I love working on furniture. It was through my 4-H years that I was introduced to the home environment project that opened up this life-long hobby for me. I love finding vintage furniture and transforming it into something different, purposeful, and beautiful. I can see the possibilities by just looking at a piece of furniture.
Our daughter was in need of a larger, dresser and she will be transitioning to a toddler bed soon (shedding a tear) when I saw a friend of mine posting for sale her vintage Broyhill dresser online. For one, it was a steal ($50) and in great shape. It was perfect.
This Broyhill dresser was very popular in the 70s and 80s and lingered into the 90s because it was well made, a popular style and it seemed like many of us shared having this same dresser or the whole set of furniture in our rooms as little girls. I did! This was my childhood dresser. We had the set as well. My sister had the tall dresser and we had the matching desk and hutch. Like many of you, it brings back memories. You can still buy this dresser online from Broyhill (and other vendors) for hundreds of dollars as it is now “postmodern” in style.
To be honest, it was a good, solid, cute dresser. But I knew I wanted to paint it and update it. Magnolia makes a line of amazing paints and I found a soft pink that I loved (called Ella Rose). I sanded the dresser down, then primed it. I let the primer sit for 24 hours. The paint was chalk-based, so I used a chalk brush and was hoping that these prior steps would reduce brush lines. Two coats later and we spray painted the hardware, it was done.
Then another friend happened to put the matching headboard/bedframe up for sale online and we were able to get that! Going through the same process with it and working on it this weekend. What a transformation! I am so excited to move these pieces (the twin bed will come later) into Ada’s room. The dresser turned out amazing! Perfect for a little girl’s room. See the photos below.
With some inspiration from Pinterest and some extra steps in furniture cleaning and prep, I am so pleased with how it turned it. I hope my daughter has many wonderful memories of this dresser being in her room like I did (and like many of you). Project dresser was a success.
rosemary-lemons.com 