Our First Refurbishing

We did it!!  Our first refurbishing project is finally done!  We now have a new TV stand.  We have never done anything like this before and it took us longer than we would have liked but we learned a few things and love the end product. 

We were given this China hutch from a good friend.  We discarded the top glass piece and began working on stripping off the stain.  After an attempt at just sanding it off, we learned about paint stripper.  It still took 3 layers of stripper and scrapping to get to where we could finally sand it done.  This definitely took us longer than planned!  But Texas heat didn't help us feel very motivated to spend time in the garage.  After stripping it all down, then the hubby did a quick sand down.

After sanding it down, we added a couple shelves and made a few changes.  We (with a good friend's help) added a shelf up top and took out 2 of the drawers so we could put the Blu-ray player up top, then we took off the middle cabinet door and added two side pieces of wood to make a decorative shelf in the middle.  Then we filled all the nail holes with wood filler and cleaned it all up.

Since the wood was a large grain oak, we added a single coat of primer.  Plus we decided that for our first time we would do everything by the book and not cut corners.  So we primed with high coverage primer, then sanded, and cleaned.

My favorite part was picking out colors.  We have always rented, so I have never picked out and customized paint before.  We found a cream for the body of the piece, a dark green for the base, and added a dark brown edging to make it a little more fancy.  (I love those really sample containers you can tint for the small projects.  They were the perfect size and cost.)  We like a more fancy, chique look (my husband is not into the shabby, but he loves fancy).  So we wanted to add a few accent pieces on the furniture.  They are just glued on with wood glue along the top and a small strip along the bottom.  After two coats of paint and then distressing the edges, we were ready to glaze!

I was really scared to glaze!  I had no idea how it would really look in the end, but was excited to try it out.  Valspar has a tintable glaze that it super easy to use.  I tinted the glaze a really dark brown and then painted a thin layer on a small area of the cabinet.  I used rages to wipe off the glaze as much as I could.  It is quite forgiving and you can wipe it off and add more color easily.  I loved how it got into the grain of the wood.  I did learn that you should do an entire area at a time.  I tried to divide the top in half and it was hard to blend the two areas well.  I was a bit worried the glaze was too dark at first but after wiping and curing, I love the color.  It did lighten some as it dried.  

I have to admit that I am a terrible painter!  My painting projects never turn out well because I don't have a steady hand and always make a mess.  But between the distressing and the glaze, you can't tell how horrible of a painter I am.  It looks like I meant it that way and actually looks really good.  I am a big fan of anything that hides my mistakes well.

We let the glaze cure for a week before adding they Minwax Polycrylic coat.  

I love the accents on the doors.  The added color and then gluing on the flower piece add a lot.

After 3 coats of Polycrylic, sanding, and letting it set for 24 hours, we were ready to put it all back together.  We found some distressed hardware and it was all complete.  I may still change the hinges, if I can find something better and might need to come up with something for the back behind the Blu-ray player.  But otherwise I love it!  I think all the sanding and curing time was worth it.  We are a military family, so I am hoping this piece will survive a few moves.  Still can't believe we designed and made a piece of furniture and it actually turned at out well.   

We Love It!