Savvy DIY-er transforms dresser from bleak to sleek for under £20

Ever wondered how you can turn a £30 dresser from bleak to sleek for under £20? Nottinghamshire-based Amanda Wojak did exactly that after buying her bargain dresser from Facebook Marketplace and deciding to give the traditional-look piece a modern revamp.

'I’ve always been interested in interior design, but during the first lockdown I had more time to really experiment with doing things myself,' says Amanda about her DIY and decorating journey.

'I learnt loads from watching YouTube videos, Facebook groups and Instagram pages, and started my own Instagram account to log all of my work. I've had a great reaction to it, even if some of my items are a bit quirky!'

Having previously painted her kitchen pink, Amanda decided to use the same colour for the dresser.

Painted dresser revamp

The traditional-looking wood piece was in good condition, with plenty of storage below and display space above in the glass cupboards. It wouldn't stay like this for long though!

Before

To begin with, Amanda separated the base and the top part of the dresser to make it easier to paint. Then she gave it a thorough clean with some sugar soap to degrease it, before giving it a light sand.

Painting begins

Once the dresser was prepped, it was put back in one piece and painting began.

'I used the same pink paint on the dresser that I'd used for my kitchen,' says Amanda. 'It's called Dusky Blush by Frenchic and it was perfect for the job, as it's self-priming and cures as hard as nails after a few days. I used one tin of pink for the dresser, so it wasn't expensive.'

Amanda masked off the glass panels in the doors to ensure they were kept clean of paint. 'I'm so impressed with this paint,' she says,

'I painted the whole kitchen in it over a year ago and there’s not a chip in sight. It’s my go-to paint and I’ve used it in every upcycle project in the house, inside and out, as it’s weatherproof, too.'

While frenchic is one of the best furniture paints out there it can be tricky to get your hands on sometimes. Annie Sloan is a great alternative for paint that is easy to use with that lovely chalk finish.

Pink paint wasn't the only addition to the dresser, however. Amanda also added some animal-print motifs at the back of the display shelves.

'I bought some vinyl leopard-print stickers from an Etsy shop for just £9.99,' she says. 'If I get bored of them, they're easy to remove without damaging the paintwork.'

You can see that there's also a black trim along the edge of the dresser, which Amanda created using black Washi tape. 'It's great as it doesn’t leave any marks if you decide you want to take it off, and it comes in loads of colours and widths so it's easy to add a bit of detail,' she says.

'I love using products like this to revamp something, especially second-hand furniture like this dresser,' Amanda continues. 'I think it looks great now I’ve added my style stamp to it.'

We can't help but agree.