Antique Dresser refinished

I am so pleased with how this dresser turned out.  It took me quite a while to finish but I did learn a lot along the way.

I forgot to take a before picture with the drawers in but this still gives you a good idea of how it started.  There is a tag on the back with the manufacturers name.  This company was only in business from the late 1800's to early 1900's.  Needless to say it is a very sturdy piece.

I wasn't sure what color I wanted to paint it so went to one of my favorite places, the Home Depot oops paint department.  As luck would have it they had this beautiful light mint green color for only $2 a quart, which was plenty for this project and enough for the end table I am working on now.  

I had seen somewhere about painting the inside of the drawers and that really made a difference.  One of the hard learned lessons was to paint the drawers first.  I was so excited to get started that I didn't think through the process.  I painted the entire piece, not including the insides of the drawers first.  Then when it came time to spray the insides I had to tape off the drawer fronts, which unfortunately caused some added problems I had to touch up.  I will remember the next time.

After I painted the green I just took white acrylic paint from my craft room and randomly brushed it on the drawer fronts.  This was actually very relaxing, a little white a little more green until I had the look I liked.  The piece still wasn't popping like I had hoped so I took a deep breath and added the black.  Just what it needed.  I had also seen a post about using Sharpie markers to paint plain white drawer pulls. If I can find where I saw that I will post a link to give credit where due.  This gave the pulls the exact look I was hoping for and was super simple.  Just paint the knobs with the Sharpie, let dry overnight and back for about 20 minutes.  I guess the baking is important to keep the marker from smearing. 

This is my first major furniture refinish project and I am extremely pleased with how it turned out.  Please let me know what you think and any lessons you have learned the hard way about this type of project.