For my first post, I'm going to show you all one of the more simple pieces I have refinished: This adorable teal and white armoire!
As you can see, this little armoire was in great shape when I found it. Unfortunately, it had that light pine finish that was popular in the 90's. (The more you read my blog, the more you will learn of my disdain for this particular style.)
Anyway, the finish didn't matter since I was planning on painting this piece to give it a light, bright new look. So I talked the seller into selling it to me for a mere $30. An hour later it was in the back of my SUV where it would stay until my husband got home to help me unload it.
I started by removing all of the hardware and giving it a good cleaning with dish soap and vinegar. Next, I moved onto the body of the piece. I removed the back panel since it wasn't very sturdy and it had rusty staples sticking out - and I wasn't in the mood to get a tetanus shot.
The next step was to get out my primer. Now, this is probably the most important step in painting furniture: Primer gives your paint something to stick to. If you don't prime, chances are your paint will begin to chip or peel and all of your hard work will be for nothing!
Personally, I always use Bullseye 123 Primer. This is a Holy Grail product for me: It's water based, it has great coverage, it's affordable... Hell, I just haven't found another primer that works as well as this stuff.
After priming, I went straight to painting. I had some issues with the finish since my husband picked up and quart of Valspar paint with primer, which tends to be thicker and leads to visible brush and roller strokes. Oh well! It still looked nice, even if it wasn't perfect.I decided to use teal for the accents since this was a piece for my friend Trisha, who is obsessed with teal. I'm not scared of a little color, believe me, but I couldn't justify painting the whole thing such a bold hue. I thought that the drawers, knobs and door panels were the perfect place to pack a small punch of color.
I chose Secluded Garden by Valspar for three reasons: One, it was a muted, grown up shade of teal; Two, they sell them in 8 oz samples at Lowes for $2.99; Three, I had some samples leftover from another project of mine.
After the painting was finished (which took forever), I covered the knobs and the top of the armoire with some Polycrylic to ensure the paint didn't rub off over time.
Protecting the finish is probably the second most important step when it comes to painting furniture. You don't necessarily have to cover every little bit in poly, wax or another sealer but you should definitely seal the areas that will get the most use. For this particular type of furniture, it is definitely the knobs and the top.
After reassembling this adorable miniature armoire (which stands about 4 1/2 feet tall) it was time to load it back into my SUV and deliver it. I'm not gonna lie... By the time I got it to Trisha's house I was ready to wish it good riddance. It was taking up too much space in the middle of my house and I wanted my office space back! I have a tendency to do this with everything I drag home: I get excited, I brainstorm, I start working, I get frustrated, I finish, I feel elated and then I never wanna see it again. At least in the middle of my office. Or my back porch. But I'll totally marvel about how great it looks in your house!
So there you have it - A simple, cheap furniture restoration project that anyone can master.
How cheap, you ask? Well, let's break it down:
Armoire: $30
Primer: $4
White Paint: $5
Teal Paint: $1
Polycrylic: $2
Total Cost: $42
That's $42 for a well made, solid piece of furniture that is completely customized to fit your style. Not bad, huh?
Now, when I tell you the paint only cost $5, I'm not talking about how much it costs to purchase straight from the store - I'm breaking down the costs for the amount of product I used on each piece. If I told you the total costs for purchasing everything at the store in one trip, of course the cost would be much higher! I don't look at total costs because I use all of the paint, primer, glaze, poly and anything else I need on many different projects since I always have leftover supplies. If you're just trying to paint one piece of furniture and not buy tons of material, you can always buy much smaller quantities. I'll discuss that in another blog post...
So, let's have one last look at the armoire, just so we remember why we want to paint one ourselves...
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