Credenza Makeover Tutorial: Part 2

After reading through part 1 of how to refurbish a large piece of furniture, here is a step by step guide on how to complete the project... 

4. Sand (If needed)

If your piece has a finish on it you will need to sand it. You can usually tell if the piece needs to be sanded by the look and feel of it. If the piece is a bit glossy looking and is smooth to the touch that usually means it has a finish that needs to be sanded off. I sanded my piece by hand, which took a lot of time, but because there was so much detail I preferred it. If you have an electric sander by all means use that, but you will probably need some sheets of sand paper as well to get to some of the hard-to-reach places.

I decided to use two different drop cloths. One for sanding and one for painting. When sanding you are looking to strip the finish from the piece and you'll end up having a "weathered" look to the wood like so:

5. Paint

After you've sanded your piece the most important thing to do is clean all of the sawdust. When you start to paint you don't want any sawdust mixed in there. To be thorough I swept my patio and wiped each part of the piece down with a damp wash cloth.

Once you are sure that there is no sawdust floating around, make your final decisions on how you are going to paint the piece. Here is a piece of advice: let the piece itself determine how you will paint it. What I mean by that is that you should use the natural features of the furniture like borders, lips, etc. to decide what color you want where. I did yellow as my primary color and so I used that for the face of the drawers and the main sections of the body. I wanted a white top so I used white on the top surface, the borders of the drawers, the flower details on the top drawers, and the bottom border. 

Painting the bottom border was by far the most difficult because I had go in with a small paint brush and make the lines myself. Some people might want to just tape it off to make it easier, but I was lazy and impatient :) The bottom border is definitely not perfect just because the yellow and white bumped right up against each other, but you can't tell unless you look closely...

6. And Paint Some More...

Here is an important thing to note: the quality of the paint will definitely impact how much time it takes to complete the project. I decided to go with a bit of a cheaper brand this time and I wish I had just gone with the expensive stuff (Shermin Williams). I had to paint 7 coats on this baby! It took me several weeks almost working on it every week day for a few hours a day! All of the hard work and time it took is part of the reason why I'm so proud of it :) Here is a picture of like 3 or 4 coats in. Definitely not enough...

When choosing your colors, consider how dark the piece is and how light your colors are. That is another thing that impacted how many coats I had to do. White and yellow are about as light as you can get and the color of the wood was fairly dark. Ideally you'd only have to do 3 or so coats so that it looks completely solid. Usually paint cans have labels on them that have instructions on how much time you should wait for a coat to dry before you start painting again. I just used my best judgement, usually waiting at least an hour or less for smaller areas.

Finally.... Put the piece back together, (put hardware back on, drawers back in, etc.) move it to the desired location, and you're done!

Make sure to keep the original paint swatches or write the paint color down somewhere so that if you need to buy more later to do touch ups you can. 

Take a step back and take it all in! It was a lot of work and you just added a beautiful new piece of character to your home. Nice job! Hopefully you are as happy with the outcome as I was with my project. 

Do you have any furniture refurbishing or just general DIY success stories? Tell me about it in the comments below!

Credenza Makeover Tutorial: Part 1

After taking a break from writing for a couple of weeks to spend 10 fun-filled days making trouble around Seattle with my little sister, I am back at it finishing up some house projects before I buckle down and find a full time job. 

My last big DIY project for the summer was a beast to work on, but I am SO happy with how it turned out. I thought I'd share a two part step-by-step tutorial on how to refurbish a large piece of furniture, so here we go...

Have you ever expected to breeze through a project and end up completely wrong about how much time and energy it would take to finish? That's what this project was for me. I kept thinking, "I've done something like this before, how hard can it be?" And "I have plenty of time to finish this. It will be a piece of cake." Yeah... I was wrong. I learned a few things from this project that I will share so that you don't have to make the same mistakes I did :)

Since I stopped working full time my days have been filled with A TON of DIY projects, which I have loved, but I am glad to be wrapping up the many projects I have going on and I know my husband will be glad not to have our house in a constant state of chaos :)

I bought this credenza at Goodwill for $70. It was a pretty exciting find. The piece is REALLY well-built and has some great character and beautiful detail. Here is the before picture of the piece...

And some after pics...

As you can see I kept the original hardware and tried to go for a Spanish style that would brighten up our office. I am loving it! It makes the whole room seem more welcoming. Here are some tips on how to refurbish your own piece of furniture:

1. Make a Plan

Having a plan in place will save you a lot of stress and time later and while this might not be the most fun part of the project, trust me, you will be glad that you put some thought in up front.

Some good questions to ask yourself before you start: 

Where will I work on this? 
What is my timeline? 
What kind of materials do I need? 
How much work am I willing/able to put in? 
Where will this piece end up in my house?

2. Pick Your Colors!

This is the fun part. Now you could just go to Lowe's and spend hours browsing all of the colors trying to envision what it will look like and narrowing it down swatch by swatch, (like I did) but I would recommend NOT doing this. Instead of spending WAY too much time at the store and getting all confused about what color you even wanted in the first place because you've looked at so many color swatches your eyes can't seem to distinguish between blue and green, a better idea would be to consider what color(s) you want to paint the piece based on what you already have in your house. After that you can pick 5-10 of your favorite shades, take them home and see how they fit with the rest of the room and the piece itself and then... sleep on it. 

