Mid Century Modern Farmhouse Dresser in Olive Green
If you’re a fan of both mid century modern and farmhouse styles, then you’re in luck! Easily mix the two with a rustic MCM dresser makeover. Here’s how to make a mid century modern farmhouse dresser in olive green!
This is also an easy way to incorporate green painted furniture into your home decor. Green is a great choice for adding some color and personality to your space, and this particular shade of olive green is just perfect for creating a warm and inviting farmhouse feel.
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See more AFTER photos below these printable instructions!
Mid Century Modern Farmhouse Dresser in Olive Green
One of the best things about painting furniture is that you can mix and match styles to your liking! Here's how to paint a mid-century modern farmhouse dresser in olive green.
Materials
Tools
Instructions
- Prep the dresser for paint by cleaning, scuff sanding, removing the old hardware, and filling in the hardware holes with wood filler. Prime the dresser with clear shellac to prevent bleed through.
- Apply 2-3 coats of olive green paint onto the dresser. Once the paint dries, distress the edges and random spots around the dresser with sandpaper. Vacuum all the dust from sanding.
- Seal the olive green painted dresser with 3 coats of waterbased polyurethane.
- The next day, attach the new farmhouse cup pulls and to add an extra element of farmhouse style, yo can make a plank top for the dresser.
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Click any of these “before” photos below to view the “after” of that makeover.
One of the best things about painting furniture is that you can mix and match styles to your liking! You don’t have to paint an MCM (mid century modern) dresser with a sleek modern finish. Switch it up with a distressed green dresser instead!
Going for a mid century modern farmhouse look gives you the best of both worlds. You get the clean lines and simplicity of MCM style, paired with the rustic charm and cozy feel of farmhouse decor. Together, they create a unique and stylish blend that’s perfect for any home.
And with a dresser in this style, you can easily incorporate other elements of both MCM and farmhouse into your space.
Supplies Used for Mid Century Modern Farmhouse Dresser in Olive Green
- Old Dresser
- KwikWood
- Sandpaper
- Krud Kutter
- Spray Shellac
- Vintage Moss Green Furniture Paint
- Polyurethane Topcoat
- Farmhouse Cup Pulls
- Wood Plank Top (Details below!)
Ready to give your plain dresser a stylish and unique MCM farmhouse makeover? Let’s get started!
How To Prep A Dresser for Paint
There are a few steps that we need to take before we paint to give us the most professional finish.
First is prepping the old dresser’s finish to be able to hold onto the paint. You’ll need to wash it, scuff sand, remove the dust, and then shellac it to prevent bleedthrough.
Check out these posts to read our proven process on how to prep furniture for painting and how to clean furniture before painting.
Bleedthrough is an annoying thing the wood does to paint. The wood tannins bleed through the paint and make it look like you have stains or splotchy spots in your paint.
Sometimes it won’t show up until you seal the paint. Other times it will show up in your first coat of paint.
There is only one way to really keep the bleed-through at bay, and if you don’t take care of it before you paint, you’ll have to start the process all over once it shows. So I take care of it at the beginning of every single piece of furniture.
See how to properly prevent bleedthrough and stop stains from coming through paint in this post!
How to Change Dresser Hardware
If you plan to change the hardware, you’ll need to fill in the hardware holes and drill new holes. Here are the ways of filling holes when replacing furniture hardware.
You could fill the holes in with wood filler, but wood filler takes forever to dry, and it shrinks a lot. So you end up wasting a lot of time filling the holes.
Instead, I like to use Kwikwood to fill in hardware holes. It dries in an hour, it doesn’t shrink or crack and it dries super hard! Learn more about how to change hardware with KwikWood here!
You’ll want to take care of the hardware holes before you shellac for bleedthrough!
Painting A Dresser Olive Green
Once your prep is complete, you can paint it! Yay!! I used Vintage Moss by Paint Couture Paint on this dresser. It’s a gorgeous medium olive green furniture paint.
I love to spray paint furniture with my paint sprayer, but you can brush it on with a Zibra paintbrush instead.
(Zibra is my favorite paintbrush because they are inexpensive, and the different shapes, like the round brush, make it so easy to get into details.)
Read more about the best paint brushes for painting furniture here.
This dresser took 2-3 coats of paint and I didn’t even use half of a quart of paint. Check out more painted dresser ideas and olive green painted furniture here.
How to Spray Paint a Dresser
Learn how to spray paint a dresser here. It’s the same process that I have followed for years now.
And I don’t just spray the paint, I also spray the water-based topcoat! Spraying it creates the most professional-looking finish!
