Remember this giant furniture haul I found on Craigslist back in March?
Well, this great Duncan Phyfe style vanity was one of the pieces I purchased. It was in pretty bad shape, lots of chipping and missed veneer and a really roughed up top. But, I love that style and knew with a little TLC it could be beautiful again.
The front legs were in particularly bad shape, so I started with removing the remaining veneer on those spots.
Most of it popped off easily, and a little sanding with the orbital took care of the few wood shards that were still glued down.
This is one of the front legs with all the veneer removed, and you can see that someone before me had taken off some of it already and just painted the wood underneath brown to match the veneer stain. Kind of a crummy fix if you ask me.
The piece also came with an attached mirror, and my first plan was to paint the whole thing in MMS Milk Paint Dried Lavender. The more I thought about it though, the more I thought all that purple might be a little too much.
Also, when I started looking at the top more closely I saw it was one beautiful, solid piece of wood–it needed to be given another chance! So I decided to get rid of the mirror and sand down the top to be re-stained; the base I would paint with the Dried Lavender.
I didn’t want the milk paint to chip much, so I gave the whole piece a quick sanding with the orbital sander (I’m too cheap to buy the bonding agent, I find a quick sanding works just as well).
The top ended up sanding down so quickly and was smooth as silk. It refinished beautifully with two coats of Minwax Classic American. There were a few spots of bleed through on the base, but they were so small that I chose to let them just add to the imperfection of the piece rather than try to fix them.
The original drawers fronts had a border of inlaid wood, so I decided to repeat that effect with a wash of chalk paint white. A frog tape border on the drawers did the trick. I went ahead and waxed the drawer fronts before putting on the frog tape so it wouldn’t pull off any of the milk paint.
Once the white was dry, the base got a very light sanding along the edges and a coat of wax. I also wiped two coats of an oil based poly onto the stained top to provide a durable, sealed surface.
Here is the final product.
The milk paint did not chip at all, which I was happy with. The streaky, inconsistent finish of the paint though provides a ton of depth and character on it’s own.
The frog tape worked perfectly, making a crisp, clean border of washed white.
I’m so glad I decided to refinish the top. It is gorgeous now.
This piece will head up to my booth space sometime soon. I hope you like it! **update 5-18, the vanity sold after 2 days in my space to a local friend who will use it in her daughter’s room, time for another project!**
Linking up to:
What We Accomplished Wednesday, Wow us Wednesdays, Be Inspired, History & Home,
What Have you Redone Friday?, Feathered Nest Friday, Fridays Unfolded, FFF,
Natasha in Oz, Silver Pennies Sundays, DIY Sunday Showcase,
Metamorphosis Monday, Mod Mix Monday, Milk Paint Masterpiece Monday,
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, Knick of Time Tuesdays, The Scoop, BEST of DIY Party
This is gorgeous. .would never have thought lavender but it more than works.
Thank you Barbara! Purple on furniture does seem kind of strange, but it did work well! I think you have to save it for just the right pieces.
Truly stunning piece, Melanie. Its bones are really lovely, but I didn’t notice that until after your wonderful paint/stain job! Excellent call on leaving the top unpainted. Nice work–you should be very proud.
Thank you Diana 🙂 I’m so glad you like it, and yes, I am glad I decided to re-stain the top. It really is a beautiful piece of wood. Thanks for coming by!
How incredibly beautiful ! I too would have never thought of using lavendar, but it is just the right thing for this piece. Great job Melanie. Can you please be a little more specific about what you used on the top ? I assume the “Minwax Classic American” is just a stain ? or is it combined with a finish ? What did you use after the stain ? thanks
Hi Karen! Yes, thanks for asking about the top. The Minwax Classic American is a basic Minwax stain (Classic American is the color), and I used two coats of stain. Then I wiped with an old t-shirt on two coats of Minwax Oil Based Fast Drying Poly. I haven’t been using poly for awhile now, but I read a tip about wiping it on with a tshirt rather than using a brush, and it leaves the finish much smoother and gets rid of those little air bubbles I used to get when brushing the poly on. Hopes that answers your question 🙂
Yes it does. THank YOU ! I have used the minwax stain and poly in a product together and it gave me fits ! It was such a bad experience that I considered just throwing out the entire project. I finally sanded it all off and just painted the top of the piece in an iron oxide brown color and moved on….Thanks again for sharing.
Yes, I have tried the stain and poly together once and it was terrible. Wiping on the poly with a rag by far has worked the best for me so far.
