Get Pottery Barn dresser look for less!

I'm so excited with this project! I have this dresser since 2008 when my girl was born. It came in original natural pine wood color.  Along with my kids' growing, his dresser became decorated with stickers and tapes all over.  When we moved, we had to make decision what to keep and what to sell. The craftsmanship of this one was too great to put on Craigslist for $25. I insisted to keep it.....I had a plan ^__^

I fell in love with this Pottery Barn Tall Boy Dresser from Farmhouse collection which is $1299  OMG >_<"

I found great tutorial here to give an espresso finished to your furniture. Her blog and method used is fabulous. I follow her instruction carefully except for one thing, I used thin black sock from Dollar Trees instead of my hubby's athlete white sock as the original tutorial did. Reason?

       1. My hubby didn't like the idea that his socks would get stolen.
       2. I tried couple of thick white socks and it left some streaky mark unless you make a very thin layer as her suggestion.
       3. I'm not good with using foam brush either (as another blogger used).
       4. No socks from hubby allowed, no problem, $1 / pair at Dollar Trees! I tried both white and thin black. The latter works better.

Too bad I was so excited to try and forgot to take picture before starting. I have pic from 2 years ago with my little girl having fun with red jello!

At first I hand sanded but it didn't get rid of all sticky things. I tried using nail polish remover and power sanded after...yeah..came out really smooth. After many days of painting, drying and polishing, I got this!!

Now I've just started my new project.....bathroom makeover.... which I will use this technique to stain the vanity again. Stay tuned!

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