One of my favorite things ever is to pick up old pieces of furniture from thrift stores or salvage places and fix them up. I love it. If I could, I would do it all the time. Unfortunately, I would probably run out of space real fast. There's something so satisfying about taking an ugly piece of furniture and completely turning it around.
This summer, I decided that I needed some storage in my bedroom. Since I moved back to my parents' house, I now have like double the stuff. The stuff that I accumulated while living in Savannah PLUS all the stuff that had been sitting in my room. So, I needed some serious storage.
So, the search began. I looked at antique places. I looked at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. I went to the Brimfield Antiques Show (stuff was way overpriced if you ask me. But I did get a really cool old-fashioned picnic basket for half price! I'm not sure what to do with it yet, but it's cute!) Finally, after what felt like eons of searching, I found the piece at a second-hand furniture place in Holbrook. It wasn't pretty, as you can see. The hardware had to go. It was actually already falling off. And I wasn't crazy about the wood tone. But, the amount of storage was perfect. And it was a really solid piece. Dovetail joints, solid wood back, drawers slid without protest, and the cabinets opened nicely. Check, check, check and check!
So, I trucked back home and got to work! I hit up True Value for some paint and scored with a reject can of paint for $4. I was looking for a really dark charcoal and when I showed the paint sample to the paint lady. she told me that someone had returned a can of paint that was similar to the paint sample I had picked out. Bingo! $4 for a can of paint? Yes, please! I believe the color was California Paint's Dark Engine in a matte finish. PLUS, this paint was a paint AND primer in one. YES. Score.
I have to say, I love the look of the matte finish, however, it scratches really easily. If you decide to use a matte finish on a piece of furniture, use it on something that won't see a ton of use. So far, the scratches on this piece of furniture aren't too bad. I can deal with it because I just love the matte finish so much.
I decided to only paint the exterior because a) I'm lazy, and b) I really like the contrast of the warm wood tone with the painted black. Why not save yourself some work? The interior was in really good shape and only needed to be wiped down and vacuumed (there were a few spiders that decided this buffet would make an excellent home). So I figured, why not leave it as is?
And, as you saw, this piece seriously needed some new hardware. Anthropologie to the rescue! I absolutely adore their knobs and hardware and have been dying to use them somehow for years. I knew straight away that I was definitely using some Anthropologie knobs for the doors, but I wasn't sure what I was going to do about the upper drawers. I looked at Home Depot for handles since I really didn't feel like filling in the holes and drilling new ones. But nothing really spoke to me at Home Depot. Plus, the distance between the existing holes in the drawers was weird. None of the standard handle sizes fit. And the handles in the weird middle part there were smaller than the other two. Enter wood filler, sandpaper, a drill, and some more paint.
Then came the new knobs. The upper drawers have the white ceramic melon knobs and the lower cabinet doors have the caricature knob. Omigosh, how I love these knobs. I love, love, love the hand-painted detail on the caricature knob. So pretty! And, while we're talking about Anthropologie knobs, I'm itching to use these gorgeous knobs on some future project. Or these.
Check out all that storage.
And please ignore all the dust on my floor.
Thanks.
Voila. The perfect piece for storage!
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