Before & After: Mod Geometric Dresser Makeover

Well I’m back with another furniture makeover for you. It’s been a while… not too long, but a while 🙂 I designed another funky piece and just went for it. The idea for this mod geometric dresser was drawn out in my idea book and just a few days later my parents found a great petite dresser at an estate sale that was worth the risk.

It was inexpensive, but the piece also isn’t the best quality I’ve seen, which is why I wanted it. It made it easier for me to experiment with one of the many ideas that float around in my head, and if it didn’t turn out, I would not feel bad about “messing the piece up.” The main thing I wanted to try was a mod or geometric triangular pattern on the drawers. I love straight lines and geometric designs but wanted to try something new and different. I contemplated switching the wood and white portions on the drawers (before it was done) but ended up keeping the triangular portion natural wood and painting the rest of the piece.

To start I removed the hardware and began stripping the drawers with citristip. I think it is pine veneer, but I’m not entirely sure. Once they were stripped I let them dry overnight and sanded the drawers clean and smooth the next morning. I also filled in the old holes from the hardware and sanded it smooth.

If the piece had been in better condition I could have skipped the stripping process and just refreshed the wood with gel stain. This video tutorial shows you how. To see all of my videos, click here.

Next was staining, and from experience I knew there was a possibility the wood wouldn’t take the stain evenly. To help prevent that I gave each drawer a coat of pre-stain wood conditioner 10 minutes before staining. This particular wood veneer didn’t take the stain color well. It just wasn’t getting dark like I wanted. I ended up using a mix of stains and 4 coats to get the color as dark as I wanted it. I used Rustoleum’s Dark Walnut, General Finishes Antique Walnut Gel Stain and Cabot’s Ebony stain. I mixed the GF Gel Stain with some of the Ebony stain for the last coat and that really helped to darken up the color.

In the meantime the frame of the dresser was sanded with my palm sander then cleaned and primed with my grey tinted Zinsser Cover Stain primer. I applied the primer with a foam brush and sanded it smooth. For the color I wanted a light-medium grey. I ended up mixing Sherwin Williams’ Gauntlet Grey and Stone Mason. Gauntlet Grey had warmer undertones and looked a bit more taupe while Stone Mason was a cool grey. They mixed well for the perfect shade. For sealer I used General Finishes High Performance Topcoat in Flat on the frame of the dresser.

Once the drawers dried for 24 hours I sealed them in General Finishes HP topcoat in satin. I was then ready to tape off he triangles on each drawer. I measure in about 3/4in from where the previous hardware holes had been (I wanted those covered in paint). It took a while, but I then had all 4 drawers taped and ready for paint. I made sure to use my handy trick to get clean lines, and then I applied 4 coats of GF’s snow white milk paint to the drawers. Once it was dry the white painted portions were sealed in GF’s HP topcoat in gloss.  As much as I liked the look without any hardware, the piece needed some to make it functional so I added some simple oil rubbed bronze knobs I’ve had for a long time (bought from Habitat for Humanity Restore a few years ago).

Just take a look at the before and after of this mod geometric dresser . The piece is hardly recognizable! Just goes to show how some paint, stain, and hardware can fully transform a worn piece of furniture.