“V” is for Vanity

Hey ya’ll and welcome back for this Friday’s post.

I admit I was the “mad woman” in my search for similar furniture I had seen others transform into beauties. I found a vanity that was several miles away and decided that there is only one way I was going to get started…drive there and look at it. Now, in my “mad woman” craze the fact that I have absolutely NO way to transport ANYTHING I purchase never crosses my mind until…well…the vanity was bought. I was so happy and couldn’t wait to get started.

Kelli told me that ASCP was the best paint and that I only needed to use it and I agreed 100%.  I still needed to do things the hard way. I was determined to make my own chalk paint. Yea, I know, I’ll say it for you I am stubborn. I did research the DIY version of chalk paint and decided to use plaster of paris instead of the gritty grout. I first painted an old bedside table that was mine from my teenage years and I have to say I was not impressed. The brush strokes didn’t level out, it didn’t sand as easily as ASCP and to distress it you almost had to use an electric sander. Instead of the paint being soft and easy to sand it was as if the plaster of paris made it rock hard not to mention that it was in a plastic-based latex paint. I guess I’m glad that I tried it otherwise every time I paid the $38 + shipping I would have questioned my sanity.

Here is the picture I took of it as I was purchasing it. Sorry, I’m learning that I need better pics. LOL

I love the look of staining the top as it allows the beauty of the wood to shine and then painting the rest.  As much as I love the beauty of the wood I equally hate the stripping process.  I’ve tried the nontoxic Citristrip but I am just too impatient and I just  want to get this part of it over as quickly as possible, so I use regular stripping solution. Here is a pic of the stripping process.

I stained the top in Dark Walnut and applied three coats of AS clear wax. I then painted the vanity and the mirror. I distressed it a little and added the first coat of clear wax. I had no idea if I was applying enough or not but I knew I wanted to apply the dark wax as well. The instructions were that the clear wax had to be applied first to prevent the staining of the paint. I was so nervous about applying the dark wax, it looked and smelled like my dad’s shoe polish.  Well here goes nothing…the first stroke of the wax brush and it was a done deal, no going back. Believe me when I say you do not want to over work this wax because it will begin to take itself off the surface.  But overall, I love the warm look from the dark wax. Here it is all finished and beautiful.

I don’t like to send my furniture to their new homes with an unfinished look. I researched those that painted the drawers and those that left them unpainted. I prefer the finished, clean look of paint. Here is the surprise when the drawer is opened.

The inside has one coat of a flat latex paint colored to match Duck Egg Blue.

Well, that’s it for this week; be sure and check out Kelli’s blog.  Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to say “Hey ya’ll”.

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