Reinvention

Not all upcycled furniture starts out as a hot mess.  These nightstands are the perfect example.  They are traditional in design and finish, with modern hardware.  The client was moving to a new home and wanted to update the look.  The nightstands were solid and in excellent condition–they just didn’t fit the new decor.  

The client envisioned a brown/gray finish with a charcoal gray drawer and “cool” hardware.  Easy enough, right?  Any of you who are familiar with refinishing furniture know the challenge of removing a red-based stain.  It has this magical power of bleeding through just about any color besides black.  Therefore it was extremely important that I remove every trace of stain before refinishing.  As I mentioned, these are quality nightstands.  They had a thick layer of lacquer over the red stain.  I decided to start with Citristrip.  Citristrip is a citrus-based stripper that actually has a pleasant scent.   I applied a thick layer to the entire nightstand and let it sit for 24 hours.  I was delighted to find that the lacquer came off in paper-like sheets.  YAY!!!

Next to tackle the stain.  This was a big job, as I had to sand all of the stain from every square inch.  When I completed that task, it was time to get to work on the facelift.  I applied a custom blend stain from Sherwin Williams that hit the perfect note of gray/brown.  I was thrilled with the finish.  I painted the drawer in Waverly Chalk paint in Elephant.  Finally, I scored these GORGEOUS drawer pulls that completed the look.  As I had painted the drawer, I was able to fill the existing hole from the single screw knob and attach the pulls by drilling new holes.  

This project is the perfect example of how furniture can be transformed into a COMPLETELY different look.  Now it fits seamlessly into the client’s new home.

Hold my wine, I’ve got this…

Amy

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