DIY Fugly to Fab: Buffett makeover

Sanding fugly 

Alright I am going to be honest here,  I have been sick as sick gets for the better part of 2016.  I have been through two rounds of antibiotics and countless hours in bed.   In all that time I have felt so blah And I mostly slept.  

But when I did go into my family room there was this ugly buffet (the bottom half of a China cabinet actually.  The top half is still in my garage waiting to be re-purposed into a curio cabinet.)  This thing had been sitting in my garage for 10 months.  I was suffering from serious buyers remorse and didn't want to work on it.   Hubs decided it had to leave the garage so he put it in the house  and said fix it or toss it.  

Primed and stained 

So this weekend I was finally feeling about 80% normal.   I could finally breath a little easier and hubs was out of town so I had time to do a few tasks I put off when he is around and this puppy was high on my list.

Above you can see I sanded and primed the piece white, except the top which I stained.  Now let me be honest this piece is not solid wood.  It's mostly veneer.  If you sand veneer you should be very careful not to sand too much or you will get down the particle board underneath.  

2 coats of Milk Paint later

I know a lot of people don't prime when they use chalk paint but I do regardless.  This time I actually used General Finishes Milk Paint in Linen and their Java Gel stain.   This was the first time I have used the Linen Milk Paint which isn't a true Milk Paint but has the look of the real stuff.  Let me tell you I love this stuff!  It went on easy and very smooth.  Sometimes with chalk type paint you get brush streaks.  Not with this stuff.   

After it dried I finished the whole piece with a satin Polycrylic top coat.  Use your best judgement on how many.  I did 2 coats on the whole piece but the top, if your piece is going to get heavy use, would need at least 3 coats.  This isn't going to get used for anything except brick-a-brac.  

The stained top

Basic of the project: 

1 coat primer on body.  

2 coats GF Milk Paint on body. 

1 coat of Java Gel on top.  (If you want it darker you can use another coat.) 

After this dried I used 2 different waxes to age.  One in brown and one in white to mute the brown and give it a little character and feeling of age.  Obviously it darkened the paint just a bit.   

This piece had some nice little bits of detail

Once it was finished, I was surprised at how much I actually like the piece.  We are using it to store DVD's.  Yes, I have a lot of movies. 

All done 

Aside from that it was generally a weekend of cleaning.  We had a beautiful sunrise Saturday.  

This is my happy place 

Yay cleaning!  Remember I have been sick so while the house wasn't trashed, it wasn't as tidy as I wanted either.  

One thing you can say, I am not afraid of color!

See this is a clean kitchen.  Lol.  It lasted all day before the kid put dishes in the sink instead of the dishwasher.  An aside here.   Kid says she can't ever tell if the dishes are dirty in the dishwasher so she leaves them in the sink.  Now, maybe I am just smarter than the average bear but of there are only 2 cups and some silverware in the machine, isn't it logical that they are dirty?

I love the signs I found somewhere and the little planter thing I got from Magnolia Market 

Have I mentioned before I have sort of a 50's retro kitchen happening?  Well I found these signs for super little money like Starbucks trip money, I'm talking.   How cute are they? 

Okay so that's my weekend.  I told my husband last night I look around the house and all I see are projects.  Hopefully there will come a time when the projects stop and the walls that I haven't painted don't call out to me to change them. There is nothing wrong with them, they just aren't my paint. :)  

So did you mark off anything from your To-Do list this weekend?   

Below you will find Amazon links to the products I used on this buffet.   Please note their is no extra charge for you if you purchase using these links.