Project: Refinish Old Dresser for Entry of House

I picked up a great old dresser on Craigslist and Walla ~ I have my next project!! The woman I bought it from said it was at least 50 years old. I love furniture that has history and this one was the perfect size for the place I had in mind. I know exactly where it's going to go when it's finished... in the entry of the new house. {Did I mention that we're moving soon ~ ok, so that's another story}

So, this dresser looks like it might have had a mirror at one time. I'm glad that it doesn't have the mirror now because the dresser and mirror wouldn't have fit in the space where I want it to go and I would have felt bad not using it. It had really old wooden wheels but two were broken so I took them off right away.

When I brought this home, Troy opened the door to the garage. I said "look at this beautiful dresser!" He said nothing and closed the door. Guess he's not as excited about this project as I am. I guess he knows me well enough after all these years to know that it'll either (a) I'll get done right away or (b) it'll sit around for a long long time. Either way, I'm sure he knows it's his new project too and well... it's not something he has time to do at the moment.

I've been doing a ton of research to get ideas and information ~ how to paint it, what color, what kind of paint, the steps to prep it for paint, etc. I think I've settled on painting it semi-gloss black.

It looks like someone tried to refinish it before I got it. It has a leopard kind of print look to it for lack of a better description.  

Before Refinishing:

Check out the dove tailed drawers!

It has metal stops that drag on the bottom
 of the drawers because the glides are worn
down on the sides.

Here is a great picture of the "leopard print"
that the finish had from the previous owner
trying to refinish it.

I haven't decided if I'll keep the existing hardware. It's going to depend on how it looks once the piece has been painted.

I hate sanding so I picked up some stuff that was recommended by the paint store that will do the job for me. It's Klean-Strip Easy Liquid Sander Deglosser and so far it seems to be working like a charm.

Once dried, I lightly sanded it the next day. The liquid sander did most of the work so lightly sanding the dresser didn't take long.

I purchased Klean Air Low Odor Acrylic Semi Gloss Enamel in black from Parker Paint for the dresser. The Manager at my local Parker Paint store said this would work perfectly. I painted it with three coats of black paint.

I waited two weeks to put the final coat of polyurethane on it. I used a satin finish because I really didn't want this piece of furnitire to have a glossy finish.

Then I put the old hardware back on it and moved it into the entry.

What do you think???