Vanity Refresh

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One thing that always makes a piece of furniture look brand new is a new coat of paint.  As you can see (here, and here), I've had my fair share of refreshing furniture.

Before

The vanities in the master bathroom were originally painted white.  It was weird though, some pieces looked like they were hand painted, and the others professionally sprayed.  The vanities are original to the house and they were custom made.  They are solid and study so there was no need to get rid of them, just a nice coat of paint would do the trick.

12 Shades of grey

My M.O. is usually black paint, but we did our best to find a gray that would go with the tile that is already in the bathroom.  The tile isn’t our favorite, but it is in great condition.  It has tones of yellow, beige, and grays.  We took paint swatches in every gray we could find at the local do-it-yourself store.  The choice wasn’t easy, as they all looked ok to me.  In the end, we chose Valspar Mark Twain Ombra Gray (who comes up with this stuff?) because we both liked it and it was dark enough for the job.  A gallon did the trick for both vanities and we used semi-gloss.

So writing about this process is a hell of a lot easier than actually doing it.  It is time consuming, but can be done in a weekend.  You’ll be happy in the end when it looks like you have a brand new piece of furniture.

Prep

Remove everything from the drawers, etc.  Remove all of the hardware and take off the drawer or door. This might be a good time for you to organize your belongings too.  Everything will be sanded down and be full of dust, so there isn’t a need to clean anything off.  Put down a drop cloth, because it will get dirty.

Sanding

Using a sander (we used a random orbital), start with a coarse grit sand pad.  Attach a shop vacuum to the sander and don’t forget to turn it on.  The coarse sanding will take off most of the current paint. Make sure you don’t round the edges of the wood when you do the sides.  Once you used the coarse grit, do another round of a finer grit, and then another round of the finest.  The wood will be exposed in most parts.  You should be able to run your hands smoothly down the wood.

Cleaning

Use the wet vacuum to clean up any dust or paint that came off while sanding.  Using a wet cloth, wipe down the furniture and allow it enough time to dry.

Prepping for Painting

Make sure your area is dust free and clean.  You don’t want any of the sanding dust mixing with the wet paint.  Don’t forget to clean off the drop cloth you used for the sanding.

If there are any areas that you need to tape off, do it now.  Using a hairdryer on the tape will help to prevent any bleeding around the edges of the tape.

Painting

A small foam roller works best for a project like this.  Because we are using a semi-gloss, any imperfections are more forgiving and you wont have to sand in between coats, like I did with the bar table.

This project took three coats of paint.  The primer was already built into the paint, which also saved an extra step. Allow ample time to dry as it will be tacky.

Putting it all back together

Once the paint is no longer tacky, about 24 hours, you can put the hardware back on and put the furniture back together.  It is recommended to wipe down the drawers again and put a liner in the bottom before putting your items back in.  In the future, we will be adjusting the gaps - see a future post on that.

Before

After

There you go, a “new” piece of furniture that cost you not much more than a gallon of paint (assuming you have the other supplies). It is worth your time and following all the steps so it looks its very best.

<3 mk

Ikea Dresser Hack

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Ikea Hemnes dresser hack - After

A few weeks ago I hinted about another painting project when I updated my bar/dining side table.  Well, after many years of wanting to do this project, I woke up last weekend and just did it.  It felt so good to update a dresser that I've had since I first started working as a teacher.. over ten years ago!  Like the bar table, this was a big purchase for my early 20s self.  It was still in good condition, but sorely needed a facelift.

Ikea Hemnes dresser hack - Before

Inspiration.

The inspiration for this project came from many sources, including these two.

The Painting.

This painting project was a lot simpler than the Ikea bar/dining table because it did not have as many nooks and crannies. The exact Hemnes dresser that I have isn't the same as it was when originally purchased, but it basically is the same idea. It took less than ten steps and about two days with lots of downtime in between.

Cleaning:  There wasn’t a finish on this dresser.  I simply used the frugal alcohol water mix spray we use to clean everything.  When the drawers were removed, there was a beautiful layer of dust collected in the back that was cleaned off, ewww. 

Prepping: To make the painting process easier, I took out all the drawer sliders on the inside.  Two screws each with the electric screw driver is all it took.   Taping off some of the areas could have been done, especially on the drawers themselves, but the way the lines were on the dresser, it wasn’t necessary.  I was able to paint without getting paint on the side drawer areas because they were not flush with the face of the drawers. The inside wasn’t completely painted, but one can only see that if you take out all the drawers and investigate.

Primer coat:  I used a foam brush and small foam roller for the two to three coats of tinted primer.  Our local home improvement store paint department chose the primer especially for the job I was doing.  They tinted the primer as dark as they could get it, which was a dark gray color.  I know in the past I have been able to get my primer tinted black, but at this store they said they couldn’t do it.  

