First Gig!

About a week ago, I sent an e-mail to my co-workers telling them about the work I do with furniture. I got a great response, including one from C.S. who wanted me to refinish a nightstand / end table. She had purchased it from a furniture market and over time its most recent paint job had peeled off. She was hoping I could give it a new paint job and a bit of a face lift.

As you can see, [you may want to click on this and the following images for a closer look] it was missing a lot of paint, but it was a really cute vintage piece. C.S. still wanted it to look distressed, just not so distressing. I love the look of grey painted furniture and contrasting door and drawers and when C.S. showed me the paint color she had picked out for the room, I knew my color scheme would be a perfect fit. 


Distressing is not something I have much experience with, so I really put some thought into which methods I wanted to use. I decided to leave much of the old finish in place to add texture and depth to the surfaces. I sanded everything just enough to remove rough edges and loose paint. I removed all of the hardware (which had been painted over at least twice) then I used a high-gloss paint on the doors and drawer to highlight the textural variations. I sanded the old paint off the hardware and gave it a spritz of metallic spray paint before reattaching everything. For the frame of the nightstand, I gave it a light coat of fresh white paint, then added a thicker layer of gray which I sanded a bit so the white and some of the original finish and wood could peek through. I think it turned our very nicely! (So did C.S.)

Aside: I have to tell this story because it's just too cute. When I picked up the furniture from C.S. she introduced me to her toddler daughter saying, "This is Katie. Remember how we talked about her coming to paint that table?" Her daughter was silent the whole time I was there, but watched me closely with big eyes. When I left I got a text from C.S. saying that her daughter asked if I was Katy Perry! (She knew her from Sesame Street.) Adorable right? Even better, when I delivered the finished piece and was introduced to C.S.'s husband, he smiled and said , "Oh! Katy Perry!"