Gold Ombre Dresser- the process

I took it over to my father-in-law's house so he could help me.  We sanded it down and picked out paint and stain.  Because it was laminate, it needed just a little sanding.  It also needed a lot of re-gluing on the dresser and the drawers. First we tried regular stain, which didn't work at all.  So we tried the stain with the Poly already in it.  You don't have to rub it on, then wipe it off, you just brush it on.  The regular paint brush left really bad brush strokes. So we had to use sponge brushes. We went through quite a few, the stain destroys them pretty fast.  Good thing they are like a buck a piece.

Here is the crappy before picture of when we originally got it Labor Day weekend 2011.  Only $15! (the arrow is to show you the awesome 'peeks')

This was my first attempt at the 'ombre' look.  This is something that is all over pinterest. My first attempt was too big of a difference from top to bottom.  I wanted it more subtle.  I had to blend and blend and blend to get the final colors I wanted and I'm extremely happy with the results.  They also got like 5 coats of poly- we have a two year old after all.

So, I have mentioned many times before that I get all sorts of weird samples from work.  These are screw on lids to a funky glass water bottle we tested.  Matt turned them into the feet for the dresser! 

The entire bottom had been damaged and had to be rebuilt.  These feet actually fit the dresser better than the original ones I think.

Matt, doing his thing and being a total beast and re-doing the whole bottom for me.  I couldn't do these things without the men in my life!

I'm obsessed with the little 'peeks' where you can see the dark stain.  I LOVE it!!