I
love a project, and
re-covering and re-finishing furniture is one of my favorites.
We have re-done many of the pieces in our house (you can
see more in our Style Chic section by clicking HERE).
My
husband and I have
been trying to start a family for more than two years now. In
that time, I've had many opportunities to "find" neat things
for the nursery. Now that we've put our papers in for adoption,
we're getting more excited about decorating the nursery.
We
frequent auctions and
garage sales to find furniture, antiques, ad other treasures.
This was a dinning room buffet from the '60s. It had tacky hardware
(these gold "X" fixtures) and the finish was a blotchy light
wood. (Although I thought the light wood was nice and would
makes for a great antique look, I wanted this piece to be soft,
creamy, and white--perfect for a nursery.) We currently have
a beautiful white sleigh crib, and we wanted a dresser/changing
table to match. Although this piece is not intended to be a
dresser, it has great drawers (intended for silverware) that
would be great for small items like little shirts, socks, etc.
It also has two end cabinets that we could stack sweaters, shoes,
etc. Well, enough talk, let's get to the project.
By
Lori Garcia, editor-in-chief
DEGREE
OF DIFFICULTY
Beginner
PREP
TIME
3 hours
EXPENSES
$40
for the "buffet", $10 paint, $5 brushes, TOTAL=$55
WHAT
YOU'LL NEED
sander
clean
cloth
brushes
glass
and surface cleaner
paint
drop
cloth
STEP
BY STEP
(1)
We were lucky. Our piece was practically stripped
of all varnishes, paints, etc. If it hadn't
been, we would need to purchase a stripping
agent and steel wool. We would have generously
covered the piece with stripping agent and let
set the allotted time. Then, we would remove
the agent with paper towels and scrap with steel
wool. This process would be repeated several
times until the entire piece was mostly free
of all varnishes, paints, etc.
(2)
Since our piece was already stripped, we went
straight to the next step--sanding. Using a
small sander or using traditional sandpaper,
go over the entire piece. First with a coarse
grade than a smoother, finer, grade.
It
may look like my husband, Rudi, is doing all
the work, but really we took turns. I'm the
one taking pictures.
(3)
Once you're done sanding, use a glass and surface
cleaner to clean off any debris and sanding
dust. This is very important because you don't
want any debris to get stuck in the paint. Yuck!
(4)
Time for paint. We chose a satin-finish creamy
white color that matched the crib perfectly.
Using different sized brushes for different
areas of the piece, paint in long, smooth strokes.
It
took us two coats to get the look we were
after. The second coat gave the piece a solid,
finish that really made the new "dresser"
look professional.
(5)
Okay, so here's the finished piece---well, not
exactly. Since we just started the adoption
process we don't know if we'll be getting a
girl or a boy. Once we do (hopefully I'll have
a little bit of notice) we will get cute fixtures
to finish the baby dresser/changing table. If
we have a boy, we'll do a stars and moon theme
(see decorating a nursery in our Style Chic
section. Click HERE).
If it's a girl, we want to find butterfly or
ladybug fixtures for the dresser. It will add
some color and really finish the piece.
