcoats for painting furniture.

How to Make a Dresser Taller

This dresser originally had legs, but at some point, someone took them off. So this dresser was only 20″ tall, and I wanted it to be closer to standard height.

I ordered some hairpin legs and attached them to the bottom of the dresser. Here’s our tutorial on how to create a DIY dresser with hairpin legs.

This dresser was ready to head to the landfill, but now it will be a centerpiece in our home for years to come!

For the perfect farmhouse look, check out these DIY farmhouse drop cloth curtains to tie everything up.

Here are more DIY 9 drawer dressers for your painting inspiration.

blue painted mid century modern dresser with distressed paint

full photo of navy blue painted dresser with hairpin legs

More Before And After Makeovers

Click any of these “before” photos below to view the “after” of that makeover.

It never ever gets old to see how easily and dramatically paint transforms a piece of furniture. What have you saved from the trash? I’d love to hear!!

Get more ideas for DIY dresser makeovers here!