So I am usually NOT a DIY girl. I like seeing others do it, and Im always impressed with the results of others. I just never think mine will turn out and I won't be happy with the end results. Well, this spring Nick asked me if I wanted some cheap bookshelves that would need "help". A bookstore was going out of business and his coworker bought them for cheap and wanted to know if we wanted one?? I figured since we had been looking for a while for some bookshelves for our office that I might as well give it a shot. If it goes poorly then I'll know to leave the DIY to others!!!
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| before |
This is the bookshelf we got. It was a one piece(back and front shelving unit). Nick cut it into two bookshelves for us and I set to work on reading up on how to stain and finish.
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| before |
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| during |
I have to admit it wasn't to hard, but we obviously were learning along the way. The stain we got wasn't dark enough so I think I ended up putting on 4 coats!! Darker stain perhaps equals less coats??
We also didn't do a good job of sanding and taking off the existing varnish if there even was one??? Hard to know since it came from a bookstore. The shelves were very smooth and we couldn't get that smooth feel to leave so the shelves took even more patience with the new varnish we used.
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| during |
However finally after a good week of me working on it we finally got it into our office space. We love the shelves for now and they totally were worth the money spent. (not fond of the office walls though and eventually that will change too) We have never done anything to this room since we moved into our house 4 yrs ago!!!!
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| finished project |
WELL......since that project didn't go to shabby I decided to read up on how to paint furniture(old furniture for that matter:)) My grandparents sold their lake cottage and thus giving us a FREE kitchen table!! It was actually made by my grandpa so I was for sure not going to let this slip away:). It had quite the wear and tear on it, but the table top was definitely intact and looked nice. We stuck it in our basement and it will be our basement table (once we ever put in the kitchen down there:))
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| chair before- a worn out brown chair |
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| primed the chairs (will use a foam brush next time on the primer) |
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| primed the table legs |
And once again set to work learning how to paint furniture black and what paint is the best and what top coat to use. Oil based paint? Latex Paint? Polyurathane? Polycrylic? So many options and choices.
In the end I LOVE the paint I used. Yes it is expensive but it is amazing. I loved the fact that it is a paint that doesn't bubble and leave bubbles once dried, it can be used on laminate for future projects if needed and it doesn't need a top coat if you don't want one.
Am I happy with it?? Yes and No. I love the color, I love the paint, I loved my primer, but I didn't like the paint brush lines it left in my dried product. That was because I used a paint brush for the primer and so you can see paint brush lines in it. Had I known it would show through Id have sanded it all off and started over with the primer, but it was to late. I had already painted a black coat on it. So would I do it again?? Absolutely yes....with a foam brush for the primer!! I did use a foam brush for the paint because that is what I read was best:).
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| complete!! |
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| up close chair |
For now my garage remains a garage....my van is parked back in the garage:). Till school starts that is:)
Then I will begin my next DIY project:). Ellie's bedroom furniture!!! Stay tuned.