I have also been very curious about using an oil over a finished stained top…..like hemp oil. Have you tried this yet or any other oil ?
I haven’t tried Hemp oil Karen, but would like to. I did just restore a wooden cradle (see post here) using a 3:1 mixture of mineral oil and white vinegar, and it did great! So I’m wondering if that would work the same as hemp oil on a stained top. It’s cheaper, and you can make it at home 🙂
Simply beautiful! I love the added detail of the whitewash edge on the drawers…must try that some time on flat drawer fronts. It gives it that extra punch. Great job!
Thank you Cora. Yes, I think the white border makes it. I so appreciate you stopping by!
Love it! One of my favorite re-do’s. I however have not had as much success with MMSMP, not sure what I am doing wrong.
Karen
Thank you so much Karen! What kind of problems are you having with the milk paint? It definitely takes some getting used to. My first pieces were kind of tragic 🙂
Melanie, 1st I feel that we are neighbors (I live in Prosper) and when I’m in McK always think of you when I see a garage sale! Seems I notice a few lately in the downtown area neighborhoods. BUT let me also say, the desk is gorgeous. You did a marvelous job! You really have an eye for re-doing furniture! I have GOT to get to the your antique mall again when my husband is not in tow! LOL
Theresa we are neighbors 🙂 And yes, do come back sometime when hubby is out on his own errands! Thanks so much for your comments on the vanity. I’m so happy with how it turned out.
This is a desk and I like your finish.
Thank you Teddee!
I really enjoy your site! Just wanted to let you know you inspired my to open the can of ASCP I’ve had on my kitchen counter for weeks& I LOVE it!!! I have a question. Ya’ll always talk about cleaning or wiping down a piece before painting. What product do you use? Ant suggestion for musty-smelling drawers? Thanks again 🙂
Hi Paige! Thanks so much for your encouraging comment. I’m so glad you were inspired to give chalk paint a try! Watch out, you may get hooked 🙂 I usually clean off my pieces with just a water and a rag, so nothing fancy. For must drawers, try setting a bowl of vinegar inside them for 24 hours, or taking them out and setting them outside to air out. Sprinkling some baking soda to sit in them for a bit may help too. Have a great weekend!
You make this look so easy. i wish it were easy. Great job!
Haha Jen . . . It is relatively easy, but we all have our strengths, right? I always envy people who can sew. I have tried many, many, times and I am terrible at it. I guess I have to pick my battles 🙂
Headed over from Say G’Day, your desk is gorgeous. The makeover with the paint and hard work just brought out so much of the details and beauty of the piece.
Thank you Lori, and I so appreciate you heading over from Say G’Day 🙂
Gosh I love your work Melanie – another gorgeous makeover! Adding the white detail around the drawer fronts add that extra pizzaz to this piece.
Thank you so much Marie! I so appreciate your thoughtful comment. I think the white drawer detail worked really well too. It’s funny how such a small thing can make such a big difference!
What a beautiful transformation. 🙂 The milky blue makes the brown pop!
Thanks Yvonne!
What a lovely desk – very sophisticated!
Thanks Sharon 🙂 I was very happy with how it turned out.
Beautiful makeover! Love the color choice. Visiting from Metamorphosis Monday.
Thank you Jennifer! I so appreciate you stopping by.
great makeover it looks beautiful, i would love to feature it, if that would be ok please let me know,
lauren
Thank you Lauren, and I would love for you to feature it!
This is so pretty Melanie. I love the color! I will be featuring this at What We Accomplished Wednesday tomorrow evening. Have a great week!
Blessings, Deborah
Than you Deborah, and thank you for the feature! I so appreciate it 🙂
lovely piece and wonderful transformation. I have one question: did you apply only one coat of the lavender in order to achieve the streaky look or did you create it with sanding?
Thanks Annie! And in answer to your question, I painted on 2 coats of the Dried Lavender. The milk paint has that streaky effect on its own. It comes powdered and you mix it with water, so the pigments separate a little at times to make the color a little uneven. That’s why you have to keep mixing and mixing and mixing your milk paint as you go, or else you will end up with a different color by the end of your paint job (speaking from experience)!
This is so lovely. I love the details and how crisp it all looks. Thank you so much for sharing at Redouxinteriors!
Lovely transformation. I hope you don’t mind that I pinned it for inspiration….Stopping by from Redoux Interiors!
Robin
Hi Robin! I don’t mind at all! Thank you for pinning, I’m so glad you like how it turned out. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Beautiful desk, great job! I really like the final effect.
Fabulous! Love the white detail too! x