This post is dedicated to my dear daughter. Your father and I couldn't be more proud...
A few months ago, my
lovely daughter moved into a beautiful, but small apartment in NYC. She was in need of a white chest
for her bedroom. Her color scheme is
dark gray, white and pops of red for an accent.
When this chest appeared on CL, I responded right away. I felt confident it was well made and as long
as the width was right for the space, this was going to get an RPK
makeover.
When I spoke with the seller, I asked my usual
questions: Is the piece structurally
sound? Are the drawer guides wood on
wood? Do the drawers work well? I got all of the right answers and headed
over to the house to take a look and pick her up. This was perfect timing! I had a few weeks to
get this done before we headed up to NYC.
I was so excited!
When we arrived, I opened a drawer and this is
what I saw:
Oh my goodness! Red
spray paint on every square inch of the drawers! I’m so excited about the shape, quality and
size of the piece, I think “Aw, I can work with the red!”
My vision is a clean, Old White finish (no
distressing) with clear knobs. The original hardware is a bit old fashioned for my daughter's taste, and a little sparkle
would work well in her room. I filled in the holes in the drawers and gave the chest a light sanding.
The more I looked at those drawers, I knew I had to ‘clean’
them up. So I stripped them! It took me a few days and a ton of elbow
grease. Sorry there are no pictures, but
I wasn’t in the mental mind set to be snapping pictures. I was
in ‘determination’ mode.
And heck, while I have the stripper out, let’s
see what’s “under the hood” of the layers of paint on the top of the
chest! So I stripped and sanded the
top! (If anyone wants to send a
therapist my way, it may be helpful!)
After a week of prep, I finally started the painting. I decided the top wasn't worth saving, so I painted it and the rest of the chest in Old White. It took a few coats to get
thorough coverage. I waxed the body of
the chest, but put polyacrylic on the top since she uses it a
lot for makeup and others girlie things!
I thought it would clean up easier for her.
I like to rub a little bar soap to the drawer guides
to ensure the drawers move smoothly.
And here she is, all finished!
And look at those drawers!
But in our family, we can be jokers. She knew I had been working on the piece, but hadn't seen any pictures. So I sent her the following note with a "before" picture
of the tan chest with red drawers:
don't u just love it??? i love
the tan and the red drawers! it will pick up the red accents in your
bedroom! see you Friday!
After a few moments of freaking out and wondering if her mother had completely lost her mind, she realized I was just pulling her leg!
It was a cloudy day on our way up to NYC, but as we
approached the Holland Tunnel, I had to snap a picture of the Freedom Tower (in
between teary eyes).
I’m so proud of my daughter and so proud to be an American.
Thanks for stopping by!
Robin
No comments:
Post a Comment