Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » before & after: yellow love

today’s final before & afters (stay tuned for a new we like it wild next at 1pm!) are all about sunshine yellow. the first project belongs to michelle of three men and a lady- michelle found this dresser on craigslist and updated it with paint, new hardware (love her choice) and a lamp she repainted as well. michelle is always full of crafty projects- stay tuned for a few of hers in the d*s book next year. thanks, michelle!

*ps: click here to see andy’s first guest post of the day!

[have a before & after you'd like to share on d*s or in the d*s book? just shoot me an email right here with your images!]

CLICK HERE for lauren’s yellow dresser makeover after the jump!

our second yellow makeover comes from d*s reader lauren in boston. over the past year, lauren and her friend have been refurbishing old, sad furniture that they find on curbs or craigslist. boston, being so heavily student-populated, lends itself to a wave of curbside furniture each september. lauren explains, “if you’ve never experienced 9/1 in boston… all i can say is picture u-hauls double parked on every street imaginable, and discarded furniture lining the sidewalks in piles.” taking advantage of the great student-furniture-purge of september, lauren picked up this great piece and gave it new life with bright yellow paint and a matching yellow mirror. great work, lauren!

I’m lovin’ that 2nd dresser. The yellow is a perfect balance of bright but subdued, and I love the lines of the dresser itself.
I used to have a bad habit of taking everyone’s throwaways and repainting/staining them. Never mind the fact I lived in a VERY small studio apt at the time!

I love these, esp. the first dresser. I do wonder, though, if they do any sanding, etc. before painting. In my limited experience of repainting thrift finds, much of the furniture has a laminate-like coating or very thick varnish that paint doesn’t stick well to. Would love to know what they did to remedy that.

I love both the dressers for different reasons, but It’s especially clever to use the dresser+ mirror combo in a kitchen area for storage (love the canisters and scale) and letting the mirror open up a space..

Love the first one. Very nice. Too bad my roomie hates yellow (some sort of bad association with it). I love the wall color in the first one too – it’s almost exactly what I was thinking of doing my bedroom in. If Michelle is out there, what color is that? Thanks!

Catherine, a good sanding and a primer work wonders.

I love both of these before and afters save for the hardware on the first one. The drawer pulls just seem too dinky to me for the size of the drawers. Maybe it looks better in person, but I would have preferred more substantial hardware on that piece myself.

I really love the top dresser with the new handles! The second dresser looks so good with the turquoise on top!
I also would love some tips on how to re-finish a laminate dresser. Are there any spray paints that stick better than others?

Yay! I feel so trendy right now. I just painted my bathroom vanity yellow! The bathroom in my new (old) house is going to get gutted at some point, but I needed to make it livable in the meantime. Here’s a link to my yellow vanity: http://littleruffledfeathers.blogspot.com/2009/09/bathroom-mini-makeover-is-underway.html

I’m so glad I’m not the only one who likes yellow! I really like the second dresser.

I live in a very rental-centric area, and haven’t bought furniture in a few years because I keep finding great stuff from past residents. I just found a glider rocking chair that’s just begging for a bright makeover!

thank you for all the wonderful comments! i must add, my “friend” nick deserves just as much credit for our yellow dresser as i do :) he was the one who picked the yellow. it is a behr paint called “wildflower honey” in semi-gloss.

Interesting that people like the new hardware in the first makeover. For scale and balance I think it would have been much better with the original hardware, perhaps painted a contrasting color …this is a LOVELY use of the yellows though.

I saw a painting done like the Joshua tree in the last Pottery Barn catalog (except it was a horse). Any chance you had the idea from there because I was actually already gathering wood to do the same!

I was giggling when I read Lauren’s explanation of Sept 1 in Boston…I also got a couple new pieces in Boston, on Sept 1 from the side of the road that are waiting to be refinished! Thanks for the inspiration, ladies!!

Wow, that yellow dresser is almost identical to the one I have. Though the yellow is because the old white paint has yellowed with age, and it has handpainted flowers on the front. I’ve been toying with repainting them a soft sage green and changing the hardware but I can’t decide if I want to lose the handpainted design.

My mom & dad still have the complete bedroom set of the ‘brown-turned-sunshine yellow’ furniture.

King bed, this exact dresser plus the mirror and 2 night tables.

I’m inspired to sneak into their house & go paint wild!

Wowweeee! Thanks for all the love. Here’s the low down on my dresser (the first one). I didn’t sand the dresser. Only primer and paint. I sprayed it with a spray gun attachment that connects to my air compressor. The color is a result of mixing, thinning, adding, so sadly I have no clue what the true color is. I do know it is a Behr brand, eggshell. Best color match I can suggest is Bee a Friend by Disney at HomeDepot. Wall colors are: Granite Grey (Glidden) and Evening Hush (Behr). Hardware is from http://www.myknobs.com. Hope that helps. Check me out at: http://www.windhula.blogspot.com for more info. Thanks again!

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