Paint can be expensive, and so a helpful tip to save money is to go online to some of the home improvement and paint store websites and see if they have any promotions going on. That's what I did and I ended up getting some great paint on sale.

3. Gather the Necessary Tools & Materials

Here is a list of materials you may need for the project, depending on your vision for the finished product:

- Sand paper or electric sander
- Your choice of paint and the right quantity (I went with two different colors, 1 gallon for the main color and 1 quart for the trim color)
- Several sizes of good quality paint brushes
- Painting tape
- Drop cloths
- Washcloth
- Any tools to take the hardware off

Once you've bought all of your materials and decided where you will be working on your project, it's time to get the piece ready for sanding and/or painting. 

Stay tuned for part two of this tutorial next week where I will get into sanding and painting the piece. 

Do you have any fun DIY and/or house projects you've been working on this summer? Tell me about it in the comments below!

The Blessing of Inconvenience

I was still brooding from having to stay late for a friend’s wedding to help with post-reception clean up when my phone rang. My husband told me earlier in the week that he had volunteered us to be part of the cleanup crew, but my annoyance level kicked up a notch when we ended up staying past 10:00 and I watched the precious last few minutes of my Saturday night get eaten up by sweeping floors. It was to my surprise that shortly thereafter my close friend and former co-volunteer with REST (Real Escape from the Sex Trade) called me. She asked if I was up for going on an “adventure.” My friend had just become a permanent member of the REST staff and was now receiving emergency REST hotline calls as part of her job. She had just received a call from a transgender woman who had fled from her pimp in California and was desperate for help. My friend was about to meet her at the train station and asked if I wanted to join her for the impromptu meet up. Here I was feeling incredibly inconvenienced about having to spend a few extra minutes throwing away dirty party napkins and I was faced with another opportunity that would turn my comfy Saturday night into a very uncomfortable, inconvenient situation.

Having volunteered on the direct outreach team for REST for nearly three years myself, I understood the urgency of the situation. I also knew that having the support of another volunteer was incredibly important. After taking a brief moment to discuss it with my husband, I agreed to meet up with her so that we could drive together and pick up Linda from the train station. Our goal was simple: pick her up and find a shelter where she could spend the night. Immediately upon pulling up and loading Linda’s luggage into our car we could tell that she was scared and reeling from the day's events. We got to briefly hear her story and just listened in shock as she recounted her horrifying experience. We tried to convey our heartfelt sorrow at all of the things she had suffered in just a 24-hour period. She was on her own without any family and friends to provide her shelter, without a job, money, or even a place to sleep for the night. But the most important thing was for us to to somehow help her to realize that she was not alone and that we wanted to do everything we could to help her.

Without enough time to plan in advance we were not able to find Linda a shelter to stay at that night. Our next best option was to go to a 24-hour diner, buy her a meal and have her stay there until morning. We joined her for a quick cup of coffee and got to hear more about her life. Our differences seemed endless when we first met. Age, lifestyle, and religion, just to name a few. But as we continued to talk and I got to know more about her, I realized we were the same in so many ways. Both of us enjoying coffee over conversation, our desire for safety and love, an appreciation for family and friends. As we left the diner I was incredibly humbled to have heard her story and to have the opportunity to help her that night. Talking with Linda put things in perspective and I realized how petty I can be -- trying to protect my comfort above helping and serving others. 

A few days later I received another phone call. It was my friend asking if I could meet Linda at the train station again. She had a friend down south who had offered to let her stay with her while she figured out what do to next and so I was going to buy her a ticket to get there. I was genuinely excited to get to see Linda one more time. It was a beautiful, sunny Seattle day. When I pulled up at the train station she was sitting on her luggage on the curb, sunglasses on, soaking up the rarity of the sunshine in February. We got to chat for a while and she expressed her deep gratitude for everything my friend and I had done for her. As I was driving away, I realized that I had been incredibly blessed by her. Ironically I was blessed by the very thing I had been trying to avoid: inconvenience.

*The name of the woman in this story has been changed for her protection


If you are unaware of the amazing work that REST does for men and women enslaved by the sex industry, please take a look at their website, follow them on Facebook and Twitter, and consider how you can help combat the all-too-common issue of sex trafficking.

Sex trafficking is a reality that is constantly astounding me and causing me to take a sober look at the world we live in. It is an issue that is close to my heart because of my personal involvement with REST for most of the time I've lived in Seattle. I'm sad to say that Washington is tied for first for the state with the strongest trafficking according to an article by the Huffington Post that was released earlier this year.

Don't be afraid of being uncomfortable. Learn how you can help combat this injustice, even if it's just educating yourself and others.

Here are some more resources on the topic:

http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2014/index.htm

http://freedomnetworkusa.org/

http://www.polarisproject.org/resources/hotline-statistics/human-trafficking-trends-in-the-united-states