Furniture Reveal: Pitch Black Milk Paint Dresser

I was able to pick up this dresser and finish it all in one day. It’s a new record for me and it was definitely a nice change from the days and weeks other pieces take. The top was not in good condition when I purchased the dresser and had to be sanded down to raw wood. I also sanded off the flowers that were painted on the front of the second drawer. I didn’t take any good before photos because I pulled the piece out of my car and started working right away, so this is all you get, an iphone photo.

After I removed the decorative molding on the top I sanded it down to raw wood with my orbital sander. I used 80 grit and worked my way up to a 220 to make sure the top was smooth. I also lightly hand sanded the rest of the piece with 150 grit. Once it was sanded I used TSP substitute to remove any dust particles and prepare the piece for paint.

I chose to go dark with the color. That could be related to the fact that I’m ready for some darker fall colors, but I knew I wanted to use bone knobs and black was the perfect contrast for them. I used Old Fashioned Milk Paint in Pitch Black. Because the wood finish was already dark I only needed 2 coats of paint (I did use 3 on the top since I sanded it down to light, bare wood). I added the bonding agent to prevent chipping and get a clean look then once the paint was dry I used a foam brush to apply one coat of General Finishes high performance topcoat in flat. In my experience, this specific black milk paint color gets a foggy, white-ish blue-ish finish when poly is applied, so I did a thin coat, sanded it with 320 grit sandpaper once dry and then added a coat of Maison Blanche Dark Brown Wax. The dark wax deepened the black paint and covered up those foggy areas. Now it has a durable finish from the poly, but also a rich, black color thanks to the dark wax.