A Ray of Sunlight: Farmhouse Modern Midnight Blue Dresser

We're slowly getting moved into our new home in Duluth, MN and since we sold almost everything before we left Arizona, we have been on the hunt for new furniture. We literally packed all that we had into our two small cars, our pickup and a 6' x 12' uhaul trailer. Can I just say how freeing it was to get rid of so much junk that we had accumulated throughout the years? And since we sold so much, (and saved so much by not renting a huge moving truck), I finally have a ~~tight~~ budget (but a budget none the less) to redecorate our home. Needless to say, I'm over the moon about it!

I've had so much fun searching for new furniture for our home. It's been a journey here as furniture seems to be hiding out, compared to what I was used to in Arizona, but things are slowly coming together now.

One of the first pieces we found was this mid century modern dresser. Not only was it missing it's legs, it was dirty, sticky, and the corners of some of the drawers we're broken off. But for $25, I couldn't pass it up for my own home! Originally I thought about removing the current drawer handles so it wouldn't have a mid century modern feel anymore, but the more that I looked at the dresser, the more I fell in love with the handles.

Farmhouse Modern Dresser Transformation in General Finishes Midnight Blue with Added Industrial Hairpin Legs

Bondo came to the rescue to fix the broken corners and fill in the knicks and dings. I love how easy Bondo is to use and how fast it hardens. Hands down, a must have product when working with furniture repairs.

Once the Bondo hardened, we molded and sanded down the corners with 220 grit sandpaper and scrubbed the whole entire dresser down with a wet rag and Krud Kutter. Thankfully Krud Kutter easily cuts through grease and grime, making it easy to clean up the utterly disgusting dresser. While moving out of a place and into a new home I went through a whole container of this stuff! Not only is it amazing with furniture refinishing, but it easily gets rid of those black built up dirt / oil stains on fridge handles and trim by door handles and light switches. If my regular cleaner takes more than a second to get a stain off, I turn to Krud Kutter because I know it will easily get it off.

Just for insurance against bleed through, we gave it two coats of shellac. For the perfect shade of navy, we chose Midnight Blue by General Finishes in the Chalk Style Paint. This color is so amazing and will go perfectly with my farmhouse navy blue decor plans. It took 2 coats to get even coverage, and then we heavily distressed the finish with 220 grit sand paper. I really wanted more of a farmhouse look instead of a mid century modern look, so heavily distressing was a must.

My go to sealant for chalk paint is Varethane's Polyurethane in Satin. I gave this dresser 3 coats of poly, letting it dry completely between coats.

We ordered 7" rustic grey hairpin legs from Philly Fabrication on Etsy and couldn't be more happy with the purchase! And no, I'm not being paid to say that. - I wish! ;) They came with self tapping screws, and since the dresser originally had legs, the base of the dresser was already ready for legs. We simply just screwed the legs on! Wahoo!

This dresser was ready to head to the landfill, but now it will be a center piece in our home for years to come! It never ever gets old to see how easily and dramatically paint transforms a piece of furniture. What have you saved from the trash? I'd love to hear!!