Dresser project...

I recently decided to re-do the decor in our master bedroom.  It was pretty much the same dark colors (browns and blacks) as our front room and I was just over it.  I wanted something brighter and fresher and just cuter.  I decided on grey, aqua blue, and yellow as the new colors.  I've been spending the past month or so collecting different items for a gallery type wall and I'm almost done with it.  I definitely plan on posting pics once the whole room is complete.  In this process I decided it was time to refinish my dresser.  It's a solid wood piece that my parents got while in the air force.  The date on the back is 1970 and it's still in pretty good shape.  Here's the before picture (I forgot to take a picture until after I took the hardware off, but you can clearly see where it was.):

It was hard to know what to do and different sites said different things, but here are the steps I took...
- This dresser had a shiny laminate piece on the top that I had to pry off in pieces.  It came off pretty well for the most part but left some hard yellow adhesive, which led to the next step...
- Sanding!  I had to use really coarse sandpaper and a lot of arm power on the top to get it smooth.  I used medium sandpaper on all of the other surfaces to take some of the sheen off.
- I had to fill the holes of the top drawer.  The size of those drawer pulls is very uncommon so I decided to do knobs for that drawer instead.  It was easy enough to use a wood filler and sand it a little when it was dry.
- Priming.  I used a spray paint primer.  It was pretty easy and wasn't too concerned about coverage because the paint I used was a paint + primer.
- Painting.  I used sponge brushes so I wouldn't have brush or roller marks.  Was easy enough and did a second coat the next day.
- Sanding again. I wanted a little bit of a rough/distressed look so I sanded all of the edges and corners and random places.
- The next step is where things got tricky... I had heard that I needed a topcoat, so I got a basic spray topcoat.  When I sprayed the dresser pieces, it dripped and splattered leaving spots all over the dresser.  Not cool!!  I tried sanding them away but that didn't work.  I tried touching up just those spots but it made the whole thing look splotchy.  I was forced to repaint just those surfaces (3 drawers, the top and sides) and then re-sand it.  I was not very happy about all of this.
- Then came topcoat again.  I was very nervous to try this again.  I got a better quality spray from Lowes this time around.  It still dripped a little bit but after one coat I was done.
- For the hardware I actually had to order it online.  I thought it would be as easy as going to Lowes or Home Depot but the size of the drawer pulls is very rare and there were only a few options.  I found more online and was able to find one I liked and for a good price.  Once they got here I used a basic spray paint to paint them Ivory.

I was thrilled to put it all together and back in the house and Steve was excited to be able to park his car in the garage again!  It took about a week and a half of working mostly during nap time.  I think it looks great and the color looks good in our room.  So happy with the results and to have it done.