Painted Stereo Cabinet

This had already been stripped of its stereo and speaker when I got ahold of it. It was solid, had wheels, and would make great storage.

I used flat black exterior paint watered down so that the finish would be as smooth as possible.

There were some major lessons learned with this piece. I sanded but didn't use really high grit paper. I stopped at 120. This may not have been a problem, except that I thinned the paint. The paint didn't seal the grain. I applied the paste wax and when I buffed it, I discovered that wax had settled into the grain leaving white film and spots over the entire surface.

My mom suggested using
a hair dryer to melt the wax. I melted and buffed and it looked beautiful.

The doors were stenciled and I didn't think they would hold up to bugging.i used spray acrylic just on the doors.

On the bottom, I recovered the old speaker front with black burlap and spray painted the rusted grate gold to match the stenciled doors. It really turned out to be a great piece.

Painted Desk

This pine desk was in pretty bad shape. Overall the construction had held up but the finish was worn and the top was pretty dirty.

A few months ago I found a stack of vintage 70's wrapping paper. I matched up paint I had on hand with this floral print paper.

I've begun watering down my paint just a little so I can do multiple coats without flops and clumps. I lined the drawers with the paper and put it on accent areas.

I used spray adhesive on the back of the paper then pressed it into place. The paper is coated with polycrylic but the paint is coated with paste wax. I

The paste wax dulled the color a bit, but it ended up matching the paper even more.

I'm proud to say that it sold within hours of being on the floor!