DIY Sailor Striped Dresser [before + after]

before after striped dresser

Brett and I went on a day trip last weekend to my favorite [secret] furniture source.  We only take the trip once every couple of months, so when we do I feel like a kid on Christmas.  Anyone who has an appreciation for beautiful vintage and antique furniture would feel like they were in Heaven here.  This fabulous place cleans out old estates in the Cape, so everything they have tells a unique story.

One of the items I took home from last week’s trip was this solid Mahogany antique dresser on casters.  This piece was great because it was in great condition, had nice clean lines, and it even came with some 1940’s mint condition newspapers inside the drawers!  Can you imagine, $14.88 for a sofa, and $100 for a refrigerator?!

I got started on reviving this dresser right away.  I had been waiting for the perfect piece to try a beach/nautical striped look on and this dresser was definitely it!  Here’s a quick peak at the before and after transformation of the dresser, then I’ll share the details on how it came together!

First, I started by giving the dresser a nice thorough cleaning using warm soapy water.  I knew I wanted this piece to have slightly weathered blue stripes on a creamy white base, so I first painted it with two coats of CeCe Caldwell’s Vintage White (waiting one hour between coats).

After the base coat of Vintage White was dry (about an hour later), I mixed up the blue color for my stripes.  I decided on Deco Art’s Metallic Sky Blue Pearl, I wanted my stripes to have a bit of a shine to them.  The color by itself was a little too much of a contrast with the white base, so I added a bit of white to it to lighten it up.  The ratio ended up being one small bottle of Sky Blue Pearl vs. 1/2 cup white acrylic paint (also be Deco Art).

I was going to tape off the area for my stripes, but I decided I didn’t want them to look perfect…I was going with more of an aged look.  So I measured the area for my stripes, and painted three across the front.  One large 8″ stripe in the center, and two 4″ stripes on either side of it.

Once the dresser was dry (overnight), I sealed it in two coats of Picklee’s Polywhey Satin Finish.  To apply the satin finish, I simply wiped it across the surface using a lint-free cloth (being super cautious of drips of course)!

I was able to re-use the old hardware too!  To bring it back to life, I buffed on a little Gold Leaf Rub n’ Buff metal finish =)

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