I hate blueberries. I am so not a picky eater, but blueberries are disgusting. They have the weirdest texture and they aren't really sweet. What's the point of a fruit if it isn't sweet? One time when we were traveling I sent my husband to the store with a few things to pick up, one of them being greek yogurt so I could make my smoothies. He came back with this.
Seriously. I was so upset that I drove thirty minutes at midnight to go buy decent yogurt. (Sorry Chobani, I love you, especially honey greek yogurt, but blueberries are gross!). So I may have overreacted that night, but now it's our inside joke. When ever he goes to get something or I ask him for food, blueberries always come up. Yuck yuck yuck.So this is not a yogurt site, so why am I talking about blueberries? Because I also don't like the color blue. It's so common and overused. It just doesn't do it for me. However, my living room now has blue pillows, my guest room has blue/green walls, my other guest room has a blue comforter... it's popping up everywhere. It's easy to throw into a room as a type of neutral, especially because I almost always use navy. Well, when we started this project I told my hubs I wanted to paint it blue, so naturally we discussed blueberries. While I wanted to go for a navy, he convinced me to go for another shade. Hopefully you'll like it too! Don't worry, it isn't blueberry blue, this whole opening was for absolutely no reason at all. Here's what we started with.
This is the Craigslist picture that I responded to. It is one of our few Craigslist finds, because it creeps me out! We far prefer the local Facebook swap groups, at least then you *hopefully* know it's a real person and not a scary one. The people we got this from were really nice though, so not everyone is creepy! But just as a safety measure I always text a few friends the address of where I'm picking something up, and I always take my hubs with me! Anyway, this beauty was $100. Which is a little steep, but I had been looking for one for a year and this one fit my measurements exactly. It was a win. So we drove an hour away to pick it up, loaded it up, and drove an hour back.
When we got it home we promptly washed it. Apparently driving for an hour at highway speeds causes bugs to be firmly smashed all over the wood. Then, we disassembled it and started painting.
The knobs were first on my list. I actually liked their ornate look, so I didn't want to totally abandon them for new ones. Instead, I decided to paint them white. They were orignally a little more brassy than what the picture shows, which doesn't really go with any of our style and decor.
I used some basic Walmart spray paint and covered them with several coats of paint. We also decided to go ahead and do the hinges too because they were the same brassy color and are slightly visible as well, even when the doors are closed. Did I mention our house came with some very questionable turf installed at the entrance of our garage? No worries, it's all painted with random spray paints now. The handles needed plenty of time to dry before we tried to reattach them.
The paint I chose was a very light blue. I wanted to chalk paint it, but our local hardware stores don't carry any chalk paint. So, I looked up some tutorials, like this one, and made my own. I mixed the chalk and plaster of paris, loosely following the directions, I basically kept adding more of each until I liked the consistency. It worked.
Then, I painted three or four coats. The wood didn't seem dark, but compared with how light the blue was, it needed lots of coats to get rid of the streaky-ness. I even had to bust out some tiny art brushes to get in all the nooks and crannies.
One of the best tricks I've picked up for painting furniture is to use cans underneath them. It makes the edges and bottoms so much cleaner and easier. Plus, I think it makes it easier to pick up the piece when it's done. I can't remember where I saw it, but it's something we always do now! You can use expired sweet and condensed milk cans or old paint cans depending on how heavy the piece is.
It even works on windows and doors. Just make sure the paint cans are completely dry! I don't know what I did before using cans!
Finally, I distressed it. I love distressing things. It makes the piece look like it belongs in our old, slightly shabby house. It feels at home. I just used some 60 grit sandpaper and went around the edges and where the knobs would "rub" if they moved. It's pretty light distressing, but I like it.
The one step I didn't get pictures of was the waxing! I bought some wax from Ace and put two coats on over the piece. I used one like this wax, which smells nice and is easy to use. Literally wax on, wax off. It's kept the piece nice and makes it really easy to clean. Any water just beads up on it. It was a clear wax and it made the piece look more matte, which was perfect.
Lastly, I attached the handles, which made a nice contrast! Once the wax was dried the hubs and I carried it upstairs! Project done!
Here it is unfilled and waiting for some accessories....
And here's how it looks now, minus a few knickknacks. It is a soft color, but really seems to pop against the dark paint and wood in the room. We almost always get compliments on it and how unique it is. I love how different it is than the original. Someday I might go in and wallpaper (or paint?) the back and shelves with a fun design, but for now, I'm happy with. What do you think? Too blueberry?
A little before and after before you go.