I know there are some people who will get mad at that title. Some people think honey colored oak is beautiful. Some people think this type of would should never be painted over. And I am not one of those people. Honey colored oak is U-G-L-Y to me. And we have enough of the ugly wood in our house since most of our furniture has been handed down to us by my parents.
One of the pieces we had was a bookshelf. It was a good bookshelf but I have always hated the color and the wood. I wanted to use it in Levi's room to sit books on it, and other decorative items, but he now has a pine bed that is honey colored and a cherry colored dresser (which I plan on painting), and the oak bookshelf would have looked even worse alongside those other pieces. So last weekend Justin and I got out the sandpaper, primer, paint, and glaze and got down to business.
Before we started it looked like this:
Not what we're going for.
I lightly sanded it, then primed it with KILZ spray primer
Then sanded again. This primer is very gritty afterward, so I would recommend sanding or at least wiping it down really well. After sanding and then cleaning it off we painted. My husband bought a
PURDY brush at Lowe's. It was pricey but well worth it. It gave us a perfect paint job.
It looked way better but I wasn't finished. I wanted it to be more than just a white bookshelf, so we experimented using a glaze for the first time. Much easier than I had ever thought it could be. Just brush it on and then wipe it off with a damp cloth. And after it was dried we covered the back (which was just a thin piece of plywood type of thing) with a chocolate brown burlap.
It looks so good, much better than the oak. I can't believe I've had it for almost 6 years and only just now painted it. Honestly I don't even want to put it in Levi's room, I can't help but think how much he'll under-appreciate it ;) . And that's how much I love it right now.
Linking up to
<div align=”center”><a href=”http://thediyclub.com/2010/12/its-a-purdy-awesome-party/” mce_href=”http://thediyclub.com/2010/12/its-a-purdy-awesome-party/” ><img border=”0″ alt=”PURDY AWESOME PARTY” src=”http://thediyclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/a-purdy-awesome-partyDEC2010.png” mce_src=”http://thediyclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/a-purdy-awesome-partyDEC2010.png” /></a></div> <p>
5 comments:
Wow, that looks really about a ten thousand times better than before. Makes me look at my own shelves in a whole different way :)
Thanks Helen, like I said I can't believe I never thought abought painting it before...so much easier than I thought it would be and totally worth it.
its a really great looking cabinet that can be used for books, magazines, cds and lots of other things too, i really like its simple design and elegant looks
a very beautiful piece of furniture, i really like its simple lines and design, i am always in search of good furniture items that last a long way and serve good
Henna-thanks, it was pretty useful for storing picture frames and books, now I'm hoping my son won't abuse it too much because when/if we move and get a bigger space I'm taking it back and finding a place where it can be shown off. ;)
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