Teal Blue Tall Dresser Makeover

What goes together better than a french provincial dresser and teal blue paint? Not many things! Today I’m sharing how you can recreate the look of this stunning teal blue tall dresser.

Get more blue painted furniture ideas here!

Vintage French Provincial Dresser before makeover

That is what this dresser looked like before I painted it.

Table of Contents

Supplies Used for Teal Blue Dresser Makeover

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This dresser was a long time coming. I bought it as part of a set of french provincial dressers from an estate sale. (Here are the best places to get good furniture for cheap!)

First I stripped the top of the dresser with my favorite less-toxic paint stripper. Learn more about how to remove wood stain here.

Then I tried to paint the body of the dresser with milk paint, but I hated how it was going. (Mostly because of how milk paint chips, so you could see the cream and gold paint under the blue milk paint.)

See what chippy milk paint looks like on this chippy gray milk paint dresser. And learn more about how to use milk paint on furniture here.

I tried again, got the milk paint to stick well, and then I waxed it. Ugh, I hated it. So I took a step back and took a breather…. for a couple of months. haha

When I came back, I removed the furniture wax with mineral spirits and I scuffed the paint finish with this sandpaper so there wasn’t any shine to it.

dresser after furniture wax removed with mineral spirits

The Teal Blue Tall Dresser Makeover

I taped off the drawers and the top of the dresser with this pre-taped plastic (that stuff is the best when you’re spraying paint!) and some painters tape, and then I put the drawers all back into the dresser.

Check out how I tape off the drawers to prevent overspray when painting here.

Then I put this gorgeous teal Homestead Blue Fusion Mineral Paint into my Fuji paint sprayer (my expensive, but best money I’ve ever spent, paint sprayer!).

Spraying Fusion Mineral Paint onto tall dresser

How to Spray Fusion Mineral Paint

If you want to spray furniture with a paint sprayer, I highly suggest learning the ropes with a cheaper paint sprayer like this Wagner Double Duty paint sprayer that I used for 3 years.

Check out the best HVLP paint sprayers for furniture here. And here is a crash course on using a paint sprayer!

Fusion Mineral Paint has to be thinned with water before you can spray it. But it sprays and dries into a beautiful durable finish that doesn’t have to be sealed like chalk paint.

Fusion Mineral Paint Dry Time

I painted 2 coats of Homestead Blue, letting the paint dry for 2 hours after each coat.

I have painted this dresser and another small 3 drawer dresser and I still have paint left in the pint-sized jar, so Fusion Mineral Paint goes pretty far!

Learn more about this paint in my Fusion Mineral Paint vs Heirloom Traditions Paint comparison.

Sealing Fusion Mineral Paint

Then I sprayed 2 coats of my all time favorite water-based polyurethane to give the new teal blue paint some added protection AND give it a satin sheen. Learn ALL of my tips and tricks on how to spray polyurethane here!

Yes, Fusion Mineral Paint doesn’t have to be sealed like chalk paint, but it still dries in a matte finish, making it hard to wipe dust off.

Plus, I like to protect my furniture from getting easily scratched or ruined as much as I can.

Teal Blue Tall Dresser painted with fusion mineral paint

Gel Stained Dresser Top

To finish off the look, I wiped a coat of Java gel stain (a gorgeous dark stain with a hint of red) onto the freshly sanded top.

Once the gel stain was dry, (after 48 hours) I sealed the stain with 3 coats of Minwax Wipe-on Poly in Satin. (See how to stain wood darker with gel stain here.)

Gel Stain Vs. Wood Stain

I don’t have a photo of it, but there was a chip in the top of the dresser (on the back edge). I originally filled it in with a little bit of Kwikwood and was a little bit nervous about how it would stain.

A regular wood stain has to sink into the surface in order for it to really stain. But, gel stain was made to be able to sit on top of the surface, while creating a stained look.

That’s why I used gel stain on the top of this dresser instead of a regular wood stain.

The gel stain made the Kwikwood patch and the rest of the sanded-down raw wood look seamless! You can’t even tell that the patch is there!

I wish I had a photo of it, but I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it. Check out this wood stain repair tutorial on damaged wood to learn more.

Fusion Mineral Paint Antiquing Glaze

I wanted to do one extra thing to make the teal blue even deeper. So I brushed on a coat of Fusion Mineral’s antiquing glaze with a Zibra round paint brush.

I have a sample size of the glaze and I used maybe half of it for this dresser. I didn’t apply it like I normally apply glaze though.

(See how I normally apply glaze over chalk paint on this blue painted dresser here or check out this youtube video below.)

This time I just brushed it on in a thin layer, making sure to keep the strokes long, and all in the same direction.

difference of painted dresser with and without brushing antiquing glaze — Hopefully you can see the difference between not glazes and glazed here. You can see a line of glaze where the “See the Difference” arrow is pointed.

The antiquing glaze deepened the teal blue, but it also added a little brown to the finish to make it look a little bit older. Then I sprayed one last coat of my favorite poly for good measure.

Check out my list of the best polyurethane for furniture here.

Changing Dresser Hardware

The french hardware got thrown into my stash of vintage hardware and I attached black modern drawer pulls in their place.

Honestly, it was a pain to find hardware that would fit these holes and I wish that I would have just filled in the hardware holes before painting so I could put knobs on instead.

Learn more about how to change hardware on furniture here!

But I originally thought that I was going to use the French provincial style drawer pulls so I didn’t fill the holes in. Oh well! In the end, I love these new pulls!

Check out more French Painted Furniture ideas here.

closeup of teal blue dresser with gel stained top

Teal Blue French Provincial Dresser with gel stained top

More Before And After Makeovers

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