Can’t afford new? Revitalize!
By Never teh Bride
While thinking about rooms that don’t click yesterday, I was reminded of the fact that it’s easy to spruce up a room with a new piece of furniture but not always financially feasible to do so. Case in point: Moving into our new home meant spending a lot of time figuring out how we could use what we already have in new ways.
One way I’ve accomplished that involved refinishing furniture in various ways. A lot of people stay away from projects like that because they think that it will be difficult or complicated, when in fact that’s a completely erroneous assumption. How easy is it? Six steps worth of easy! All you need is an old dresser, black acrylic, Mod Podge Hard Coat, 400 and 150 grit sandpaper, toile print wallpaper, a sponge brush, a nylon brush, a craft knife, scissors, and a ruler.
1. Remove drawer pulls. Sand entire chest with 150 grit then 400 grit sand paper.
2. Basecoat entire chest Licorice using nylon brush.
3. Measure top and drawer fronts; cut a piece of wallpaper to size for each area.
4. Using sponge brush, apply Hardcoat Mod Podge to back of top wallpaper piece; position on chest then smooth out air bubbles. Repeat for drawer fronts. Let dry.
5. Apply a topcoat of Hardcoat Mod Podge over the entire chest (both painted and wallpapered areas). Let dry. Repeat with a second and third topcoat of Hardcoat Mod Podge, sanding between coats with 400 grit sand paper.
6. Using craft knife make a holes for drawer pulls then reinsert.
Ta da! You now have a “new” dresser, end table, or bed stand!
January 11th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Bravo!! I have two nightstands which are perfect candidates for this treatment.
January 11th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
One of the best purchases I made last year was a small handheld electric sander. It makes these jobs even easier! The “new” furniture for my son’s room cost less than $30. What a deal!
January 12th, 2008 at 1:38 am
If only I had a place to do such projects. Sadly I live in an apartment, and cannot muck up my small living space with paint fumes and dust from sanding. I look forward to the day when I have a garage and a back yard.
January 14th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I used to go up onto the roof of my building to sand wood, JaneC. When it came time to put on a coat of varnish, all the windows were opened…even in the frigid NYC wintertime!
January 15th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
I have a wonderful balcony, 15′ by 25′, but alas it is located in Vancouver, where it has been raining since 1992. I need instructions for building a canopy and THEN I can make things like this.
I’ve had twelve books of orchestral sheet music just waiting to be glued onto bookcases…since 1995.