Vintage Sears Bonnet Dresser

Today's project is a vintage Sears Bonnet dresser which was popular in the 1970s. I remember as a little girl a couple of my friends had the set and I was quite envious. Below is a snippet from an advertisement for the brand from 1974. So when I spotted this one at a local thrift store I snatched it up. There was also a matching desk, but it was a little worse for wear, so I passed on the desk.

Sears Bonnet Furniture Advertisment 1974

Before:

The piece I purchased is a 3-drawer chest. It also has a coordinating mirror which attaches to the back with metal hardware. I didn't like the attachment hardware, so I took it off and replaced it with d-hooks so the mirror can be hung on a wall instead.

Vintage Sears Bonnet 4-drawer dresser

Sears Bonnet label inside drawer.

Overall the finish was in good condition, but there was some surface damage inside the top drawer. I decided to go ahead and paint the top drawer, but left the other drawers with their original finish.

Damage inside of top drawer.

I really love the beautiful hardware. It's so pretty and feminine.

Original drawer pulls

Unfortunately, it was missing one of the top drawer knobs. So I took a couple of extra knobs that I had on hand and painted them to match the new finish.

Missing dresser knob. I have a plan!

The front legs are cabriole-style and are made of a molded plastic with gold painted highlights. I'm sure it was very fashionable in its day, but I planned to paint it to give it a more elegant finish. The plastic feel will go away after it's painted.

Cabriole style legs made of molded plastic.

The mirror frame is made of the same molded plastic.

Mirror frame made of molded plastic.

HOW TO PAINT LAMINTE:

The top of the dresser is laminated. It's super smooth and shiny and has held up well through the years. One question I am asked a lot about is whether or not you can paint laminate. And the answer is, "Yes, you can paint laminate!"

Yes, you can paint laminate!

The good news is that it is quite easy to paint laminate!

Laminated dresser ready for paint!

Chalk paint will work especially well on both the laminate and molded plastic for this project. For this project I used the Annie Sloan brand, but I now use THIS BRAND which is the same formula and readily available in the US.

A few words of warning: be cautious of "chalk style" paints. They don't perform the same as the matte finish chalk paints, so if you use another brand, be sure to test it out beforehand, and check the manufacturer's label to see if and what type of primer is recommended.

PREP WORK:

However there are a few tricks to making sure you get good adhesion using this product. The first is to make sure the surface is clean and free of dirt and oils. Then lightly sand the top with a sanding block. 

Give it a light scuff sand.

The sanding process is quick and easy, just give it a light "scuff" sand to give the surface a bit of something to stick to.

Scuff-sanded laminate.

Start the painting process with a very light and thin first coat. It will stick to the shiny surface, and the thin first coat will provide just enough texture for the second coat to adhere to. The photo below illustrates the difference between the coverage on my first and second coat.  

Add a third coat if necessary and then seal with clear wax. For extra protection on high-use surfaces an additional acrylic topcoat can be applied over the wax. Applying it straight over chalk paint will lift the paint in some areas and it gets absorb too easily, so I apply it over the wax instead of directly on the paint. 

A less expensive option that I've personally used with excellent results is the Minwax brand. I apply two to three light coats of acrylic and sand lightly inbetween coats.

Avoid using a urethane sealer as it can yellow the paint color. 

The second coat makes a difference!

After:

The all white color scheme gives this piece a very classic and elegant look.

Painted Sears Bonnet dresser.

Before I sealed the paint I used a slightly damp washcloth to lightly distress around the knobs and drawer fronts.

Antique white.

The painted laminate top turned out very well with excellent adhesion.

Painted laminate top.

Painted vintage 1970s dresser.

Remember one of the original draw knobs was missing? I replaced the top knobs with two matching wooden knobs and painted them to match.

Painted wooden knobs.

I initially planned to keep the bottom drawer pulls with their original finish. But after I painted the dresser the pulls looked dingy, so I gave them a couple of light coats of paint.

Painted original drawer pulls.

After I painted the interior of the top drawer, I thought it needed a little something more, so I added a French stencil. The stencil is subtle and works nicely with the overall classic look of the dresser.

French stencil inside of drawer.

The front legs of the dresser are painted to match. They are now beautiful yet subtle.

Painted dresser leg.

As I mentioned earlier, I decided to switch the mirror to a wall mount so I added hooks to the back and painted the frame. The dresser works well with or without the mirror, so I will list them for sale separately.

Painted Sears Bonnet mirror frame.

And in case you're interested, here's a behind the scenes look at my studio as I was taking photos of the dresser. There are other projects in the room waiting their turn to be photographed and listed for sale.

Behind the scene photo of my studio.

Thank you for visiting The Black Sheep Shoppe blog today. I hope you enjoyed the project.

Vintage Sears Bonnet Dresser before & after.