Vintage Stanley Dresser Goes Modern

I have a confession to make.  I cheated on Ben.  Benjamin Moore that is.  I am a huge Benjamin Moore fan.  Every single room in my home is painted with Benjamin Moore paint.  I also use their Advance paint for my furniture makeovers when I want a durable, enamel-like finish.  I love the colors, the coverage, and really almost everything about it.

So how did I cheat you ask?  Well, I have been hearing a lot of great things about Sherwin Williams ProClassic paint for furniture.  I was especially interested in the “quick” 4 hour drying time compared to the 16 hours with BM Advance.   I decided I had to give it a try and this Stanley vintage dresser was just the right piece.

I made a trip to my local Sherwin Williams store and picked up a quart of the ProClassic in Pure White.   The sales guy was especially nice and helpful.  I asked him about using a paint extender to help eliminate brush strokes (which I affectionately call “BS”).  He kindly added some extender to the paint and I was on my way.

The dresser is a vintage Stanley dresser that I picked up on Craigslist.  It definitely needed a little refreshing, but it was in good shape and I loved the style of the upper two drawers. Here is how it started out.

I began by cleaning, patching, sanding and priming the entire piece – the standard prep. Then came the moment of truth – my first application of the Sherwin Williams paint. What can I say, it’s great.  I rolled the flat areas and brushed the rest.  Remember those upper two drawers I said I loved?  Well, painting them was tedious to say the least and I was questioning my sanity about half way through.  I persevered and it was definitely worth it in the end.

The paint covered well and with minimal brush strokes.  And the drying time?  Awesome. Definitely saved me time being able to recoat in 4 hours.  This piece took 3 coats of paint to get the finish I wanted and I used about half a quart total.

I initially thought I would reuse the original hardware by updating it with a gold finish, but it just didn’t create the look I was going for.  I knew I wanted a fresh, modern look and the old hardware just wasn’t cutting it.  I found some gorgeous ring pulls from Hickory Hardware in a satin nickel finish and some modern looking knobs for the top two drawers.

So, have I left Ben for good?  No way.  I will continue to use Benjamin Moore paints in my home and on my furniture makeovers.  Will I use Sherwin Williams paint again?  You bet. It’s definitely a keeper.

Thanks for reading my blog!

Susan