DIY China Hutch Turned Sewing Cabinet

I think I have a new hobby.

I found this semi-old china cabinet at an estate sale for cheap.

And, I got to thinking...I need a place to put all my sewing stuff.  It was beginning to take over one of the guest room closets - hard to keep organized and hard to get to.  So, where to put it, where to put it?  Aha!  I have a niche in the room we sort of use as an office that this would be perfect for.  So, I brought it home and organized all my sewing stuff in it and it worked out great.

But, I was itching for another project (even though, ahem, Chester Field is still in the barn awaiting attention and I'm ashamed) and I couldn't just leave this alone.

Extra can of chalk paint in the closet, meet sewing hutch.

All white.  I'm thinking...not enough bling.

And, I do so love to paint birds.

And, one here on this side.

Another one here. 

One on the door

One on the drawer.

On another drawer.

Just one more on the other door for good measure.

All done.

Ye Olde Singer gets a place of honor.

I figured, why hide that little work of art in it's box when I have room to put it on display?

A word about chalk paint.

I used Annie Sloan.  I've used it before and I like how it looks.  But, eh, I think I'm over it.  I've seen lots of websites, videos, blog posts, etc. that claim that a can (a very expensive can) of AS chalk paint will do, like, five pieces of good sized furniture.  I have not found that to be the case.  I thought, for sure, that I'd be able to easily do this project with one can of paint with some to spare for another project.  But no, I had to drive an hour away to find a "stockist" (that's what they call their distributors) and pay the big bucks for another can, which I used about half of.

I asked the stockist about it and she told me I needed an Annie Sloan brush and that will make the paint go further.  Uh.  Not buying that one or the bridge they also wanted to sell.

Then, there's the waxing.  Man, what a pain.  It's fine if it's a small piece of furniture with only flat surfaces.  But, I'm exhausted from applying the wax.  My plan was to put a dark wax over the clear wax, sort of as a glaze.  But, I barely made it through the first coat of clear.  I'll still probably get around to doing the dark wax, but I've gotta rest a while first.

And, a word about Blogger.  They've changed some things and I must apologize for my pictures appearing blurry.  They are not blurry until I put them on Blogger.  My videos also don't work, so there's that.

Dresser Redo

I have a couple of pieces of furniture that I needed to redo and while searching for various ways of refinishing, I came across a tutorial on using chalk paint.  Since we live near the flea market, which is a DIYer's paradise, I was well acquainted with antique furniture painted with chalk paint and I love the look.  But, I didn't have any idea about how it was done.  I imagined that it was the same ol' process of stripping and sanding like anything else.

When I read the tutorial, I was very pleasantly surprised to see that just about any surface can be painted with chalk paint without having to be stripped.  That was the deciding factor for me.  I found a local "stockist" for Annie Sloan chalk paint and went to buy my supplies, which included the chalk paint in Pure White, wax, and a wax brush applicator, right away.

Here's the first piece of furniture I wanted to get done.

I decided to set up in the house since I wasn't going to have to use stripping chemicals and I preferred to do this in the comfort of my home instead of out in the barn.  I laid plastic down to protect the rug.  Then I washed the whole dresser down with TSP (trisodium phosphate).  Boy, was it dirty!  

I'm not going to do a tutorial because there are plenty of those on Pinterest, but I do have one important tip.  The Annie Sloan website says that some pieces of furniture from the 1930-40's era have a finish that may bleed through the chalk paint and if this happens, to just paint it with a coat of shellac, let it dry (it takes just a few minutes), then paint over it and that should stop the bleed through.  Well, being me with my attitude of "it won't happen to me" and "hurry up and get to the final reveal", I ignored that warning.  If you never listen to a word I say, at least listen to this...if you're going to paint a piece from that era, go ahead and paint on the shellac.  Just do it.

Here's a picture of the top with two coats of paint.  The original finish was still bleeding through.

 

So...thankfully, I had bought some shellac for another project I thought I might do.  I put a quick coat on over the paint.  When it dried, I put another coat of paint over it.  For the top, I did a light sanding and put yet another coat of paint just for good measure.

After painting, I applied two coats of the Annie Sloan wax and did a light buffing.

The wax gives it a nice glow.  I think if I used my electric buffer, I could have gotten it a little glossier.

I lined the drawers for a little pizazz. 

All done.  I finished this dresser in four days with lots of breaks in between.  If you have the uninterrupted time available, this could probably be done in one or two days.

This was a seriously easy project with instant gratification....right up  my alley.  I just might be chalk painting everything in sight.