From Pretty Ugly To Pretty Pretty

I bought this old, dirty radio cabinet awhile back thinking I would give it an updated look. I sort of let it lay around for awhile waiting for some inspiration. Well, a few days ago I set up at The Fancy Flea, a vintage home and garden market, in Lakeland, Florida and as usual, I  came home full of energy and inspiration.

This piture shows the finished piece.
In the next picture you will see the "before".




At this point, I had cleaned the underneath and primed the base using black DIY chalk paint.
To make the chalk paint you just add Plaster of Paris to your paint with a little bit of water. I experiment until I get the consistency I want.
It looks like some kids had played hangman on the front of it.

Right away I could see this piece had potential.
Even though it was beat up pretty bad, it was sturdy and I like the way the doors swing open all the way around the sides.

This is the first time I ever primed an entire piece black.
My intention was to prime black, finish with white, then distress letting some of the black show through.
During the project I changed my mind on the color.



Nothing ever goes as planned. I intended to paint the insides then have Mr. Shabby For Sure add the new back.
I came to work one morning and he proudly showed me he had added the new back.
It made the paint job a little harder but I never said anything.

When I got to this part I changed my mind on the color.
After I painted the inside white, something was bleeding through. I spritzed the spots with Rustoleum Heirloom White spray paint and loved the color immediately.

Here it is after I added Gliddens eggshell paint + primer.
I took the cap from the Rustoleum spray can and had it color matched at Lowe's.
Then I made a glaze using watered down burnt umber paint.
I experimented with the proportions until I got the color I wanted.
After I glazed it I distressed it using 80 grit sandpaper.

This is what it looked like when I added the glaze.
I would add the glaze then quickly wipe it off.
If it dried out while I was wiping it off I just gave it a swipe with a damp rag.

I love how it turned out.
I know it is clean inside and out and it is ready to use.
My plan was to paint the hardware but the original color of the handles turned out to be perfect.  

I love the color combination using heirloom white paint and burnt umber glaze.
This paint job looks naturally old.

The black primer turned out to be unnecessary.
I didn't do a heavy distress and none of the black ever showed through.

Here are the products I used: Glidden eggshell Heirloom White paint + primer. (I was only going to buy a quart but decided to buy a gallon. It's a lot cheaper in the long run). I bought the black paint at Walmart. The Rustoleum I bought at Home Depot. The Folk Art burnt umber I bought at Walmart, too.
80 grit sandpaper.
I finished the job with 2 coats of Johnson past wax. I've had it for a long time and forget where I bought it.




Sometimes people see my painted furniture and ask me why I would ruin a perfectly good piece of furniture by painting it
I'm sure you've all heard it, too.
I'm pretty sure if I hadn't "rescued" this piece it would have ended up in the landfill.
I worked on this piece everyday for a week, allowing each application to dry overnight.
It was a lot of work but I couldn't be happier with the end results.

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