The Making of a Makeover

In my last post, I revealed my recent sideboard upcycle. There were simply too many details to share with you in one post, so today, I am going to give you the nitty gritty on this makeover. 

This piece arrived via a client and is something that I typically wouldn't gravitate toward refinishing on my own. The client didn't really have a vision of how she wanted it to look and gave me free reign to let my creative juices flow.

If this piece were for my home, I would have taken the glass out and put some chicken wire in there, ripped off the backing and replaced it with bead board, and distressed the tar out of it. This is where I took a step back and put myself in the client's shoes. Knowing her style and home, I decided I needed to go a more traditional route and less country and shabby.

The wood on the top of the piece was in decent condition, no scratches or gouges, so I thought a stained top would work nicely. I roughed it up with my DeWalt orbit sander and stained it with Minwax Polyshades, a stain and varnish in one, in Espresso. I am new to this product and put it on way too thick the first coat, so I basically had to sand the whole thing down and start over. Lesson learned. The idea is to do a really light coat and blend it in really well keeping a wet edge. You also want to buy a "best" quality brush with natural white bristles to minimize your streaking.

Not bad. I am looking forward to trying more staining techniques in the future. I really love having the contrast of the wood color top with a painted base.

Even though, I did not care for this glass at all, the client wanted to keep it. I agreed as long as she would let me get rid of the brass. I just don't like brass. I blame my early 21st century home that was covered in head to toe brass fixtures. Now, my home is almost brass free and I had to take this brass down, too. I turned to one of my biggest loves for transforming metal, Rust-oleum Metallic Spray Paint. They have tons of metal looking shades like nickel and oil rubbed bronze. The one I used for this project is called Hammered Black.

I taped this puppy up to the best of my ability and sprayed several coats over a course of 30 minutes. Once I removed the tape, I scraped off any paint that got on the glass with a razor blade.

My next issue, was this water damage inside the cabinet. The veneer was warped and peeling and there was a visible hole in the bottom of the particle board. I already had to buy hardware for this thing so I needed to get creative here to keep my costs down. I ended up taking this off and flipping it upside down. The hole is now hidden behind the drawer on the top. As for the damaged veneer, I sanded that down and simply painted over it. Problem solved.

The hardware was also a little bit of a headache. The holes were not a standard size. I am guessing that is why someone put those knobs were a pull should be. I shopped around for pulls that would be long enough to cover the existing holes but had 3" holes so I could add some new drill holes myself. I picked these up at Menard's for a great price, and I love the way they look with the completed piece and my painted glass trim.

The easiest part came last with my Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I used a 2:1 mix of Paris Grey and Old White for the base with clear and dark wax.

The hard work always pays off in the end. Here is this beauty in her new home. Happy painter and happy client.