Hello, dear friends! I’m sharing an antique Mirror and Vintage Dresser Update from earlier this year! My Furniture Fixer Upper crew and I usually share a brand new furniture makeover on the fourth Thursday each month. In December, because it’s so close to Christmas, we like to instead look back at our favorite Fixer Upper of the year as well as choose our favorite pieces from each other as well! We are sharing a week early this year since Christmas is next Thursday!

I hope y’all enjoy what I picked!

It wasn’t easy to choose as I loved this secretary as well, but ultimately, I loved this one more.

This makeover started with gorgeous dresser that I found for the bargain price of $59.99 at our local Habitat Restore:

It’s always misleading seeing these pieces from afar, but just wait! This is truly a fixer upper!

Here’s a preview:

How does that even happen??

I’ve included a few affiliate links so you can find the products I love.

Sand the Top

I immediately knew I wanted to stain the top of this dresser. I just love this look on the right piece!

So, the first step was to sand using my rotary sander. (I prefer this one for bigger jobs.) I used 100 grit sandpaper first, followed by 220 grit…

Clean

Once I had the top sanded smooth and all the dust vacuumed up with my shop vac, it was time to clean, and boy did this piece need it!!

Look what was behind those gross drawers:

I am baffled at how that area can get so dirty! Maybe the drawers were stored separately from the dresser?

I vacuumed the entire interior really well first using my Ryobi shop vac…

Then, I used my go-to paint prep cleaner, White Lightning by Dixie Belle. It is a cleaner AND a deglosser that comes in both a powder form and a ready-to-use formula.

I like to use the granules and mix a fresh batch for each project, adding one TBSP to a half gallon of warm water.

I’ll just leave that right there. I was sure to swap out that nasty water for clean water to wipe it down once more to remove any remaining dirt and residue after cleaning. These terry cloth pads are perfect for cleaning…like a washcloth sponge you can just toss in the wash!

Fill in Scratches and Gouges

After cleaning, it was time to fill in all the sratches and gouges, and thankfully, there weren’t too many this time. I did that using Dixie Belle’s Mud in brown.

Then those areas got a good sanding also, using  220 grit sandpaper:

I vacuumed that up, wiped everything down with a clean, soft cloth, and it was time to get to the good part!

Prime for Bleed through with Bonding BOSS

This red wood was definitely a potential bleeder, so I primed first with a coat of white Bonding BOSS, which is both an adhesion and a stain/odor blocking primer in one convenient product.

I usually let that dry for at least 24 hours, but I started on this project way ahead of time, so it probably sat for a couple of days.

Paint

Finally, the best part, paint!

I ended up giving this dresser three coats of Cotton, Dixie Belle’s brightest white chalk mineral paint, for solid coverage.

I applied that, as well as the Bonding BOSS, with my favorite Mini Angle Brush…

Sand

Chalk paint does have a slight texture to it, but giving it just the lightest sanding with 220 grit sandpaper after your final coat will make it smooth as butter!

I usually wrap mine around an old foam sanding sponge to make it easier to handle.

I hit those pretty details as well to highlight them a bit.

If you prefer no distressing, these fine grit sanding sponges are perfect.

After sanding, I cleaned up all the dust once again using my shop vac, followed by a good wipe down with a clean, soft cloth.

Stain

Then it was time to stain the top. Before getting into it, I started by conditioning the top with wood conditioner. This allows the wood to absorb the stain more evenly:

I immediately followed that up with No Pain Gel Stain in Espresso:

Lighter woods may be trending at the moment, but I just love this timeless dark, rich color.

I kept wiping with the grain until I had pulled any excess stain from the surface.

Seal

Finally, the last step was to seal! When working with the oil-based No Pain Gel Stain, wait about 72 hours to seal with a water-based stain. It should be good and dry. If you can leave your piece in the sun, it helps speed up the dry time.

I sealed the body and drawers using Dixie Belle’s Clear Coat in Satin, applying it with the blue applicator sponge…

And as soon as the stained top was good and dry, I sealed that with Clear Coat in Gloss instead. I wanted a bit more sheen for this gorgeous stained top.

