Laminated Furniture Saved from the Garbage

Okay ... Here's a before picture of a laminated pressboard (particle board ... whatever you want to call it) ... cheap furniture that was left here when the gparents moved out (Dresser and Nightstand).  I was going to donate it or trash it since I just do not care for non-solid wood furniture.  BUT then I read on Pinterest that I could paint it just like you can real solid wood furniture ... still not quite as pretty or durable but it works for my need ... an extra bedroom that we probably won't have in our next house since we plan to downsize and there's no need to buy any new furniture just for temporary use.  Anyway ... I don't know why I didn't think of painting it myself since in our last house we had laminated kitchen cabinets and bathroom cabinets ... all of which I sanded (basically just roughed up) and painted and aged and they turned out beautiful!!!!

What did I do?  No sanding ... that's for sure.  I used one of the Kilz primers (see photo below) ... one coat.  Now when it dried it looked really grainy like sand was mixed into it but I moved on to the next step anyway.  I figured if these pieces didn't turn out like I expected ... out to the curb or up for donation they would go.

Next I rolled on two coats of black paint and again ... between each coat the finish looked grainy/sandy but when it dried it was smooth as a baby's butt ... honestly!

Why did I roll on instead of using a brush?  Because a roller, especially the type I used (foam rollers), do not leave brush marks ... you get a smooth finish and besides that it's just plain easier to roll instead of brush.

So here's the finished Dresser and Nightstand ... I even replaced the ugly drawer handles/knobs at a cost of about $25... total cost to redo (half a qt of primer, half a qt of paint, 2 rollers and the knobs) approximately $40 ... whatcha think?