Two Tone Dresser

Dan still has his childhood dressers, they are in great shape structurally, but they had a few nicks and scratches.  Usually I am the initiator of projects around the house, but this project Dan started on before I even knew he was thinking about it!  And that's the reason I don't have any good "before" pictures of the dresser.  Here is what I do have:

the dresser after the sanding started:

 

Dan's initial thoughts were to sand the dresser down to the natural wood and re-stain it a darker color, but unfortunately he got crazy with the sander and sanded too deep in a couple spots, removing the natural grains. 

The solution?

A two tone painted dresser!

 

For the top, I used the same glazing technique I used on the bathroom cabinets.   Three coats of glaze and I had the perfect deep dark wood.  The rest of the dresser was painted white.  The whole piece was finished off with three coats of polyurethane for added protection.  

The last step was adding new hardware, we picked an oil rubbed bronze handle because it goes so nicely with the dark wood on the top.  

For now, the dresser is sitting in our upstairs living room.  This room isn't even near complete, and this probably isn't the permanent home for this dresser, but it works for now!

Like my pretty new chairs and rug?  The chairs were an anniversary gift from the hubs (yup, my husband bought my anniversary gift on craigslist!) and the rug was also a part anniversary gift from my parents! 

As for the accessories on top of the dresser, the mirror was a steal at TJ Maxx and the rest of the items were things I had around the house not being used - I love decorating from my own "store" in the basement!