Painted dresser with Stained Top Reveal

Here is how this dresser looked when I was done!

 

Wait, what?? Where did that mirror come from??

I don’t know if anyone noticed this mirror hiding in this haul photo from last year that I never talked about or shared?

I found it at the end of last summer at a yard sale just like this:

I had dragged it out to be photographed with that huge haul, but then I realized I didn’t have anything to pair it with!

So, it had lived at the back of my garage all year. When I spied this beautiful dresser at the Restore, I knew right away they would be perfect together!

The lady who was selling it had it priced at $25, but I offered $20. After a very long pause, she reluctantly agreed.

That got primed and painted also, of course…

And they do make a lovely pair!

I love the contrast of the bright white with the dark stained top:

 

And that beautiful drawer detail is what sold me on this dresser…

 

But the antique mirror really adds SO much!

I’m so excited I finally found a mate for it!

The Drawers

Here’s a reminder of what the drawers looked like…

That was a drop of my own sweat it was so hot out at the time! Hard to believe when it has been SO incredibly frigid here this week lol!

The top two drawers were really the only ones that looked this bad. I scraped away as much as I could and then sanded the rest smooth:

Then they got painted inside and out in Bay Breeze Silk Mineral Paint:

I gave them two coats, allowing plenty of dry time in between as Silk takes a bit longer to dry. (And no need to prime since I sanded and the drawers were pretty much raw wood anyway.)

Here is how they look all put together…stunning!

As you can see, I painted the outsides as well since they all pretty much looked like this before:

Everything was so dirty looking, I just wanted to paint it all lol!

But I saved the best for last! The top two fancier drawers got a little more fancy inside with this gorgeous Salon de La Gloire decoupage paper from Redesign:

I sell this paper like hotcakes, so I really wanted to use it on something!

It was the inspiration for choosing the Bay Breeze Silk Mineral Paint.

I cut the paper with the help of my rotary cutting mat set to get perfectly straight cuts:

Then I used a hair dryer on the WARM setting to get any creases out. You can also use an iron on the lowest setting or a steamer.

To add it to the drawers, I applied one coat of Matte Decoupage Gel from Redesign using a 2″ Foam N Dandy brush:

Then I laid the paper and applied another coat of the gel over the top:

And voila!

What a beautiful surprise when you open the drawers!

It took one paper to line both drawers. I had hoped for enough to line this little cubby on the mirror as well, but there wasn’t quite enough, so it just got painted in Bay Breeze:

 

 

Oh and I was able to reuse all the original hardware!

I just primed and painted it.

 

 

It wasn’t easy choosing my favorite Fixer Upper from this year, but this mirror paired with this lovely vintage dresser really had my heart!

Now for my favorites from each of my friends from the past year!

First up is a piece from my friend, Kathy at Petticoat Junktion. She finds the best items at online auctions!

This antique beauty was redone so elegantly:

See how she redid it HERE.

Next up is this curbside French Provincial dresser that my friend, Denise from Salvaged Inspirations, redid:

She finds THE BEST curbside treasure and always knows just what they need!

See how she worked her magic on this dresser HERE.

My friend, Gail from My Repurposed Life, redid this waterfall vanity and I just loved the sweet after:

See what she did with it HERE.

And last, but certainly not least is this cabinet from my friend, Natalie of A Ray of Sunlight:

This one just spoke to me in all its cuteness!

See how she reimagined it HERE.

Each of my Furniture Fixer Upper friends chose their favorites of the past year as well! I always like to see which of mine they picked!

Check out what pieces they chose as their favorites below:

Salvaged Inspirations: Denise’s Favorites

Petticoat Junktion: Kathy’s Favorites

 A Ray of Sunlight: Natalie’s Favorites

My Repurposed Life: Gail’s Favorites

I hope you enjoyed seeing our favorite Fixer Uppers from the past year!

The countdown to Christmas is on now! I’ll be back on Tuesday sharing what I did for the holidays with this oldie but goodie:

UPDATE: You can go see right now HERE!

XOXO,

 

 

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