Tuesday, September 10, 2013

pink dresser

Let me start by saying that I don't like any type of chemical strippers.  I don't use them, unless I absolutely have to.  I always end up burning myself with it, no matter how "safe" the product says it is.  This, of course, meant that I was going to have to use a stripper on this dresser.  I sanded and sanded until I couldn't sand no more. 

I've had this dresser for at least 15 years.  it was white when I got it, and I painted it a really pretty Behr color called Scarlett Red, if I remember correctly.  Of course, I don't have any pictures of it before I started (I never do).

I started with the cabinet.  It seemed like I sanded for days, and I just wasn't making any progress.  On the top, I was at least getting through the red, but I couldn't get past a layer of white.  I finally realized why - there was a piece of laminate covering the entire top of the dresser.

 
So I used my scraper thing and a hammer and managed to get it all off.


Unfortunately, I was still having a horrible time getting the paint off the sides and front of the cabinet, and I was determined to stain this piece.

So, I pulled out the stripper - after putting down plastic and putting the dresser on my sawhorses.



I do like the way the paint looks when it's getting all bubbly, and this time, I only burned myself once - when I dropped a little bit of stripper on my foot.  The stripper did the trick, and all the paint came off very easily.  I sanded the piece down, and started staining.  I think I put four coats of stain on it, all different colors, some I mixed myself, until I got a color I liked.  I started with a coat of light cherry, and it was pretty, but a little too red - I'm really not sure what I used after that, but I know I mixed some natural with pecan and there might have been a bit of walnut in there somewhere.  I put four coats of Minwax polyurethane in satin on it, and the cabinet was good to go.


This isn't a great picture, but it's pretty close to what the color looked like before I poly'd it.

I sanded the drawers down and painted them a really pretty soft pink, but I'll post about that later and post an after picture.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

My name is Amy, and I'm an addict.

I buy furniture that we don't need because I'm afraid that someone else will buy it and not see it's potential.  They might not make it as cute as I know I can.

It's a problem, I know.

Right now, there's a china cabinet sitting outside my front door.  I don't have anywhere to put it inside, and I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to "help" it, so there it sits.

Anyway, this post is about a couple chairs I scored on craigslist!  I knew immediately what I wanted to do with them when I saw them, and they turned out better than I could have imagined.

Of course, I didn't take a before picture, but these pictures were taken once the man took them all apart. 




They were in really good shape - one of them had a bit of rust, but nothing that couldn't be handled.  The lady who sold them to us said that they were going to be a project for her, but she never got around to it, so she was glad they were going somewhere they would be loved.

And love them, I do!

First, the man took them apart for me - not something I would have normally done, but he said the screws were rusted, and it would be good to get all new screws and nuts, so we did.  As it turned out, I think having them in separate pieces made this project MUCH easier.

First, I wet sanded everything down with 600 grit sandpaper that I actually got at the automotive store.  It's the first time I'd done any wet sanding, and I gotta say, that I really liked it.  It was a little messy, but what type of sanding isn't?

I spray painted the legs with rustoleum high gloss white paint and then painted the back and seat with green apple. 

The man put them back together for me, and now they live on our back patio. 


I got the rug from Pier 1 (on Mother's Day, while the kid and man slept in), the pillows from Target and the table from Home Goods.

I think they look awesome :)