Silk All in One Spray Paint Makeover: Bassett Chest of Drawers
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It’s another spray gun paint project, and today I’ll be using Dixie Belle’s Silk All in One paint line! I have an old Bassett chest of drawers that I’ll be giving some new life today. This is a bit of a throwback to the FIRST TIME I sprayed an all in one paint.
And there is A LOT going on in this project. Because I wanted to take this country-style piece and give it a soft glam makeover, there was quite a bit of prep to be done.
So let’s get into it! But first, take a look at where we’re starting with today!
Products Used for this Bold Furniture Makeover
Big Mama's Butta Suzanne's Garden
Wagner Flexio 3000 (detailed nozzle)
Surf Prep 3" x 4" Electric Ray (Use Code PRETTYDISTRESSED10 for 10% off your order)
3M Household respirator w/ particle filters for sanding
Cosmas Brushed Brass Hardware Bar pulls & Knobs
1 x 5 primed common board
Ryobi Miter Saw
Ryobi Jib Saw
Prep Work
Remove base and hardware
Oftentimes, with old furniture, I end up removing the base and hardware to modernize my pieces. That’s exactly what I’m doing with this Bassett chest of drawers. It had a very country and fancy feel, and I’m going to soft glam. So I flipped the piece on it’s back and removed all the tribe.
The process will look differently for each project because of the way the bases are constructed, so make sure you assess it before disassembling. With this piece, the base was screwed on, so I started by removing all of the screws and seeing what it looks like after I got everything off.
Build new base
Once I got the trim off and assessed what I had, I went and got a 1” x 5” common board from the hardware store. I cut them all down to size on the miter saw. I got all of the boards cut and aligned starting with the middle one. I attached it using the screws that came in the original base.
I used clamps to hold the boards in place and repeated the process on both sides.
I did run into a small issue. The board I got was not wide enough to cover the feet entirely, so I taped off the primed board to protect it and used my jigsaw to cut off the excess of the feet.
Then I got my sander out and I used an 80 grit sanding pad to make sure this was nice and level with the board.
And with that, my base is done! I do have some gold legs to add on later after I’m done painting for some finishing touches.
Fill in holes with Dixie Mud
Next I need to fill in my hardware holes because I’ll be using some unique hardware! I’ll be using my Dixie Belle Mud which is like a wood filler. Something to note is that it does shrink up a bit when it dries to you’ll need to overfill your holes if you’re doing this.
I also filled some gaps that I had in between my boards. I let this dry overnight and then I came in with a 400 grit sandpaper and sanded everything down smooth because these were such large holes I still needed to do a second filling after I got done sanding them.
Time to Scuff Sand
The Dixie Mud can take 2-4 hours to dry, so I stuck it out in the sun to help that process along. Because i didn’t use as much mud, it should dry pretty quickly.
While it’s drying I took my 400 grit sandpaper and my Surf Prep Sander to scuff the enture piece so that my Silk All in One paint has something to adhere to. If you don’t have an electric sander, you can always do this process by hand.
Drill new hardware holes
I knew I wanted to use single-hole knobs on the top drawers, so I decided to drill those before painting so that I won’t ruin the paint. At this time, I wasn’t sure what I was doing with the bottom drawers quite yet, so I left those for later.
Clean and Quick Prime
Now that all of that work is done, I used my White Lightning to help remove any dirt, oil, and grease to help my paint adhere better. And as always, after cleaning, always give it a good rinse with some clean water to get all of the soap residue off.
I don’t need to prime this piece because the Silk All in One Paint has the primer and seal in it. But I did want to do a quick prime with my Dixie BOSS on the small areas where I cut the baseboard so that I don’t get any bleed through there.
Spray Paint with Silk All in One Paint
WOW! That was a lot of prep work for this piece, but I’m finally ready to get my Silk All in One paint into the sprayer. First, I quickly taped and masked all the sides of my drawers in order to protect them from over spray.
Loading spray gun with Silk All in One paint
The color I’m using today is Sand Castle I poured the paint though the strainer and into the pain spray canister. So I'm getting my paint in my paint sprayer canister. With Silk All in One paint, you aren’t supposed to water it down unless you’re spray painting. Even then, you only need to dilute it by 5%, so you only need 1 ounce for every 16 ounces.
Test spray gun on cardboard
No matter how many times you’ve spray painted, it’s always a good idea to test it out on cardboard before taking it to your piece. For this project, I was using the Wagner Flexio 3000 with the detailed nozzle which is perfect for furniture.
Test it out and adjust your settings until you get it right.
Spray paint two coats of All in One paint
After testing it out I got the first coat of spray paint on. I have done other projects where I explain how to use a spray paint gun for beginners, so you can check those out for more details.
After the first coat, I noticed a small crack that was between my new base and the sides, so I decided to take some all-purpose caulk and filled in those gaps before spraying my second coat. I waited 30 minutes for that to dry, did a quick sand to get me a super smooth finish, and completed the second coat.
More about Dixie Belle Silk All in One Paint line
I really love Dixie Belle’s Silk All in One Paint! Here are some highlights:
It has a built-in top-coat primer
It prevents bleed-through with its water-based stain blocker
It cures down in 30 days
It’s water, mildew, and grease resistant
It’s washable!
It has great leveling properties that become flat and smooth
Finishing Touches
It’s time for some finishing touches! Finally!
Spray paint and install feet
I let my second coat dry overnight, so now I’m ready to install the new hardware and feet.
Before installing the feet, I wanted to paint them because they were too brassy and yellow against the rest of the hardware I picked. So I scuffed them up using sandpaper and sprayed them with a metallic spray paint.
I got one of the feet in position and marked off the holes. I then grabbed my drill to do some pilot holes. I did NOT want to crack my new base, so I grabbed my drill to do some pilot holes before screwing them on.
Pilot holes are the process of drilling a small hole so that your screws have something to go into.
Once I finished one, I repeated the process for the other three.
Install new hardware
Okay, now it's time to install my hardware on my bottom three drawers. It took me a long time to decide what I wanted, but I finally settled on a really long bar pool for this.
I measured the drawers to find the center and made sure it was level before drilling it in. This is always the most nerve-wracking part for me!
I also installed the knobs on the top drawers. I already had those holes drilled, so that part was easy.
The new hardware is in, and I’m in LOVE!
Freshen up the drawers
Since this is an old piece, I wanted to freshen up the drawers with some Big Mama's Butta. I usually love to use the Orange Grove scent, but this time I opted for Suzanne’s Garden which is a lovely floral scent.
Silk All in One Paint Makeover Reveal
Whew, that was a lot of work and a lot of decisions I had to make. But I'm really happy with the final product. I love how elegant this piece turned out. The new base and hardware definitely gave it a more modern look.
This Silk All in One paint makeover was a win! If you want to see the full video tutorial, check it out on my YouTube channel here!
