Shabby to Chic

Well, I have bragged about my cousin, Katie, many times, and this post is yet another way to show off her work. Katie turned an old shabby buffet into a modern and chic piece of furniture. I am l-o-v-i-n-g the transformation. Below is a post written by her, to give all of you DIYers the ‘how to’ and hopefully inspire your own projects!

              xoxo, 
                             Rachele

This buffet piece has truly been a joy to re-create! The feeling of up-cycling something to fit your current style is amazing. If you asked me two years ago to make-over this horrible looking piece of furniture, I would have refused! Now, through the inspiration of other DIYers (shout out to my cousin Rachele), I have found my calling. I LOVE to DIY and focus on my home and décor.

I inherited the buffet from my grandparents because no one else wanted it and I am embarrassed to say that it sat in my house for YEARS in its horrid original state. I had no idea what to do with it or where to start. My first step was to cruise the internet for inspiration. I wound up finding a site, Orphans with Make up, and more specifically, her 'Farmhouse Look Store Counter', check it out HERE, it is awesome. I LOVED the look, so I decided to DIY it on my own buffet!

I started by sanding the top and the feet all the way down to their original wood. I had to sand passed the old stain- ick! It took awhile. I spent an entire afternoon sanding, wiping it down, and then applying Rustoleum's Dark Walnut Stain MULTIPLE times. I kept applying stain, over and over, (and wiping it off after 5-10 min in-between coats) until I was satisfied with how dark it was.

My next step was priming and painting the drawers and middle section of the buffet. I taped off my stained edges so I had nice clean paint lines. Detail is important to me- I think it can make or break the piece. Then I started applying the water based primer. This is where my first problem arose…the stain was seeping through and turning the primer pink! At that point I was not a skilled enough painter and had no idea why it was happening. Panic set in, so I called the nearest paint store. I was told I needed an oil based primer to block the old reddish stain from seeping through the water based primer. And what do you know? It worked like a charm! From then on it was smooth sailing. Two coats of a white water based latex paint in a satin finish and I was good to go! I wanted to seal the stain and paint really well (to tolerate the wear and tear of my boy’s sticky little fingers), so I did a good coat of semi-gloss polyurethane over the paint and three good coats on the stained top. Now the stain looks beautiful and the pretty white paint has extra protection!

Lastly, I added the amazing new hardware, which I think REALLY makes the project POP! I could not be happier with the way it turned out! I hope my story helped all of you DIYers, have a wonderful week!!

Katie