Anthropologie Inspired Mid-Century Dresser
A MCM Dresser Gets A Pink Anthropologie-Inspired Makeover!
Before I start refinishing a piece of furniture, I typically look at the piece and know what I am going to do right away. Sometimes the imperfections of a piece will guide me on how I will have to refinish it. Then, there are the times when I have a blank slate and I get a bit of painter’s block. Occasionally, I will get a piece that isn’t talking to me, and I have no clear vision for it, and when this happens, I love to scroll through the latest designer furniture trends for inspiration.
As with any industry, I think it is important to keep up with the current trends and just educate yourself on what is happening in your profession. I like to set aside time every week to just scroll Pinterest, watch videos, listen to a podcast, and read a few blogs to get my creativity flowing. Much like when I complete continuing education for my nursing career, I also try to stay educated on current trends and techniques in furniture refinishing. For me, feeling inspired and having my creativity refreshed gives me the motivation to keep doing what I am doing.
Inspiration
I found this 6-drawer Mid-Century dresser on Facebook marketplace for a great price, and it was in decent condition, so my husband and I drove about two hours round trip to grab it. We always grab a good coffee on our little road trips, making it one of my favorite parts of finding my furniture. I got the dresser home and got right to work cleaning the piece and trying to get a feel for what I wanted to do with it. I was really struggling with where I wanted to take this piece, so I turned to scrolling online for some inspiration. I landed on the ever-so-popular Anthropologie website and noticed they were selling a ton of dressers with embellishments and stenciling. Some of the stenciled pieces were so beautiful, but for resale purposes in my area, they were a little extreme. I thought that I would recreate that stenciled feel but scale it back a bit. I bought a silk screen stencil that I loved locally and settled on Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint in Arabesque for the body and bottom drawers.
Supplies Needed
Cleaning and Repairs:
Dawn Dish Soap
Scrubbing Sponge
Vacuum
Microfiber towels
120 grit sandpaper
220 grit sandpaper
Orbital Sander
Putty knife
Wood glue
Sanding block
Heat gun
Bondo
Drill
Painting and Finishing:
Paintbrush
Foam Brush
Silk Screen Stencil
Drill
18” x 6’ glued board
Finishing touches:
Gold and pearl drawer pulls
Peel and stick wallpaper for drawer lining
Cleaning And Repairs
I started as I always do by removing the old hardware and vacuuming the entire dresser inside and out. I then scrubbed everything with warm soapy water made with Dawn® dish soap. I still feel like out of all of the cleaners I have tried over the years, Dawn cuts that old furniture oil the best.
There was this strange plastic veneer that did not match any of the other wood on the face of the dresser that I ended up removing with a heat gun and putty knife. I chose to remove it because it was a very slick and shiny material and without an oil-based primer I feel it would have likely rejected the paint or would not have held up well over time. The dresser was a nice solid wood underneath that veneer strip, so it worked out much better.
I opted to also replace the top of this dresser with a large pine board. The original top was a very thick plastic laminate material, and over time the paint would be more likely to be scratched away or chip off even with the best of prep work. The new pine top provided me with a much more porous material to hold on to the milk paint. I used wood glue and pocket screws to attach the new top.
There were a few areas of missing veneer on the sides that needed to be filled and for that I used Bondo®. I continued gluing and making any other small repairs until it was as good as new.
Sanding
The sides and the drawers on this dresser were veneer, so I began sanding them down carefully with 120 -grit sandpaper in order to remove all of the previous finish, but being careful not to sand through the veneer. I have shared this tip before, but I always begin in the middle of any veneer surface and work my way out to the edges in order to avoid sanding through the veneer that I want visible. The sides and corners are the more vulnerable areas when trying to sand and refinish wood veneer.
I wanted a smooth finish for this dresser, so I sanded away all of the sheen in order for the paint to absorb into the wood veneer and so I would not get any chipping. I then sanded the entire piece down including the new pine top with 220 grit sandpaper on my orbital sander to smooth everything out. Lastly I sanded back the original legs using 120 grit sandpaper on my orbital sander trying my best to retain the curve of the legs.
