Last spring I purchase an armoire and dresser at an estate sale for $50. While I hated the color it had potential in the style, quality and capacity, not to mention the smokin’ price. So the pieces have been patiently sitting in my bedroom, awaiting their face-lift for nearly a year now as the rest of the home was remodeled. Not long after I purchased the pieces I also picked up a Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformations kit which I finally cracked open about a week ago.
The product I used is designed for kitchen and bathroom cabinets but my experiment on wood furniture worked out well. After I bought the kit I noticed they sell one just for refinishing furniture but I have to believe they are quite similar, if not the same. It’s a four step process: First you “degloss” your cabinets. Then you paint two coats of the primer/base color. After that you can glaze it (basically brush it on and then wipe it off) to give it a more depth. Finally, you paint on a sealer which is water based so there are no fumes and it’s easy to clean-up. The whole process took a few days because you have to let the different products properly cure but because there are no real fumes I actually did the work in my bedroom with some cardboard to protect the carpets. It was pretty hassle-free.
Below are before and after pictures. I highly recommend the glaze and don’t wipe too much of it off. I had to do a second coat because after the first one I wiped too much of it off and the look was definitely lacking in depth and shine.
Now it’s time to tackle the armoire and figure out accessories like lamps & wall hangings and wall color. I highly recommend this product, it’s super easy to use and the final product is better than expected.
This is the finished product.
The Before shot
Tukee Talk 
can you tell me what color rustoleum transformation kit you used to paint the brown dresser to that green color? Looking at your pic, there seems to be more than 2 colors. I see the base, the glaze, & some areas seem a light lighter…is that the base paint without the glaze? You did a beautiful job!!!
Actually it went in reverse, they were the greenish yellow and I re-did them into the dark brown. They look much better in person (the glaze doesn’t show up well in photos) but are very dark.
Your project turned out great! We did our kitchen cabinets and they turned out well too. I want to do the kitchen table and chairs a different color (don’t like matchy-matchy). What color did you use on the bureau? It’s gorgeous!!!
Hi Elaine,
Did you do your kitchen table and chairs? I’m sorry to be so, so tardy in responding! I used the dark color kit and did glaze it.