I think everyone loves a bargain. I enjoy shopping and when I find a great deal or a diamond in the rough, I snag it. Rarely do I have buyer’s remorse. It’s more like un-buyer’s remorse if I didn’t get it!
I like to stop in Goodwill or the Habitat for Humanity Restore once in a while. I look for lamps, frames and small furniture. If something has a great price or is unique, I get it. A few months ago I found this cute nightstand at Goodwill. It was $10. I liked the fact it was a sturdy piece with two nice size drawers. It had nice carvings on the front and good heavy hardware. I thought I would paint it, but then it sat in our garage for a few months. (this is the holding pattern for many projects, much to my husband’s chagrin.) This is how the piece looked originally:
Finally I decided to tackle the nightstand. I had some Amy Howard light gray chalk paint on hand. I had to go to Ace Hardware for a few things so I took the paint with me. They put the paint in their shaker machine and shook it up for me. (They sell Amy Howard Chalk paint products so they were happy to do it) Chalk paint is hard to mix by hand so I recommend taking it to get it mixed if possible. Below is the nightstand, the Chalk Paint and some gold spray paint I was going to use for the hardware.
I wiped the nightstand down to remove the dust and dirt. Then I removed the hardware. Chalk paint is thick so it goes on easily. At first I was using too much paint, but then I wiped off most of the paint off of the brush and did a light coat of gray making sure I didn’t leave drips. I painted the drawers first. I like how the chalk paint covers so easily. After the drawers I painted the base of the nightstand. I let it dry over night and added another thin coat of chalk paint. It covered it perfectly in two coats. You can see the original wood stain on the left and one coat of the paint on the right below.
I debated on whether or not to add a clear coat of wax and then distress it, but decided against both. I used a round stippling brush and pounced and rubbed the dark wax in all of the crevices and surface. I let each section dry a little then wiped it down and moved to the next section of the cabinet. I did the same with the drawers. I ended up using Belle Craie dark soft wax as I didn’t have the Amy Howard wax on hand.
The dark wax made the gray paint appear more tan or brown. I put the original hardware back on to see if I liked the tarnished gold look but I may take them back off and paint them gold. I’ll live with it for a day or so and see how I feel about it. What do you think? Paint the hardware or leave it as is?
Next time I may give the clear wax a try and see if the piece stays more true to the chalk paint color. There is also a glaze product that I’d like to try too. However, I am pleased with the result of the nightstand makeover. The wax adds a nice soft finish coat and the dark wax makes the details stand out. Not bad for $10 and a little elbow grease!
