Doctor on the Side

Jeffrey’s grandma recently decided to move into a smaller home, and we subsequently inherited two granny-licious old nightstands.  As we are soon to be moving to a larger home in Boston ourselves, and as I am a BIG supporter of living GREEN, we welcomed the opportunity to recycle her furniture.  So this is what we started with…

Before: Granny-licious

I’d never done anything like this before, but it was EASY.  You should try it too instead of purchasing generic semi-cheap furniture of a semi-acceptable quality that has absolutely no character and which you will donate to Goodwill in 3 years because it’s boring-looking.

You will need (click to see pictures of each item):

1. Piece of old furniture in decent shape: free!
2. Screwdriver
3. A couple of medium/coarse grit sheets of sandpaper: $5/4 sheets
4. Stainable wood filler: $4
5. Small paint roller $4
6. Small paint tray: $0.50
7. Paint brush measuring about 1″ in width, with an angled tip: $2
8. Your paint of choice (employees at Lowe’s and Home Depot will give you an idea of how much you need based on the size of your furniture;  so far, half a gallon has been enough for me to paint two nightstands, a tall chest of drawers, and a large dresser with a mirror)
9. Paint primer (I preferred the slightly more expensive/way more lazy option of buying paint with primer already in it; at Lowe’s this will be the Valspar paint, while at Home Depot it will be the Behr paint): $32/gallon of paint + primer in one
10. Fun decorative hardware (I have a soft spot for the fabulous, albeit expensive, hardware offered by Anthropologie, but you can find simple and affordable options at Lowe’s and Home Depot as well)
11. Drill

Easy breezy steps:

1. Remove any hardware (knobs, pulls, etc.) with a screwdriver
2. Sand down entire surface of piece of furniture; you do not need to remove previous paint completely, but you do need to roughen up the surface so that the new paint will stick; sand in the direction of the wood grain, and do all sanding OUTSIDE!
   

   post-sanding result

3. Cover up old hardware holes and defects in the wood with stainable wood filler; be generous and fill holes completely (all the way through to the other side); after it dries, sand off the excess to create a smooth, even surface
4. Paint entire surface of piece;  use roller for large areas, and paintbrush for small areas and details; do not worry too much about the look of your first coat of paint, as the color will even out with subsequent coats; use at least two coats of paint, waiting at least 4 hours between coats; I chose a color that matches my current headboard
5. Place new hardware with a drill; for a more dramatic effect, use a piece of unfinished wood in the shape of your choice from a place like Hobby Lobby ($1/2 pieces) to “frame” your hardware; make sure you use special wood glue, and that it dries completely before you place the hardware; this trick also helps hide holes and wood damage caused by previous hardware!
6. At the end, lightly and carefully go over a few of the edges and corners of your piece with sandpaper again; this will partially remove the paint and give your piece a distressed, cozy, and worn-in feel, because brand new and perfect-looking = BORING!

And the big reveal………………………..

After: Distressed contemporary chic

TA-DAAA!!!  Imperfectly impeccable.  Using the same principles, I redid our chest of drawers and our dresser…. YAY!  All the furniture in our new master bedroom is going to match!!!  So get inspired, live green, and do it yourself (DIY)!

For specific questions, message me and I’ll do my best to offer helpful tips.

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