New and Improved Armoire

Hey there friends! If you’ve been around for any time at all, you know that I love the amazing power of paint. The walls in our home are probably at least 1/2 inch thicker than when we moved in, simply from all the layers of paint. Ha! But, walls are not the only thing that can be transformed with paint and a few hours. There are many pieces of furniture in our home that has fallen victim to my paint brush! The latest victim? This piece that used to live in my daughter’s room.

I always felt there was too much furniture in her room, but she used it all, so there it stayed. Now that she is away at college 9 months out of the year, there is simply no reason for all of it to stay. So, I decided to relocate the armoire. (and honestly, over labor day weekend – as seen on Instagram – it all came out except for the bed)

Since redoing our master closet, we didn’t really have need of the large dresser in our room. And, I kind of like the idea of maybe being able to put the TV inside. On that, the armoire moved to the garage to prepare for it’s transformation.

I never really like the color. I had intended to paint it since it was first given to us, but I never found time, and my daughter didn’t mind. But, I knew that now would be the perfect time to give it a makeover. While at the Haven conference, Deco Art gave all of us our choice of two jars of paint to take home for a project. The rep was so sweet and let me have an extra jar to make sure I had enough for my project and I’m so glad she did, because it took all of the two and a little over half of the third! I considered not painting the inside but then I decided it would look better painted, especially with the TV in there.

This paint is awesome folks. No need to sand – it sticks right to whatever. It did take two coats and there were still some places where the old finish shows through (probably because I did a lot of painting in the dark), but I was going for a rough look so I didn’t mind.

When I was finished painting, I contemplated how to seal it. I thought about wax, but it’s a big piece, and it takes me forever to wax. I had some satin polyurethane on hand so I gave that a try on top where no one would see if I decided I didn’t like it. But, I LOVED it. It really brought the navy to life.

I distressed the edges a bit and then gave everything a coat of poly. Beautiful.

I also changed out the closures. It had these that tend to stick and be really hard to open. For $4 and a couple of minutes, we now have these awesome magnetic closures instead.

The hardware I found at Hobby Lobby. I don’t always buy hardware there because it can be a little pricey, but with a 50% off sale and considering I hadn’t spent any other money on this piece it wasn’t bad ($25).

 

It looks awesome in it’s new home, don’t ya think?

I love that even with the doors open, the TV just seems to disappear. I’m looking for some sort of storage baskets for below to hold movies and such.

 

It’s nice to have a couple of extra drawers for off-season things and extra bedding too!

And a side-by-side before and after because who doesn’t love those??

Such a pretty piece now! So, my challenge for you is – don’t give up on an old piece of furniture. A little bit of paint and a few hours of work and you too could have a brand new piece!

Linking up with TDC Before and After / Work It Wednesday / Create It Thursday / The Creative Circle / The Inspiration Gallery / Totally Terrific Tuesday / Inspire Me Monday