Top coat: Black glossy paint.  It took about three coats with the foam roller and small foam brushes.  Give yourself some time between the coat to let dry and really pay attention to any drip marks.  They really show up when it is a glossy paint.  I painted outside on a warm sunny day so it didn’t take much time to dry in between coats.

Wait:  After all the painting was done, I waited a few days before I put the dresser back together (sliders) and put on all the decorative ornaments.  It felt a bit tacky after day one so I just let it sit until there was time to put it all back together.

Decorate: You will need to play around with how and what you want to decorate the dresser, or even at all.  There have been a ton of ideas where people are decorating the outside with grommets, etc.  I had seen an idea with metal L-brackets, which I took and ran with it.  The L-brackets are very inexpensive (pack of 4 was under $2 at Walmart) and easy to attach to the outside.  I also attached new handle hardware.

Ikea dresser hack money saving hints.

Hint 1: To ensure the L-brackets line up perfectly, use another L-bracket to be the measuring tool.  Simply line them up with the outside edge and screw the inside L-bracket in place.  See below.

Hint 2:  Play around with different styles of decorations.  The brackets also come in simple flat plates or t-brackets that you can also use to attach any way you choose.  It all depends on the layout of the dresser and your particular style.

Hint 3: Hardware handles can be expensive.  I was lazy and didn’t want to fill in the existing holes on the drawers to put in double handle holes.  Through some research at our local store, I had found single hole handles that resembled the style I was going for.  They were about $7 each at the local home improvement store.  That was a bit more expensive than I wanted to spend especially since this dresser had seven drawers.  Jeff came to the rescue and found the exact same brand on ebay for less than $1 each.  SCORE!  Lesson learned, do some research prior to purchasing.

T-handles from eBay - $1 each!

Overall, my impulsive move last Saturday morning paid off.  The dresser looks so much better in the room with its new finish and decorative metal touches.  The best part was that it looks like a whole new dresser with the materials cost of just under $20. One wouldn't think that I disliked painting by the amount of things I've repainted recently, but I still loathe painting!  It is like running or working out to me, I enjoy it, but only when it is all over and done.

The results.

Remember this DIY personalized acrylic serving tray?

Do you have anything you have been wanting to give a facelift?  Just do it.

<3 mk

Updating the Ikea Norden Bar/Dining Table

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Dining room with updated bar table

I feel like every time I read a blog or see a pinterest post, people are painting their furniture all sorts of bold colors.  I love seeing the transformation from a sad looking piece of furniture to something new and exciting.  I like to view these projects from afar, but when it comes to my house, when we redo furniture, it usually isn’t as colorful.  I like to think we are are just consistent with our color choices, black, white, gray, and a splash of color.

Before

When we moved into the new house, we realized a good amount of our furniture needed a facelift.  The bar table in our dining room needed some help.  I had purchased that bar table when I moved into my apartment in 2003.  It has been with me from my moves in NJ, VA, and now to NC.  It’s an IKEA original that is still being sold in stores to this day (sans wheels) for probably the same price I purchased it about ten years ago.

  

Our dining room table is wood as well as our floors.  The bar table just wasn’t working for us, so I went with a tried and true color, black, glossy black.  Honestly, it made a huge difference. 

The process was easy and only took a day. First, I sanded it down to make sure there weren't any areas that weren’t perfectly smooth.  Then I cleaned it off to make sure what was sanded wouldn’t get in the paint.  I taped off the drawers and primed the whole piece with two coats of a tinted primer.  I used a foam roller, but also had to use a foam brush for the smaller nooks and crannies.   There were a lot of those tight areas which ended in more drip areas than I like to admit.  After allowing that to dry fully, I hand sanded down the drip marks and imperfections, which made a huge difference when applying the glossy black.  It took about two solid coats and the piece was done.

Primed

I had grand plans to replace the wheels on the one side, but in the end I just painted them.  Normally I would be against that, but honestly they turned out great.  We wont really wheel the cart around so there wont be any wear on the paint.

I taped the drawers so that the paint wouldn’t scrape off the side.  The drawers aren’t on a rail system so painting them totally would  lead to scraping and ugliness.  I rarely use them anyway so it worked out perfectly.

Painted

A few hours and just a little effort and I had a whole new piece.  It works much better in the dining room.  We use it mostly for storage of our alcoholic beverages, but it looks nice holding our drinks.

So now that I have a whole gallon of tinted primer and glossy black paint, I think I will need to paint a few more things in the house.  I have been jonesing to paint a wooden dresser like this for many years, it might just happen this weekend.

Are you painting anything besides walls this weekend?

<3 mk