Update On The Veneer Dresser

Less than two weeks until Christmas.  I'm so unprepared and have less than 5% of my shopping done.  Perfect time to get on that dresser!

But it must be done.  The boys have been living out of bins on the floor for over a month now.  So, finishing the dresser will be like a Christmas gift to them.  And to Steve, too, who can't stand the chaotic mess in their bedroom...as well as the staining/painting/sealing mess in the basement.  Plus, being able to spend kid-free time doing the dresser is like a Christmas gift to me.  I love it.

It's Christmas all around!

We last left off with sanding the dresser on the porch and not knowing what will happen.  The top was so badly marked up.  So the plan was to stain and see what happened...

Ready To Go

We brought it into the basement and propped it up on a few canned goods. Whatever works.

I used a pre-stain conditioner and chose a darker (not darkest) stain.  We used this product in a similar color on our basement stairs a few years ago, so I already trusted it.

Conditioned

The conditioner REALLY brought out the blotches.  Awesome.  So I stained.

One coat.  The sides looked good, but the top?  Horrible.  Not working.

Here's where I almost painted the whole damn thing.  I pinterested.  I shared with my husband.  I tried to make myself believe that I liked the completely painted look better than the stained/painted look that was my inspiration.  But I couldn't.

So I decided to give it one more go with the darkest stain I could find. 

It worked.  IT WORKED!  Two coats of "Ebony" stain and I was in love.  The blotches were gone.  The wood grain looked normal.  So. Happy.

Before

"Light" Stain

Ebony Stain

 And then the dresser sat for weeks.  With these...

Drawers & Legs

Busy?  Fatigue?  Holidays?  A little bit of all that.  Until this past weekend when my husband had enough.  And took the kids.

I did my homework and the biggest caution was to brush it on LIGHTLY and avoid BUBBLES.  Paper thin.  Ok, I can do that.  Then this happened.

BUBBLES.  Those millions of bumps are bubbles.  I used two different brushes.  I stopped dipping the brush at all and just spread it out tissue paper thin.  Nope.  Still bubbles.

So this is what it looked like when I thinned it out as best I could and finally put down the brush (and crossed my fingers).

Really?  All this hard work and it's going to come down to this?  A billion miniscule bubbles that I can't get rid of?  

Then this happened.

PHEW.  I almost kissed it.  But no touching for 4-6 hours. 

So, instead I got to work on the drawers.

I follow Lindsay's blog and she highly recommends Benjamin Moore Advance paint for furniture.  Say no more.  I do as I'm told.

It rolled on thick and a little bumpier than an orange peel.  But before I was finished with the second drawer, the first looked so much better.  The paint has a self-leveling element, so thank goodness I didn't go back and re-roll it.  Restraint!

Here's where I've left off.

Waiting for polyurethane, paint and stain (on the legs) to dry.  And more coats to come.  Then pulls to drill.

I think she's gonna turn out just fine...Merry Christmas to me!!