Saturday, February 11, 2012

My New Career

So, I came upon this GORGEOUS desk on Pinterest, and it was love at first sight!  I knew I HAD to have it for AC.  I tracked it back to All Things Thrifty and just my luck, also found a post there on how to refinish furniture (quite the discovery as I had never done it and had no clue where to begin).  The search was ON!  I immediately combed Craig's List and didn't really find a desk but I did run into these pieces:

I had been looking for a dresser for AC.  She has outgrown her toddler set with very small drawers, and I was certain this was a sign.  In the above Craig's List photo, the set looks honey-colored but when I got to the house of the girl that was selling it, I realized it was what I now call "ladder yellow"... no joke... just look at the pic:

Apparently ladder yellow was a very popular color a really long time ago before contacts were invented!  Aside from being ladder yellow, the tops of the dressers and drawers were quite stained, and the cute little tables you see in the pic were destroyed (I thought I took a close-up shot of that but I can't seem to find it; mental note:  if you are going to blog about something, you must take detailed pics); one was a little better than the other but it needed major TLC.  The price was definitely right though, and at this point, I realized I'd be refinishing more than just a desk.

So I brought the furniture home and began to follow the refinishing tutorial on All Things Thrifty.  I have to say, it is VERY very good.  The only thing I might add is that you really need to sand the furniture down after you've washed it, and you need to sand it a lot after the primer, and lightly in between coats.  Sanding I found is key as the paint may not adhere otherwise.  If you skip this step, you may find once you think you are done that the minute anything brushes up against the piece, the paint will chip and all your work will go out the window.  Unfortunately, I found this out the hard way and I was disheartened half way through the project.  No matter.  The experience was invaluable and AC is thrilled with her new furniture.  Also, it helped when I researched its origin and learned that it is a solid set made in the 1920's out of ash wood... this is pass me down furniture if I've ever seen it.  Yeeeyh!

One piece of advice before you begin your new refinishing career (it takes more than one afternoon!)... be patient, all good things take time, and realize this is going to take some HARD work on your part but in the end very satisfying; and honestly, the cost of the whole thing, including paint, primer, sanding paper, glaze, etc was barely $300.  I couldn't buy a set like this if I wanted to.  I'd likely find a non wood set and you can bet I'd pay a ton more for a lot less quality.  So, drum roll please.... here's how it turned out:

Isn't it GORGEOUS?!   It is quite the transformation (note:  I'm patting myself on the back as you read this).  I seriously LOVE the little tables!  AC's room is a French theme and this couldn't be more perfect.   I used Krylon paint in color Almond (the pics were taken at different times of the day hence the color difference but the little table pic is truer to the actual color).  What a difference a couple of coats of paint made!  When the room is finished, I will post a pic of it in her room.  But now back to finding that desk...

2 comments:

  1. Love all the pieces....absolutely beautiful! Congrats on the blog....I LOVE IT!!!!! By the way, "Rose and Rouge" phenominal name for the blog...and the story behind it-ADORABLE!!! Just gotta LOVE little girls....too cute!
    Xoxo

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  2. Great job! I hate all that sanding too. But it's definitely worth the hard work. On the other hand, have you heard about chalk paint that requires no sanding? Here's a link to Annie Sloan's chalk paint . There's also recipes floating around blogland for a homemade version.

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