She Paid $50 for This Oak Dresser and Sold It for $795 After the Makeover
Facebook Marketplace is where Instagram creator @olive.street.designs found an oak dresser priced at just $50, with its brown wood finish, raised drawer trim, and mix of round knobs and drop pulls still intact.
Instead of changing the dresser’s original shape or drawer design, she sanded the existing finish, covered the piece in deep green paint, and replaced the old hardware with gold knobs before selling the finished dresser for $795.
Brown Finish Covered the Raised Drawer Details
The dresser started with a brown wood finish across the top, sides, and drawer fronts. Three rows of smaller and wider drawers fill the upper section, while two wide drawers sit across the bottom.
Raised molding frames each upper drawer. The bottom two drawers have geometric recessed panels and drop-style hardware, giving them a different design from the rows above.
Facebook Marketplace Listing Had It Priced at $50
The Facebook Marketplace listing described the piece as an oak dresser with five drawers and a $50 price.
Its low purchase price left room for refinishing before resale. The dresser was also intact, with its drawer fronts, trim, and existing hardware still in place.
Old Finish Came Off the Top First
An orbital sander removed the brown finish from the dresser top, exposing much lighter wood beneath it. The grain became far more visible once the darker surface coating was gone.
The top provided a large flat area for the power sander, while the dresser body required work around its raised molding and drawer openings.
Drawer Fronts Were Sanded Outside the Frame
The drawers were removed so their fronts and edges could be worked on apart from the dresser body. A sander passed across the flat sections while the raised trim remained intact.
This also opened the dresser frame, giving access to the rails and edges that would otherwise sit between closed drawers.
Dark Coating Went Onto the Exposed Frame
After sanding, a dark coating was applied across the exposed wood around the drawer openings. The application reached the narrow rails and outer edges that would remain visible once the drawers went back in.
The original brown finish was no longer serving as the final surface, preparing the dresser for its new painted color.
Deep Green Paint Covered the Dresser
The dresser was moved into a covered spray area for the new finish. Paint was sprayed across the drawer fronts, sides, trim, and frame to create one consistent deep green surface.
Using one color across the raised molding and recessed panels kept the original construction visible through shadows instead of contrasting wood tones.
Gold Knobs Replaced the Mixed Original Hardware
The finished dresser received small gold knobs across the front. The new hardware replaced both the round knobs on the upper drawers and the drop pulls found on the two lower drawers.
Deep green paint now runs across the full dresser, while the gold hardware provides a small point of contrast on each drawer.
$50 Dresser Sold for $795 After the Refinish
The finished piece keeps the same tall shape, drawer arrangement, raised molding, and geometric panels seen on the $50 dresser. Paint and hardware account for the main visual changes.
Side by side, the dresser keeps the same tall frame, raised drawer molding, and geometric panels across the two bottom drawers, while the brown wood finish gives way to one deep green color from top to base.
Gold knobs also replace the mix of round knobs and drop pulls, creating one hardware style across the front while leaving the original drawer layout and decorative woodwork intact.
All image credits go to @olive.street.designs.