Thursday, July 12, 2012

Paint to the Rescue!

As is typical of New York City apartments, the distance between the bed and the closet is small. Like ubber small. We have a tiny dresser there, that is about as old as Dan but never fit with our style. I have looked and looked for an inexpensive replacement but of course because that area is so tiny, I would have to custom build in order to get something new. I am pretty ok at making a book shelf but not quite handy enough to put together a dresser just yet. Hence, the paint.
Here is the original, it's cute and made of pine but we have mostly white furniture and it just needed a little love.
I sanded it down with super fine sand paper, one hundred grade just to open up the wood so it would really suck up all the primer.
Then I primed with Valspar oil based primer. It was my first time using Valspar, usually a Benjamin Moore kind of girl but this worked beautifully. I also found the foam brush is a better choice for all the nooks and crannies. I started with a standard bristle brush but switched shortly after.

 
After I let that dry, I moved on to the top coat which was also Valspar standard flat white. I painted the nob but was never a big fan of it. After talking with my pops, he suggested he look in "inventory" as he likes to call it. My parents own a very old home in the country which has random parts from the late Nineteenth century.  He is constantly on the hunt for orginial replacements or good enough fakes to have on hand just in case the door hinge breaks. He came up with a small white porcelian nob which fits perfectly.
 I added the canvas bins from Bed, Bath & Beyond, so the small stuff can be stored out of the way. All worked out and well worth the time.