My Free Bedroom Set

The great thing about living in a super old house is all of the stuff I've found in the attic and basement.  I was told that none of it belonged to landlord (who hasn't been to Buffalo in over 30 years), so it was up for grabs.  I literally took an entire bedroom set out of the attic before we had even officially moved in.  There is a matching dresser, mirror, nightstand (wish there were two), headboard, footboard (which we're not currently using), and desk (which is currently in my office, but I hope to use as a vanity in my future master bedroom when we buy a house).

Dresser & Mirror Before.

Nightstand Before.

All of it is solid wood with dovetail joints.  They don't make furniture like this any more.  And the best part is that it's a piece of Buffalo history.  On the backs of the pieces they are stamped "North Park Furniture."

To prep the pieces to paint, I removed the old knobs.  For the dresser, I had to fill in the extra hole in the drawers where the old knobs were with some wood filler.  I put painter's tape on the back of the holes and just squirted it in.  When that dried, I sanded each piece with some medium grit sandpaper to remove the shiny finish and smooth out any dings and cracks.  I washed the wood down to remove any sawdust and dirt.

I bought a Behr paint and primer in one, thinking that it would save me a step.  Unfortunately, it really didn't save me much time.  I would have normally done one coat of primer and two coats of paint.  With the paint and primer in one, I ended up doing three coats anyway.  I think it had to do with the fact that my furniture was so old and dried out from sitting up in the attic for years.

Nightstand After.

In the "after" picture of the nightstand, you can see the old gross mustard-y color on the headboard next to the new light tan color.  The color did turn out about two shades lighter than the paint chip somehow.  It matches the comforter almost exactly, which isn't what I was going for, but isn't horrible.

Dresser & Mirror After.

The headboard is done, I just haven't gotten an "after" picture of it yet.  I want to mount it up higher on the wall so it is actually visible above my pillows.  And I still need to tackle the desk in my office.

So for only the cost of a gallon of paint from Home Depot and some new knobs on sale for half price at Hobby Lobby, I have a completely new bedroom set!