DIY Inspiration, easy mirror makeover.

It's easy to take a nice piece of furniture that speaks to you, and make it sing to you instead! 

Rast Hack

Here is my version of an Ikea Rast hack.

 I did a simple image transfer technique for the sides.

 More image transfers on top. I also added a piece of particle board over the front of each drawer to make them less flat and boring.  The hard ware was also upgraded. The Rast comes completely unfinished so i painted the drawer fronts with a nice antique white latex and the top and sides with poly-stain over my image transfers. .

To make the image transfers, all you have to do is print out your image in reverse on freezer paper, then lightly moisten the surface you want to transfer onto and press it into place.  The freezer paper can be washed with a wet rag and used over and over again. 

UPDATE:  5/9/13

Here is another Rast Hack

Vintage Buffet Makeover Step By Step, Part 2

This is part two of a buffet makeover, if you want to see the first part, click here.  

I finished sanding the top of the buffet.  I always use a low grit sandpaper like a 60 grit for stripping paint off of a piece of furniture. Otherwise you will be sanding for the rest of your life. It can leave marks on your wood though, so you cant be lazy and leave it like that. You need to clean up the marks with a 100 grit paper, followed by a 150 grit and finish with a 200 grit or more paper.  This will leave your wood professionally smooth looking and feeling.  

 I added my Polystain and it looks great. It took 3 coats.  I sanded with my 220 grit sandpaper between each coat and also used some steel wool.  When the last coat was done, I used steel wool and then rubbed on a furniture wax, then hand buffed it.

 It was worth all of the work. The resulting finish is perfect.

 I had to copy all of those steps on all the pieces that I was going to stain. So all of the drawers and doors got sanded 4 times, and 3 coats of poly stain then one coat of wax.  It didn't take as long as it sounds. The drawers were super fast.  Each one only took maybe one minute or less for each type of sanding.  The higher the grit on the sandpaper the faster it goes too.

 After I finished the top of the buffet, I painted the bottom white to match the hutch.  3 coats and light sanding in between.

 I can already tell it is a wining combo from what I have finished so far.

 I couldn't get all of the stain out of the shutter doors.  Sometimes you have to change your game plan.  Going white was my best option, but I didnt want the whole door to be white.  I carefully painted each louver of the shutter and every nook and crannie.

 The hardware was original yes, but the color of brass is unappealing to most people.  I went with a nice hammered finish enamel paint to give it a face lift. One coat is all it took.  Be sure to lightly spray one side, then turn it over and spray the other side after it dries, so you get even coverage.  Do not spray the back where the screws go in.

 Paint, dry, turn. Paint, dry, turn.  Do this until all visible sides of your hardware is covered. Never spray too close or too heavy, or you will have drips.

 I carefully, hand screwed all of the dry hardware back where it came from.   This was easy since I separated each door in a different bag.  I think it looks great just as a buffet.  Remember not to use a power drill or you could slip and ruin your new finish

 With the hutch on, it looks amazing.  I am so happy with it!

It looks like the stain is the same in this before and after pic, however the new stain is much less yellow than the old stain and lighter as well. It shows more of the natural wood grain.  Its always such a pleasure to take an old piece, and while maintaining its class and character, give it a little face lift!  Good luck with  your own furniture refinishing adventures and feel free to message me any questions you may have.

Vintage Buffet Makeover. Step by Step Part 1.

I found a beautiful piece for furniture for a steal! I'm not going to say how much but I definitely got a good deal. This lady has got some cute curves and fun features.  It was someones grandmothers, so likely from the 70's or 80's.  Vintage, but not quite antique yet.
I don't usually like to share my furniture finishing secrets, but this time I will take you through step by step on how this piece is redone.

 1. Number one, always remove ALL hardware. Never, ever, ever paint the hardware.  (This excludes enameling it with a different color to change it.) I am talking about being lazy and just painting the whole shebang one color and going right over the hardware.  If you want your furniture to scream "AMATEUR" then by all means, paint right over your hardware.

 This piece had a lot of hardware. So I used a separate bag for each door.  

 These were tricky to get off. I gently lifted them with a flat head screwdriver.

 Look at this great hardware. I see a lot of people replacing old hardware with something more modern, even if they shabby a piece up. What a waste, the hardware is sometimes the most charming part.  I will be painting this hardware to an oil rubbed bronze color.

 Shutter front doors! Awesome!

 Nice legs!

 This piece has spots for little hooks, likely to hang tea cups from.  I will search high and low to see if I can find anything that will work, but thus far I have not.

 Always use a hand screwdriver, if a powered one slips, bye bye original screws.

 I found this interesting. One door had no paint under the hinges, the other one did.

 2. You must remove years of gummy, oily grime before painting an older piece.  I used alcohol in a spray bottle.

 Wipe down the whole piece.

 This blotching will happen, have no fear, just ignore it.

 The top of this piece is going to be white, so there is no need to completely remove the finish.  So what I did was just rough it up a little so the paint adheres better.  I used a 100 grit sandpaper. I highly recommend one of these affordable circular sanders.  They move in every direction, eliminating most sanding marks.

 See? Not fully removing the finish, just roughing it up and removing any glossiness.

 Here are the two paint products I will be using. I am going to strip and use a poly-shade on the fronts of the drawers and doors, and the case and hutch will be antique white.

 I will be adding non sanded grout to my white paint to enhance the durability and skip the priming step.

 You can get these handy paint pail pour spouts for $0.98!

 For each cup of paint add 2 Tablespoons of un-sanded grout.  But first you must mix the grout with a little bit of paint.

 It will be thick like this, then add the rest of your 1 cup of paint.  This will keep your paint from having chunks and lumps of grout.  Stir, stir, stir.

 Use a roller and roller tray.  This will help you get even paint coverage because it eliminates excess paint on the roller.  Also use a very smooth foam roller for furniture.

 A nice thick coat of paint is great. Never drippy or lumpy though.

 You will not be able to reach the corners with your roller, so have a tapered paint brush ready.

 At the end of three coats of paint, you can still see dark shadows and uncovered areas.  Always let the paint dry to the touch before starting the next coat.

 4 1/2 coats later I am finished.  This piece will be waxed as soon as the paint cures in a day or two.

 For the doors, I am staining them so I want to strip the original finish off.  I used 60 grit sandpaper on my sander to remove a majority of the finish.

 I was planning on glazing these anyway, so I left the darker original color in the crevices, it saves me one step and a little money. I choose a light pecan color, Poly-stain in satin.  I taped the glass off so I wouldn't have to scrape off any poly-stain I got on it, which would be more difficult and time consuming than taping was.  It's starting to look great!  I will show you how these doors come out on my next post. For now, they need to dry.