I helped a friend re-do her bedroom furniture. I'm super bummed because I didn't get a before picture. The original furniture was white and it had an almost laminate texture to the whole thing, which worried me because I've only worked with solid wood in the past. I attempted to sand it down, but quickly realized I wasn't getting anywhere with it because it was laminate furniture. I was nervous because I didn't know how the distressing part would turn out or how well the paint would hold onto the laminate. 
As you can see we painted the tops of the furniture brown and the base of the dressers a blue/turquoise. We painted the knobs and handles the same brown color as the top. Next came the part I was most nervous about.... Distressing. This was a stop and go process because sometimes whole strips came off from the drawers due to the laminate. There were times we had to repaint a drawer because too much paint came off. We used matte Shellac to seal it, putting three coats on the tops of the furniture and two on the drawers and sides. I think the furniture turned out great!!!
Inspired by this picture:
We were inspired by this picture above. Those pieces were solid wood, but I think we came pretty close to achieving the same look. For more information on the above picture click here.
