Before I begin, I want to thank you all for your comments and support on my last post. I’m so happy that you’re as excited as I am about retro-blogging. Just as in the good ol’ days of my blog, I’ll be sharing a fun furniture makeover with you today. As I mentioned last week, I am back at Sweet Clover as a vendor with my own little space to take care of and fill and style as I wish. Yesterday I completed the space which I’ll be featuring later this week. Today it’s all about a sexy little pair of turquoise Asian inspired nightstands. (This post does contain affiliate links).
I actually hadn’t planned on adding too much to my space after initially setting it up a week ago, but then as luck would have it, I had a great week thrifting. I found these at one of my stops, in all of their pale yellow with minty underlay crackle finish. Pardon the before in the back of my car (and taken as it was actually standing on its head), but you get the idea.
I love the asian inspired piece I have in my own home that now sits in my dining room and I knew I wanted to go bold with color as I did with that.
I am really into using what paints I still have on hand at the moment, and General Finishes milk paints are always my go-t0. The finish, durability, and ease of use can’t be beat! From my paints, I selected Corinth Blue which unfortunately has been discontinued, but it’s a bright bold turquoise. Before I could get to work painting, I had to prep.
Once the hardware was removed, I got to work! Using my orbital sander (I have this one and love it!), I sanded the nightstands to smooth them as much as possible from that crackle finish. At the curves where the sander couldn’t reach, I hand-sanded. I wasn’t able to remove all of the crackle look, but who needs perfect? I knew I’d distress these a little bit to let that lighter color show so a little texture would be fine,
After sanding, I wiped clean with a damp rag, and began applying my paint with my favorite Purdy angled brush. I love to use their 2″ brushes as they fit well into smaller cans of paint. 2 coats was all that they took… and boy, do I just love when that happens! Lazy girl painter here.
Next I went back to my orbital sander to give these a little distressing at the edges. I often do this step by hand, but because of the smooth surfaces and boxy shape, these were easy to use with the electric sander… my arthritic hands thanked me.
Finally, to give them a protective finish, I applied General Finishes Satin Finishing Wax. This wax is my favorite to use because it comes in an almost liquid form in a squeeze bottle, which makes application with a rag a breeze.
I staged them on my porch with several other items that are all for sale this weekend at Sweet Clover
I staged them with several other items that are available this weekend at Sweet Clover, including that fabulous vintage kilim rug. How fantastic is that original hardware, by the way? I always love when I can reuse what a piece came with because a) it’s less wasteful, and b) it maintains the character of the piece.
I’ve potted several succulents, spider plants, and pothos in all sorts of vintage containers to bring some life to my space. And unicorns are pretty much a no-brainer when it comes to one of my staples.
I can’t wait to show you how they look in the space later this week! My porch is not necessarily ideal for staging, but it’s what I’ve got so I am going to make it work as well as I can.
The best part of hunting down pieces and painting them over the last couple of weeks has been the actual labor of it all. Sanding and painting alone are pretty mind-clearing activities, a meditation of a sort for me. And when the final vision is achieved it’s rewarding… it feels great to have paint under my fingernails again. I didn’t realize how much I had missed it.