Painting
I have been wanting to do another piece in Miss Mustard Seed’s® Milk Paint’s Arabesque for over a year, but I have not found the right dresser until now. I was loving that stenciled boho vibe I was seeing on my inspiration pieces and I thought that Arabesque was the perfect dusty rose shade for this project. I liked the idea of just stenciling the top two drawers of this piece and painting the rest, so I went looking for a stencil that would be easy to make a recurring pattern on those drawers.
I had never looked into stencils, but it turns out there is an overwhelming amount of stencil design choices online, as well as a lot of different techniques for applying them. I shopped around online for a stencil design and nothing was jumping out at me. We have a small store locally that sells Miss Mustard Seed’s® Milk Paint along with a few other paint brands, and that is where I ended up finding my stencil. It was a silk screen style stencil that you place the paint along the edge of the stencil and drag it across the design, and you are left with a perfectly silk-screened image.
I mixed my milk paint in a 1:1 ratio of water to paint power as directed on the bag. After mixing I added the Miss Mustard Seed’s® MilkMix-EZ™ as well as the Miss Mustard Seed’s® MilkGrip™ to ensure a smooth and flawless finish. I applied my paint with a 2” angled brush to the top, body and bottom four drawers of the dresser. It took me three thin coats of paint for full coverage. Given that I sanded away the previous finish and the top was unfinished wood, the paint absorbed into the dresser and required a bit more paint than normal. Using a 220-grit sanding block I scuff sanded the entire piece between coats for a totally smooth finish.
Adding a Stencil Detail
Each stencil you find will likely have different instructions on how to apply your paint. For this specific stencil type, it was to be applied much like you would screen-print a shirt. The stencil has a bit of adhesive on the back, so you first place the stencil onto the wood, you smooth out your design, and using the scraping tool provided, you load a bit of paint on that tool and drag it across your stencil until you have full coverage. You lift the stencil off, rinse the paint off, realign the stencil to where your design left off, and continue until the drawer is completely covered by the design. It was a straightforward process, and I really do love how it turned out. I opted to distress the stenciled area with a 220-grit sanding block to give it a more boho feel and blur the stencil design.
Sealing
For the top, sides, and bottom drawers, I sealed this piece in Miss Mustard Seed’s® MilkCoat™ in Matte, applying it with a sponge brush. I sealed the stenciled drawers and the sanded back legs in Miss Mustard Seed’s® White Wax to lighten the wood tone.
The Details
The knob placement on this piece was rather odd, there are circular recessed areas where the hardware goes. The recessed areas limited me a bit on hardware selection, but I found gold and pearl knobs on Amazon that I thought complimented this piece well and fit that recessed area nicely.
I opted for a subtle and neutral drawer liner, so it did not compete with the stenciled design. I love to use peel and stick wallpaper for my drawer liners, it is thicker than a typical drawer liner making it more durable. I find all of my wallpapers on Amazon, and they are very affordable in comparison to the fabric I used to use to line my drawers.
I had originally purchased new gold legs for this piece, but after sanding back the original legs, the wood tone complimented the stenciled drawers and really pulled it all together, so those will be saved for a different project!
Staging
In sticking with that Anthropology vibe I was going for, I tried to stick with natural textures and colors for staging. I wanted to keep the attention on the stenciled drawers and beautiful knobs in the photos, so I kept staging minimal. This piece could be used in so many ways I did not want to direct the staging to one specific purpose. I think it would be beautiful in a girl’s room but would also be stunning as an entertainment center, dining room buffet, or entryway piece. In my opinion, this pink color is perfectly muted, making it mature and versatile enough to be a pop of color in any room!
Conclusion
I do love how this piece turned out; pink is never in my comfort zone, but I love it every time I branch out and do it. The stenciling was a first for me, and I do love how it looks. I would like to try a different style of a stencil in the future and see if maybe a stencil without the adhesive back is easier to work with. I cannot wait to see what my client does with this and how they style it in their home!