The Not so Fateful Vanity

Earlier this summer, my good friend Shadazzle and I were out hitting the garage sales in search of sweet junk. We happened upon one particular sale, where she a noticed a child's vanity for sale at a seemingly great deal. I completely overlooked the item in search of the "junkier junk," but she insisted that I come and look at it. After a few minutes of deliberating, we decided this was to be our next purchase! The price was a little steep ($15... I'm cheap, I know), but we figured with a coat of paint and some new fabric this puppy would be good as new! 

{ugly, right!?}

WRONG! SO WRONG! Little did I know I was about to endure a summer of TORTURE from this thing!! It all started off with a hunch that the vanity was not real wood. You know, when you're lookin' at a piece and you just think that wood grain is a little too good to be true. Trust your gut because you're always right. I get this thing home, disassemble it, and get ready to sand away only to find out I was right. It was particle board underneath a very thin layer of wood. 

{"tricked you, I'm not real wood!"}

On to plan B. I used my paint remover to coat the entire vanity to remove the clear coat. Good thing I had an audiobook to listen to because this took FOREVER!! We're talking days on days of paint removing! If you've never used paint remover before, it is basically a nightmare in a bottle. You have to wear super thick chemical resistant gloves to avoid getting burns to your flesh (no t-shirts also... learned that the hard way). You have to scrub and scrub multiple layers of varnish off to end up with this messy disaster that turns into old varnish dust. THEN you have to clean that away with more paint remover. I'll stop there and just tell you it's not fun. I will say that it did exactly what it was supposed to do... remove paint/varnish!

After the whole thing was de-glossed, it was ready for some primer. I have a specific brand of primer that I have always used... in spray form. Since it was stormy, I had to prime this puppy in my basement (not advised unless you have great ventilation!!!). I busted out my quart of primer only to discover that it was my arch nemesis... oil based paint. Again, if you are not familiar with oil based paint, imagine trying to paint with molasses. I imagine it would be about the same. SO hard to spread and leaves so many brush strokes!! UGH! 

I powered through that to find TONS of relief in my new paint sprayer. This was the first time I had used this little fellow and he was such a joy! The paint sprayed on evenly and looked great, even over the messy primer.

{don't you just LOVE the name!?}

I spray painted the bench and covered it with fabric. Then I used the lace painting technique on the top of the vanity. Easy peezy. Lay down the lace, spray paint, let dry, remove. EASY!

The next problem I encountered was that the lace and the fabric that I had picked out did not match at all. So off I went to the fabric store where I spent an hour trying to find the right shade of turquoise. When I got home with my new fabric, the cut I had got for the bench was too small. After MUCH improvisation, I used the leftover lace from painting the top of the vanity to cover the stool. Then I was done!!!!!!

Never have I endured so many headaches from one piece of furniture! Here are some "take aways" from this experience:

1. Don't buy furniture to paint unless A) you are absolutely sure it is real wood OR B) you are such a rebel that you are ready to take on that challenge.

2. Paint remover on your arm is a very unpleasant feeling.

3. Oil based primer is not your best friend.

4. Make sure your paints and fabrics match before you start a project!

{even after ALL of THAT, I think it looks pretty good!} 

Phew! This thing is done and I am SO glad! On to the next step... selling it!