I thought i'd start out my first DIY post sharing my very first refurb piece from last year....Oh AND let you know the epic fail that happened shortly there after. She was a craigslist find at a whopping $30. Chris and I went to pick it up and let's just say she was rough around the edges. This peice was....SPONGE PAINTED! Yes, I said sponge painted. Aye yai yai, talk about a DIY gone bad, and to top it off it was sponge painted black and brown. BOOOO!
Here is a before of this poor thing...
As you can see, it needed love....BAD. I had been eyeballing a few mirrored pieces for awhile but have you seen the prices on mirrored dressers?? Yowzers. um...no thanks, I'll save the $500-$700 for something else. Being that it was my first DIY project I needed some guidance on painting furniture, which I got at
www.centsationalgirl.com. Seriously, Kate is so creative and inspiring. My first step was to remove the hardware and strip her down, which was kind of a pain but no pain no gain right? (at least I keep telling myself that.) I prefer Citristrip Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel, it's non-toxic, the fumes are minimal and it has a pleasant orange smell.
After that I filled the hardware holes with Elmers wood filler and let it sit for about 20 min. Then I got out my Black and Decker Mouse power sander (my very first power tool, hee hee) and using meduim grit discs I sanded, and sanded.....and sanded. Did I mention I sanded? :) It needs to be sanded until it is as smooth as a baby's bottom, which took roughly one year (do I need to say i'm kidding?) but you get the picture.
Let the Priming/Painting begin:
Let me fill you in...I LOVE SPRAYPAINT. It is just plain nuts what a little can of spraypaint can do. To this day 90% of my paint projects are done with spraypaint. I primed it first with my A-#1 go to primer, Zinsser's oil based Cover Stain. This is seriously awesome stuff, covers just about anything, dries fast and is my very favorite.**PLEASE use a mask, this stuff along with all spraypaint is potent and very dangerous to inhale. Once everything was primed. I sanded again with a meduim grit sanding sponge by hand to get it smooth again. Now it's time to paint! Never under estimate the power of a good brush and some paint conditioner. I use Purdy brushes and always add some Floetrol paint conditioner (not to be confused with thinner!) I painted this with Benjamin Moore's Advanced water based White Dove Satin finish paint. I painted everything but the top and sides with a brush and used a roller on those. I painted 2 coats leaving it sit about 6 hrs in between coats and then let it sit a couple of days to cure. When I returned back I brushed on Minwax Poly to seal in all my hard work!
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My next step was to get that mirror on there that I wanted so badly. I sought out places to cut mirrors which I found not far from home and only cost me $20! I just brought him the mirrors (I bought 2 cheap $5 back of door mirror's from walmart) and gave him the sizes. I also brought him one of my knobs to have him drill my hardware holes into the mirrors...(this was included in the $20 price..woohoo!) When I got them home I used Gorilla glue to glue them to the drawers (This was a mistake I will shortly explain) and then added the hardware and VOILA!! My mirrored dresser was finished and at a measley $72...take that Pottery barn! Here are the before and afters......
Before:
After:
I Luuuurve her. So pretty, but now for the epic fail part I slipped in there.
The nice gentleman that cut my mirror suggested that I use a bit thicker mirror and liguid nails mirror glue so that I didnt risk the mirros cracking....well WHAT DOES HE KNOW, HE'S ONLY A PROFESSIONAL! yup.....I opted for the cheaper route and ALL but one of my mirros cracked within a couple of months. :( WAH! So, If you choose to mirror a piece, use thicker mirror than you think you should and use Liquid Nails Mirror Glue so that all of your hard work doesnt go to waste. For now, I will most likely remove the mirrors and replace them with something else or who knows, maybe a whole new project....... :)