Antique buffet revamp

Holy toledo! I'm finally posting an actual project! Is it weird that I'm looking forward to those boring winter weekends because we've been waaaay too busy this summer?! I better not get too anxious because we still have an entire season of tailgating to get through, not to mention all the holidays! Although fall is truly my favorite time of year... harvest, Halloween, Thanksgiving, beautiful decor, crisp weather, boots and scarves, colorful trees, tailgating, pumpkin spiced lattes... sigh.

Okay, onto today's project! Remember how I said we helped move stuff out of a neat old home in this post? Well, the following antique buffet was one of the many items we were able to take for FREE!

beautiful / traditional detailing

The wood grain is gorgeous. I was going to strip it down and restain it, but I didn't have the time and energy. Had this been a winter project, I might have gone that route. I decided to paint, distress, and glaze it instead which only took me two evenings and a couple hours total. I had all the products on hand so this project didn't cost me anything! If you were to buy the products and find a good deal on a piece of furniture, you should be able to do this for less than $75.

Here are the products I used: hand sander, TSP, BIN primer, and Valspar Belle Grove Sorbet sample paint.

I also used Rust-Oleum's Java Brown Decorative Glaze which isn't in the picture above.

The first thing I did was take off the handles.

I lightly sanded the entire piece with 180 grit sandpaper. You'll want to use a courser sandpaper if you're trying to remove the finish or buff out scratches. I wanted to leave the imperfections for a well-worn look.

Some pretty deep scuffs!

I decided to do a coat of primer since I only had a small 8 oz. container of paint. Since I put on the primer I probably could have skipped the sanding step. Oh well.

Use a foam brush that you can throw away because this primer will not wash off your brush.

I let the primer dry for 45 minutes and then applied my first coat of paint - Valspar Belle Grove Sorbet. It looks much greener/bluer in the container so I was surprised at how white it turned out once painted on.

If you subscribe to Good Housekeeping or other home magazines, there are sometimes coupons for FREE Valspar samples which is how I got this one.

I used a 1 inch trim brush to go around the key hardware.

After one coat

I was able to apply three coats which used up my entire 8 oz. container. 

I then took my hand sander and distressed all the corners and anywhere there was an edge/detailing.

This handle was nailed on so I painted around it instead of taking it off.

Distressing really makes all the beautiful details of the piece pop. I think it looks so much "richer". 

Now it's time for the glaze. I simply brushed it on and wiped it off with an old t-shirt. You can let the glaze sit for a couple minutes or wipe it right away. You really can't go wrong. It's pretty forgiving.

Can you see the difference between the top which is glazed and the bottom which isn't? The glaze really gives it that old world look.

This post wouldn't be complete without the traditional "Simba in my way" picture.

The buffet's original protective coat was cracked and I'm so glad I didn't sand it down because look how awesome the natural crackling looks below!! People buy special products to get that effect (here's a project where I used Valspar Crackle) so I'm lucky it just turned out that way.

Drumroll please.......

Here's the final product:

The runner is from my mom's side and is pretty old. It works perfectly with this buffet.

The buffet is on wheels which is nice.

I'm loving those old books!

The original handles really make the piece.

It's actually at my mom's place because I didn't have anywhere for it right now. Guess that's what happens when I'm constantly picking up treasures (aka junk as my family calls it)!

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