Wednesday, March 08, 2017

Laminate topped dresser re-do

Oh wow!! Never want to do this again!! Check out this... I was told that with chalk paint, you do not have to rough up the laminate before painting. That you can paint ANYTHING. Well, not so. This is what happened when I painted the laminate without roughing it up. I tried to paint a 2nd coat and it started to take up the paint. I took a cloth to it and it all just started coming up like nothing at all.
I did not have a problem with the drawers. Thank goodness!!
The before photo is awful. Haha! We dumped all his stuff onto the top and I didn't feel like cleaning it off before taking the before picture. n I could see all the lines from the sandpaper on the top. I used an 80 grit because I didn't feel like the 320 was roughing it up enough. I should not have done that. The paint stuck to it like glue but looked terrible after. I then used a 320 grit to sand the paint smooth and then repainted with a black chalk paint. I used a Polyacrylic to seal up the whole dresser. A friend stopped by while I was still doing the Poly and it dried before I got back out to it. there were drips and splotches that dried white and not clear. I was not happy. I repainted the top with the black chalk paint again, the next morning. I then used a black Annie Sloan wax to seal the top. I was done with the Poly. It tends to foam up and if you do not get all the foamy parts to smooth out before it dries, it dries white and looks terrible. This was a super cheap dresser that my son has had. I just wanted to make it took decent and not as ugly as ugly gets like it was. I want to buy him a nice all wood dresser to re-do and get rid of this one. This will tide him over until them. :)
The blue paint is the Dixie Belle paint in Bunker Hill Blue. The black was Dixie Belle's Midnight Sky.

Friday, March 03, 2017

New Chair makeover!

I was driving along after an appointment at the Chiropractor and I saw a few wood chairs sitting out on the sidewalk waiting for the dump truck. I quickly turned the van around and pulled into the driveway. I know that the area where the chairs were placed is considered public domain and it is free for anyone to grab but I figured I would ask anyway. I got out of the van and walked up the front door and rang the doorbell. When no one came to the door I peeked over at the front curtain-less window and noticed that the house was completely stripped clean and empty. This house must have been sold and people were dumping anything they found in it. I felt safe to just take what I wanted. I found 2 chairs that were not too damaged and still in good condition. These pictures are of one of the chairs. Super ugly and dirty. I cleaned it up with some TSP and then used Dixie Belle chalk paint in Midnight Sky. I did two coats and then distressed on the edges. I used a black wax (Annie Sloan) and loved the matte look of it. I was told that on a chair it would be better to use a polyacrylic so I then put on a matte polyacrylic. I was not as happy with the finish. Kind of wish I had left it with just the black wax. Live and learn. I will use only the wax to finish the next one. It did come out nice though. What a difference! Dixie Belle paint is a local Florida company. Supporting the Local business!!