easy DIY dresser update with a quick lick of paint

Our bedrooms are very small in our house which means very little storage. Both our kids have built in robes, but a lot of the space is taken up with toys and books so they both have a dresser for most of their clothes. Will's dresser was a bargain Facebook Marketplace find. It was nothing special, but it fit the space and I knew I could do something to modernise it a little. A couple of months back I started giving Will's room a little makeover and as soon as I started planning, I knew I wanted to do a feature wall and also use the same paint on the dresser. It sounds overkill, but when you see it all together it really does tie in nicely. It was such a fun and easy DIY so I thought I would share the process. What you will need

• Orbital or mouse sander - You can definitely do it by hand, but one of these guys makes the job so much easier

• 120 grit sanding pad/paper - or anything fine to just scuff the surface enough to give the paint something to hold on to

• Damp cloth

• Drop sheet

• Mini foam paint roller

• Small paint tray - or whatever you have on hand. I used a regular one

• Paint brush - I used a 50mm angled brush

• Screwdriver - if you need to remove drawer tracks

• Paint - I used Haymes Wilderness (and yes it's different to 'Colorbond Wilderness') which was left over from the feature wall, but I'm sure I could have painted the whole dresser (excluding drawers) with two coats using a 500ml sample pot.

I am still working out this whole blogging thing and am terrible at remembering to take 'before' photos, so here's the best photo I have...

Step One Remove drawers and tracks (if necessary). I didn't do this first up because I was being lazy, but once I started painting, I realised it would be much quicker to just remove the tracks rather than try to paint cautiously around them. Make sure to keep all your screws in a safe place for re assembly. Step Two Give the whole piece a light sand then wipe down with a damp cloth to remove any dust.

Step Three Pop your drop sheet down and make sure to shake/stir your paint well. Use your brush first to paint all the areas your roller won't reach. Pour some paint into your tray and start rolling everywhere else. You don't want the paint to be too heavy but you still want to load your roller frequently and well...and trust me, if you're getting low on paint in your tray, it's always quicker to pour a little more in than try to stretch out what you have. You can always pour any leftover paint back into the tin.

I recommend doing at least two coats. My dresser only required two and by the time I finished the first coat it was dry enough to start on the second. You want to make sure you leave your last coat to completely cure. Pieces with draws or doors may rub or stick and ruin your paint if not quite dry.

Step Four Once your paint is completely dry it's time to reassemble. Screw all your runners back on, pop all the draws back in and you're done! I was planning on giving the knobs a little change up too with Antique Gold 'Rub 'n Buff', but I'm having trouble getting hold of some, so that's just going to have to be a job for another day.

If you head on over to my Instagram account, you can see a time lapse of the whole process https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17891109790577394/ Thanks for stopping by!