Refinishing a Wooden Dresser

I have been wanting to refinish this dresser for a long time.

It was passed down in great shape, solid wood.

I had already replaced the knobs a few years back to these simpler stainless steel knobs.  The old were chunky square wood knobs.  (Forgot to take a photo until mid hardware removal!)

I hauled this thing downstairs to my workbench, and got started.

Even though it appeared to be stained,  I did a quick lead test on it to make sure I wouldn't be sanding lead.  

Lead is very dangerous, especially for children and can be ingested easily when handling older furniture.  Never sand old furniture, walls, paint or anything that could contain lead paint without purchasing a lead kit!  

The test came out negative so I sanded down one of the drawers with a medium grit sand paper very lightly.  

Then I looked over and saw that the paint I would be using was a Low VOC primer/paint mix.  

No sanding necessary!  The primer will easily allow the paint to stick to most surfaces of furniture when refinishing.  This is especially true if you are going to beat your piece up a bit for a rustic/used look.

Before

After

Sorry for the poor pictures!  I gathered up a few different knobs that I had and haven't decided which one's will stay yet.  Once I decide, I will probably spray them all with a good shot of Rustoleum ORB (Oil Rubbed Bronze).

After I got the dresser finished I stuck the TV on top of the surround sound system.  We needed to set that up in the room for Secret Agent Man.  He wears hearing protection during drum practice and we need to be able to pump the music up very high so he can play along.  

It actually sounds awesome and he enjoys watching movies in the guest bed.  It's kind of like a media bedroom.

We have company coming that will be using this guest room this weekend so I should have finished photos of the room soon!