How to Distress a Dresser
Once the paint is all dry, it’s time to distress! I used 220 grit sandpaper to scuff up the edges and random spots around the dresser.
Learn more about these 6 techniques to distress furniture here!
Sealing A Painted Dresser
After distressing, vacuum up the dust and wipe everything down with a lint-free rag or a tack cloth.
Then apply 3 coats of my all-time favorite water-based polyurethane. This stuff dries hard and really protects your painted finish from getting ruined.
You can brush it on, but it’s so much faster and easier to spray it on. Plus it looks a million times better, with no streaks! Learn ALL of my tips and tricks on how to spray polyurethane here!
Add New Hardware and Plank Top to Dresser
The next day I attached new farmhouse cup pulls. I love the shape and color of these ones!
To add an extra element of farmhouse style I made a plank top for this dresser. Get all the details on how to make a plank top dresser here! For the perfect farmhouse look, check out these DIY farmhouse drop cloth curtains to tie everything up.
If you like how this dresser turned out, you can check out more rustic painted furniture and rustic dresser ideas here. We also have these DIY 9 drawer dressers and modern dresser ideas for more dresser makeover inspiration.
Can I use a different color of paint for my MCM dresser?
Absolutely! While olive green may be a popular choice for painting MCM dressers, there are no rules when it comes to choosing a color for your furniture.
Whether you want to go bold with a bright color, or keep it classic with white, the choice is entirely up to you.
If you need inspiration, here are the best painted furniture colors for any project. And remember, you can always change up the color in the future if you feel like a refresh!
Is it necessary to distress a painted dresser?
Distressing a painted dresser is not necessary, but it can add an extra element of character and charm to your furniture. It can also help to create a more rustic or vintage look, if that’s the style you’re going for.
Distressing a dresser can also help to hide any imperfections or blemishes in the wood. If your dresser has scratches or dings, distressing it can actually make them blend in more with the overall look. So while it may not be necessary, it can be a helpful technique.
However, if you prefer a clean and polished finish on your painted dresser, then skipping the distressing step is completely fine. Check out these bedroom dresser ideas to discover the right style for you!
More Dresser Makeovers
- Painting Furniture with Lilly Moon Paint
- How to Paint Furniture High Gloss
- Grey Chalk Paint Dresser
- Grey Painted Dressers
- DIY Modern Grey Dresser
Follow us on YouTube to get more tips for painting furniture. Or share your project with us on our Facebook Group and be part of our community. See you there!
I love your work! I was surprised to didn’t keep the gorgeous original hardware and go with navy, black, white or brighter green for a more modern boho look. But this is nice too.
Hey Judith!
Thank you for your kind words!
Natalie
Just lovely. You have patience and talent.
Just an FYI, many pieces of mid century are very valuable. Many buffets and dresser bring $2,000-$3,000 and more. Once paint touches them, the value goes down tremendously.
One of the shops I go to, had a gorgeous buffet (mid century) but it was painted white. Value dropped more than half.
Hey Diana! You are right! But this one definitely wouldn’t have been worth anything near that as the old finish was in bad condition.
I love this and have finally found how I want to update our buffet!! How many cans of paint did you use?
Hey Jan! Sorry for the late reply. I have painted 2 large pieces of furniture with one quart of paint. Actually I still have some leftover in the can! So it goes a long way.
You did a great job. I love the whole look – color is subtle, the top looks perfect with it, as do the new handles. I’d buy this for my house (or make it if I found the perfect dresser).
Thank you Terri! It is actually for sale currently!
Absolutely stunning.
Thats a stunning restoration/transformation! Thank for sharing it.
LOVE your dresser makeover! Could I ask what color the Farmhouse Cup Pulls are? Maybe even where you purchased them?
Thanks!
Hey Debbie! I got these ones at Menards I believe.
Love your vision for this piece!
I Love this! You did an amazing job saving this piece! I Love your work!
Thank you Kathy!
Can you tell me the name of this green color?
Hey Stephanie, the green paint color name is in the blog post. I believe it was called Vintage Moss from Paint Couture Paint.
I love how it turned out! The green is really stunning.
Thank you so much! So glad you love how it turned out!!
Oh my, what a great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not only is it Stunning, but you found my favorite color.
Oh wow! I’m so glad you found your favorite color through this. Thanks so much for the kind words. Really appreciate it!!
The green color is perfect for the dresser! I’m delighted to be featuring your post at Tuesday Turn About this week!
Ahh thank you so much Julie!