But really, is it that much of a stretch? Nope.
This piece came from my grandparents’ house. Love their hand-me-downs. I did have some hesitation about painting this piece, rather than refinishing it. I lived with it for a little while and it grew on me slightly. But then I came to terms with how damaged it was.
There were a couple of larger areas where the veneer was chipped and like a thousand tiny dings and scratches. I wasn’t going to ever be able to fix the veneer appropriately. And even if I could, I’m not sure it would be worth my time for a lone nightstand. Priorities, people.
I filled all the areas missing veneer with wood filler then sanded smooth. I did that about three or four times to each area to make sure the spots were filled adequately. I usually don’t have enough patience for multiple coats of wood fill, but for some reason I wanted to do this properly.
I picked out a cool red paint with hints of pink: Red Licorice by Olympic in a semi-gloss finish. It’s much like the red in my “I like you” paintings.
I went against the advice of the paint mixing person and used a plain white primer (rather than a tinted primer), mainly because I didn’t want to buy another product when I had plenty of white primer at home. But I ended up paying for it in another way. After a coat of primer and five coats of red, I surrendered. Honestly, I think it could have done with a couple more, but five was good enough for me.
I’m happy to say that the drawer is actually empty right now. Always nice to have untapped storage for future toys.
I like the shape of this cabinet. Older pieces are hard to beat. I know your struggle with painting it. I have a solid mahogany bookcase that is badly damaged. Its in our livingroo untouched because I would feel guilty to “ruin” it. I’m not really into wood or shabby chic stuff anyway. Maybe Ill get the courage!
Yours looks great red! any regrets?
I like the shape of it too. I’m not into natural wood finishes either, really. I think my parents had too much of it in the house when I was younger!
No regrets about this piece so far. Honestly, I think any painted pieces could be stripped. I know it’s a lot of work, but it’s not totally irreversible.
I say go for it with your bookcase! Just do the proper prep work and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
You know, I was thinking about tinted primer. Do you think if you poured a little of the paint in the primer it could do the job of tinted primer? I like to keep it cheap and use what I have. You ever tried it?
I’ve never tried that or any other ways to tint primer myself. I think you would probably have to add quite a bit of darker paint to make a white primer any darker. I haven’t looked if tinted primer is available off the shelf or if you have to get it mixed.
I really should have used a gray primer for this piece. I like to use what I’ve got too, but I think I would spring for the tinted primer if I were to do it all over again.