Quick Fix to a Closet Dresser, Not!

Nothing is as easy as it seems. My son had this California Closet dresser in his closet for extra storage. When we made our last move the dresser was no longer needed for my son, so it ended up in the closet in the guest bedroom.  I had been looking for a small TV stand for the guest room,  and I was not able to find just what I was looking for.  Then we put the house up for sale, and as I was cleaning the house I came across the California Closet dresser. Time for a DIY project.

This is the original color of the dresser, but ours has two knobs on each drawer.

First, do not believe anything you read about how easy it is to cover laminate or prefab finishes.  I tried to sand it, put Zinsser primer on it, and still the primer would bubble and separate on the dresser. OMG, it was a nightmare. A few times I almost gave up and walked away from the whole project. 

I would put on a coat of primer really thick and let it dry. After it separated, I would go back and dab primer on the bare spots and let it dry hoping it did not separate again. I had all the drawers and the shelf lined up on a plastic tarp in the basement, and would go down stairs every few hours and dab and re-coat.  I then started with the cabinet paint, which also had primer in it. By the time I was done I had so many coats on the dresser, as opposed to coats in the dresser (ha, ha), that the shelf would not fit back on. I had to hammer it in place with a rubber mallet, and it scraped the paint off all the way down to the brackets. Time to add more coats of paint. Yikes!

Looks great as a TV stand in our guest room.

The last thing I did was replace the knobs. That was by for the easiest part of this project.  It turned out presentable and I can only imagine what it is going to look like after the movers get a hold of it. For now it most certainly is serving its purpose for staging and It only cost about $30.

How cute are these knobs?

For all the work I had to do on this dresser I will definitely use it in Texas if it survives the move. I think I will bring the can of paint with me just in case.