One of my big projects this month was to paint two dressers and a desk to match a new dark cherry stained dresser.
These three pieces (two shown above) were originally hot pink and a present to me from my parents when I returned home from 4-H round-up many, many years ago. I painted them the brown color when our boys were small and needed furniture. The paint held up well with only a few scratches during their childhood.
Thirty some years later and it is time to upgrade the finish.
First I needed to take everything off the pieces , clean them up, and sand the finish down. There is no need to sand down to the bare wood but you do need to remove the shine. I used 150 grit sandpaper for this job.
Wipe the pieces off to remove all the sawdust before applying the base coat. I applied two coats of Behr Dark Cherry Mocha #S170-7
You can see the trim on the mirror above the dresser that is the color I am going to match the furniture with. The first two coats are the base coat that I will be building upon to get to the final color. It is very important to allow the base coat to dry completely before adding the next color.
The next step is to put a thin layer of Behr Divine Wine Purple on the pieces. It is important to create a grain line by making long brush strokes in one direction only. This creates your wood look and also adds the red undertone to the dark cherry look.
Allow this layer to dry before topping with black enamel. I use a brush that has been damped with water and brush the paint out until the brush is dry. Brush in one direction only to create the final wood grain lines. Use a light hand – you can always add more dark color to the piece later but it is almost impossible to make it lighter.
You can repeat using this method using either or both the wine color to increase the red or black to darken the pieces.
I think it is a fairly close match. Now to add the shine.
I lightly sanded the pieces with 220 grit paper before sealing with Satin finish Minwax polycrylic.
Now to wait for it to dry completely before putting them back in place and the drawers back in their slots.
DIY with Kathy! 