Oh yes I went there with the title! This thing had turned into the bane of my existence! It wasn't the buffet's fault...it was mostly operator error, or trial and error? But anyway, here is his story!
Originally I thought I would sell him, I probably will at some point. For now, I love him so much that my husband should be worried about the competition! I mean, my husband doesn't hang out in the kitchen with me, store my extra dishes, and keep some of my craft items out of sight...
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| The paper I was originally going to use inside the buffet. |
Okay enough of that and on to the transformation story! I knew right away that I wanted to paint him a fun color, something funky that would go with those awesome glass doors. Anything but white! Well my inspiration came from this paper that I found. I thought it was super fun, and guess what...it had a blue in it that would match my kitchen! So, that determined the color.
First, I filled in any damaged areas with wood filler. I am not too picky about this part; I mainly wanted to fill the holes from the old hardware. After lightly sanding, I primed the piece with spray primer (yes I am crazy enough to spray paint in my kitchen! It's cold outside!). I did not worry with priming the inside of the cabinets because I was planning on lining that with paper.
I used an oil based paint for this piece. I am still trying to find the best way to paint furniture through trial and error. I like the outcome with oil based, but I hate the clean-up. After the first coat I sanded the top of the buffet only. Why? Because I am lazy and I know that's the part of the buffet that is most likely to get touched; so, I wanted it to be smooth. Next, came the second and last coat of blue.
Normally, at this point I am home free and it is down hill from here. Not so with this bad buffet! After seeing it around my house all this time I was painting, I decided that it would look better without the paper on the inside of the cabinets. If I painted the interior a nice gold color, it would make the yellow tint of the glass stand out even more! So, I chose a golden yellow that matched the pillows on my couch. I did not take the time to go back and prime the inside of the cabinets and drawers. Spray priming them would have ruined the blue paint job. Overall going without the primer was okay; however, the back of the cabinets were very porous and it looked bad. I knew no matter how many coats of yellow I put on there it would look the same. So, I pulled out some of my paintable wallpaper that I had left over from this project. I measured the backside of the cabinets, cut the paper to fit, and painted on one coat of the same gold. I used Modge Podge to glue it to the inside.
The next hurdle was the hardware. I wasn't crazy about it and planned on replacing all of it, especially because I let it sit in soapy water for weeks it was rusted. So, I threw away all of the hardware, save for one drawer pull and a hinge for comparison purposes at Lowe's. Guess what. Lowe's didn't have any hinges that would work because these had a small lip that fit perfectly for the doors. Crap. I was able pick up some wooden knobs that I planned on painting blue to match.
So, after bringing the trash bag back inside the house from the big garbage can...I procrastinated going through the garbage to find the hinges. As I procrastinated, those fresh green beans I threw away kept getting more and more unfresh...it smelled HORRIBLE! Luckily, all the hardware was on a paper towel that was in the bag, so it was all together and easy to nab. It was a no brainer for me to spray paint them my current obsession color - oil rubbed bronze, so I did. The more and more I thought about it, the more I thought that that color wouldn't look good with the light blue buffet. Ultimately, I wanted those retro glass doors to be the star of the show. So, I decided that a nickel/silver color would blend and look better. Back to my second home Lowe's to get some more spray paint for the hardware. While I was there my brain farted, and I bought drawer pulls to match the color of the new spray paint. I get home, spray paint the hinges (again!), and proceed to install the drawer pulls. I don't like them. Then I remember the knobs that I was going to paint to match the buffet. OMG what was I thinking! I can't believe I forgot about this better option... *sigh* So, I had to fill the holes from the drawer pulls and repaint the drawers along with the knobs, drill new holes, and install the knobs.
Then that was it, and it looks fantastic, if I do say so myself!!! Talk about a one of a kind piece!!!
Partying at:
