Trash 2 Treasure: Campaign Dresser Re-do DIY

Trash 2 Treasure

 Campaign Dresser Re-do

Have you seen these updated campaign dressers yet?  They are all over Pinterest and starting to pop up in furniture stores and magazines.  Gotta admit- I kinda of love em'!  I wouldn't decorate my entire house in this style, but one piece in a bright color adds a lot of character and interest.  
This piece was a Craigslist find.  Can you believe they were only asking $5!  ha-ha!  Me neither- until I viewed it in person.  It was much more damaged than the Craigslist photo showed and clearly was a cat's favorite scratching post at some point. Other than the scratches, the drawers pulled nicely and it was free of stains/smells.  Seeing its potential, I forked over the 5 bucks and brought it home.  The vintage hardware alone was worth much more than that-so why not, right?
You can see from the photo it was covered with scratches and some minor dents.  I took off the hardware and filled the scratches and dents with wood putty.  When the wood putty dried, I gave it a light sanding.  Then added more wood putty, followed by more sanding, and more wood putty followed by more sanding.  grrrrrr.  Did I mention I hate sanding???

At this point it was taking waaaay more time and work than I originally anticipated.  For a moment I regretted spending the 5 bucks.   Honestly, the original owners should have paid me $5 just to haul it away! Alas, this dresser was not going to get the best of me!
After all the wood putty and sanding was done, I primed it with my favorite oil based primer.  This stuff is truly amazing because it will stick to just about any surface!  Just remember it is oil based, so use outside in a well ventilated area and apply with a foam roller that you can toss when done. 

When the primer was dry, I painted it in this bright blue paint purchased from Lowes.  Really love this bright blue color!  It took about 3 coats of paint and one coat of rub-on poly in a gloss finish.  The Polyurethane gives it a nice protective layer.  

The handles were polished with Brasso Metal Polish and I added the corner brackets (which can be found at any hard ware store).  The drawers are lined with some white contact paper we had lying around. 
Looks great, huh?  After all the work, I'm so glad I didn't throw in the towel.  Its the perfect little dresser for my office area.
What do you think of this trash-2-treasure re-do??
~Lindsay

Project Sources:
Dresser- Craigslist
Primer- Zinsser Bond Coat from Home Depot
Foam Roller & small paint tray- Home Depot
Furniture 'L' Brackets- Lowes
Brasso Metal Polish- Left by previous tenants
Blue Paint- Lowes. Color (?)  Hubby recently cleaned out the garage and now I can't find the paint for this project--Grrrrrr
Wood Puddy- Had on hand but probably from Home Depot or Lowes
Wipe on Poly by Minwax from Home Depot