Deep South Home: Furniture Redo

Here in the South, furniture is an heirloom. Pieces are passed from generation to generation (along with sterling, jewelry, etc). The find of a great antique is like scoring that winning touchdown in the fourth quarter with 15 seconds left on the clock. 

The piece that I chose to redo is one that was originally my parents. I can remember exactly where it was from house to house growing up. My dear husband and I have had this piece in our first apartment where it served as a bookshelf and then in our first home holding our TV in the living room. When we moved into our current home we were unsure of where we could use it to its full potential. It also needed a little rehab after our dear daughter had pulled the handles off the drawer and broken one of the slats within the drawer. The right leg had also been lost somewhere in a move.

It has sat in our garage for months holding the gasoline can and weed control sprays high from the reach of two year old hands until I recently looked in and noticed it had two rows of hooks. Brainstorm!! It would be perfect for our garage entry area or mudroom as we say in the South. I color-matched the paint with the curtains in the adjacent hall bath and then got down to the nitty gritty.

Starting out I took a damp cloth and wiped down every surface that was going to be painted. Even if your piece of furniture hasn't sat around in a dingy this still is helpful for giving yourself a clean painting surface. My dad also gave me the tip of painting a small area to make sure the paint would actually adhere or if the surface needed to be sanded. Then take a quality painting tape and tape off the lines of where you plan to paint. This may seem a little silly, but this particular piece was not going to be painted on the inside. I love Frog Tape 82011 Pro Painters Masking Tape, Green 1-Inch by 60-Yards. It is worth the extra money to get those beautiful clean lines!

After your surface is prepped, you want to paint a single coat of primer. This insures that you get all those pine surfaces evenly covered so they do not show through the paint. The people at Home Depot recommended Gripper Primer. I was very pleased with the results, just don't look at the large white spot on my garage floor where I dropped the can! I also recommend using a very good brush Purdy 400730 Pro Extra Swan Paint Brush 3-Inch. I have heard of some people rolling furniture. I tested this method and did not like the texture it created. Let this dry for the maximum amount of time listed on your primer can. I gave it overnight to be generous.

Once your primer is dry, brush on your paint. Use a small one inch brush to get the detailed areas and your edges. I had my mom come out and help me and it was useful to have one person doing the detail and the other brushing the large surface areas. We were then able to stop and see each others work and note what places were missed. Do two coats and let dry overnight before moving into your home.

Finished product! I added new hardware to the drawer to give it a more modern look. Sorry for the picture quality but this was a funny angle that only a wide angle lens could capture. I still have to fully fix the leg.  It balances very well as of now, so I can just prop the broken leg up to make it look even.

with Belles and Beauxs