I swear it has seen better days and was almost new when I saw him 7 years back. This guy withstood 5 moves across the states and 8 moves across homes in last 7 years! That is quite a number!! Well you might be thinking we moved places and homes every year, Not reallyyy but mathematically yes..
Finally he landed in our own home and was time for him to refresh. I didn't want to spend much so used the left over paints. Remember my Turquoise Table? (http://stylemyabode.weebly.com/blog/my-turquoise-table) I mixed the same Valspar latex paint with white chalk paint to create a lighter version of Turquoise.
What I did:
- Removed all the hardware and applied 1 coat of primer all over.
- After 1 hour, I applied 2 coats of paint on the whole table except for the top part.
- For the top surface, I used Americana Black Chalk paint - 2 coats
- Once completely dried, I gave the line patterns using painters tape. Well that wasn't very easy as the paint would bleed through the tapes and hence I had to touch them up many times to get fine lines (They are still not VERY fine lines).
- For the line pattern I used the mixed paint and Americana Chalk paint - White
- I did not wax the table as I was simply being lazy.This cabinet is not real wood hence I had some issues with the surface. It would get stained and scratched easily. So finally I waxed the entire table and then applied an additional coat of Polyurethane just on the top surface. Hope this holds it well.. Will see over time
- I did not paint the inside of the cabinet as it was still in good condition.
- I may change the handles in long run, for now I did not find anything appealing and that fits my budget. So I am keeping the old handles as such even though I am not very fond of them (Sigh!)
- Lessons Learned: If the furniture is going to a high traffic area or with someone like my son who will test his drawing skills with a pen (that also a non-erasable one), make sure to provide a protective coating either with wax or polyurethane depending on the paint you are using. This will avoid some rework..