Paint Me Impressed

Oh, Pintrest, how I love thee. Let me count the ways! Pintrest is my new passion. I have found so many amazing ideas, so much inspiration. On one of my many perusals of the site, I stumbled across precise directions for painting furniture. I don't mean spray painting like I did with the "junky" furniture in my living room. I'm talking about nice, good quality though slightly out-dated furniture. Upon seeing the pictures, I decided that my bedroom furniture (that I have literally had since I was born) needed a face-lift.

For forever now, I've been longing for white bedroom furniture. My medium brown wood (because I honestly have no idea what kind of wood it is... maple? oak? who knows? :) just was outdated and drab. White furniture instantly brightens a room and makes it look clean and fresh. I just got my heart set on painting it. After countless blogs and diy research, I compiled a list of the supplies I needed, and the steps I needed to accomplish this. Then, I gathered every ounce of my courage, and on one of my nightly phone conversations with my parents, broached the subject. I honestly had no idea what they would say. After all... this was nice furniture. It may have had a few minor scratches, but still looked pretty good for being almost 25 years old. My parents believe in buying really good quality things and making them last for a very long time. A very admirable trait (haha, IF you have money to do so). Hence, I wasn't sure how they would react to me wanting to paint it. To my surprise, they were all in favor, saying that it was my furniture and I could do with it what I wanted! I think when I got off the phone with them I stood up and cheered.

I now knew I wanted to do this project, but when (or more accurately, with what energy???) I weighed the idea for several weeks, but the weekends were always too busy, and this would obviously be an all day project at least. This past Friday was literally an AWFUL day at school. Normally I adore my job. Love, love, love it! But Friday... well, everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. Maybe not literally, but it sure felt like it. I hate to complain, and I know it could have been worse, but sometimes when it rains, it pours! Two of my students got sick, one right after lunch, ALLLLLLLLLLLLL over. Literally. I used half a tub of Lysol wipes on that. I cleaned it off the wall, the floor, the baseboard, her chair, her desk, her, the garbage can... etc, then skipped Math class and opted for a super long recess. While at recess, one of my little boys threw a rock (a giant "no no") , struck another student in the head, giving her two instant goose eggs and bruises. Seriously, it looked awful. By then I was a wreck. I'm a control freak, and like to feel like I'm in control of the situation. I left school right at 4, and drove straight to Lowes. I figured that I needed to take out my frustration, and that this would be the weekend to tackle my painting project. I bought all of the supplies, went home and changed and immediately started. My first stroke with the sander was a very very apprehensive one... I was so afraid of not doing it right and having to live with awful looking furniture.

Ready for my first paint (primer) stroke. I definitely look like it was the very long Friday of a very loooonnnng week.

I felt so "handy" and proud of myself, taking the handles off with a screw driver. I know that is completely lame, but I've never really used one, and it made me feel like I could accomplish/ build anything.

I have always always wanted a mirror like this. Always. The cheapest I've ever seen them is about $150, so I was super excited to find one marked $45 in a used furniture shop in town. I talked her down to 40. It was a light maple finish, and a little scratched up, but I had a plan! I taped off the mirror, which ended up being much more difficult than anticipated. I think I had 9,000 tiny pieces of tape all stuck together because of the oval shape. Nevertheless, I persevered.

My first dip into the paint can, and my stomach was jumping. I was crossing my fingers that it would turn out. Apparently I was too anxious, because when I lifted the bush up to paint, it dripped on my foot. Greaaaattt.... But I quickly learned, and that was about the extent of the drips for the rest of the night.

My first step was to thoroughly sand the furniture, roughing it up so the paint would stick. Then was priming. I bought a special paint, Killz Premium Primer (kind of a tongue twister, if you think about it). I ended up painting two coats of it, just to be safe.

Since my roomate was gone for the weekend, I ended up having to drag my dresser outside by myself. Must say, it was a great feeling of accomplishment when I finally got it through the house and over the threshold.

Pleas be impressed with this shot... taken with the left hand. It was quite difficult to do, and should be appreciated. :)

My weapon of choice. I borrowed this sander from a friend at church. This puppy really came in handy, especially with the dresser. The headboard and mirror I pretty much did by hand, and my poor little fingers were really feeling it.

I did sustain an injury in the process of my project, however. While carrying my headboard back to my bedroom, it slipped and it dropped it, right on the side of my foot. It's hard to see, but there is a definite bruise. Ah, the price of beauty (the furniture, definitely NOT me :)

And, speaking of beauty... are you ready for the unveiling? If you've been a sport enough to read this long rambling post to this point, I'm sure that you are! (probably were 10 minutes ago. ha!) Sorry, I am just very proud of what I accomplished! And... drum-roll please....

Don't you love it! I wish you could see more detail in this picture. It is absolutely LOVELY! It honestly turned out even better than I had hoped!

Here is some of the detail of my headboard. I distressed the wood on the edges with my sander after it was painted. I love the vintage/ shabby chic feeling it gives it. And, if I accidentally scratch it, well, it just adds to the ambiance. Perfect-imo!

Here is just the dresser. I wish I would have taken a better before picture. Just picture it, brown mystery wood, tarnished gold handles, drab. I removed the hardware and spray painted them with a special metal spray paint in pounded pewter. I had to paint over the design in the middle on the top two drawers because they were permanently attached. I kinda sorta really love it though.

One final parting look at my beautiful "new" furniture. Sigh, I'm so happy that I took the leap and tried something new! I really have a sense of accomplishment from this weekend, and I can't wait to do it again.