Zinsser Primer Catastrophe

I have to first say that I lOVE Zinsser primer and it has never failed me. Until today. I always use the primer in the gold/brown label because it is a stain blocker and bonding primer. That means that it's really good at sealing in the old stain, preventing it from showing through into the new paint job. 

Well, I have been working on this Bassett mid-century dresser. Isn't it cool?

 I wanted to update this baby to make it look a little more modern for today. I thought that a pure white body would be great while keeping the drawer fronts natural. Totally cool! 

I primed the sides and top with 3 coats to make sure that I didn't have any bleed through. I then painted it with 2 coats of white paint, gave it 2 coats of poly, and hit it with Rustoleum's enamel high gloss clear coat.  This is what it looked like 2 days after I applied the high gloss.

Not a good look. I have never had bleed through using Zinsser primer before. Ugh! I am really surprised and a little sad. I thought that this dresser was finished.

So, now I have to go back and sand, prime, repaint, hit it with poly and enamel so that this gorgeous mid century dresser doesn't look like it's got measles and it looks more like this one by Phylum Furniture. Wish me luck.

I will still continue using Zinsser to prime my furniture, but I just have to be more careful and keep an eye out for bleeding when redoing dark stained, older furniture. I have heard that the bleed through doesn't always happen right away and that is may take a few days for it to happen. When using white, I will definitely slow it down and watch for any signs of bleeding so that all my work painting and polying isn't wasted. Lesson learned.