Coffee Station Repurposed Buffet

I finished this coffee station last week, and took the pictures over the weekend. I wanted to show it to you on Monday, but Wednesdays are set aside for my Homeright projects. Finally! It’s Wednesday and I can share it with you.

 

Let’s see how this all came together. . .

You’re so lucky that when you read my blog posts that you can’t smell the awful projects. When I got this buffet from a neighbor last month, it was so smelly and moldy. Now, it’s looking great and smelling fine—after a LOT of work!

 

ugh! looking back on this, I wonder why I even grabbed it—oh yeah, it was in a dark shed.

Clean and sanitize mildew furniture

Don’t fall out of your chair when you see what I used to clean this little gal. Yep, I used bathroom cleaner to get rid of the mold that was attacking this piece inside AND out! It’s already smelling and looking so much better after one cleaning. I cleaned it again, and in some places a third time.

Sand finish off of coffee station top

After cleaning it up, and letting it air out in the sunshine off and on for a couple of weeks, I got busy on giving the old gal a new look. I decided to strip the top of the coffee station so I could refinish it.

 

Wow! Can you believe how nice it looks?

Citristrip works for small areas

For the edge of the top, I used Citristrip Paint and Varnish Stripper. (affiliate link) I ordered this off of Amazon months ago to keep on hand. This was the first time I’ve had an opportunity to try it out. I must say I was impressed with the ease of it. Granted—nothing works like it did 30 years ago before they made things safer for our mother earth.

I used a scrap piece of thin plywood to hold under the edge while using a plastic scraper to remove the old finish. I sort of used it as a dustpan to catch and scrape the yuck.

 

 

Here’s a snapshot of how nice the top of the coffee station looks. Notice the door and panels below. I see that they too have that inlay pattern on them.

 

 

In a moment – on a whim – I decided to strip all of the front pieces, including the drawer fronts, the middle door and the two side panels. See the rubber mallet? Yep, it was very handy for removing those panels on the left and right sides.

 

 

I used the sander to remove the finish off of all the flat portions, and the Citristrip to remove the finish on the trim parts.

Remove fabric from silverware drawer

I removed the drawer lining from both drawers. There was no saving this stuff. Too SMELLY!

 

Did you notice in the picture above that the top was missing off the buffet? I decided it would be so much easier to deal with by removing the top. There were only a few “L” brackets holding it on.

Paint in Large Spray Shelter

I was hoping that by removing the top it would be lighter in weight. Well, it did help, but it was still very, very  heavy. I used furniture dollies to move it around.

Now it’s time to give this coffee station a new look with help from my good friends at Homeright!

Use a Finish Max

Did you know you can use many paints in your Homeright Finish Max, including chalk and chalk type paint from Heirloom Traditions Paint.

I went with Rainy Day. I always paint the bottom of my furniture pieces. Back in the day I didn’t and it was really embarrassing when someone would load a piece in their car, and the underside was dirty and ugly.

 

After painting the bottom, I set it up on some scrap 2×2’s so that I could get a nice finish around the bottom of the old buffet. I’m loving it’s new look! You can see that it was pretty easy to paint the inside of this piece with the Finish Max because I took the top off. I recommend you doing that whenever you can. Take a few extra steps to get a good finish on your projects. You’ll be happy you did.

You may notice that I didn’t paint the drawer guides. That’s easy to do with the Finish Max’s lack of overspray. Other sprayers can’t do that. You can also see that there is very little paint on the inside of my Homeright spray shelter, and I’ve used is a LOT!

 

See? no over spray where I don’t want it.

 

Stain refinished wood

I stained all of the doors, drawers and the top with Minwax Dark Walnut.

 

I used some wipe-on poly for all the stained pieces.

Paint hinges

The hinges and the other hardware were spray painted with Krylon black satin.

The chalk type paint is very flat, so it needs to be sealed somehow. I brushed on a poly sealer  with a chip brush.

Repurposed buffet into Coffee Station

I cleaned the inside (top) so many times. For awhile I thought I may have to paint it, but I finally got it to look good!

 

Oh my! Isn’t the coffee station gorgeous? I’m not a fan of refinishing furniture—it’s a LOT of work. However, I’m loving the look of this two toned piece!

Save & Share on Pinterest!

 

ohhh, I forgot to tell you something. When I tipped the buffet back to paint the underneath side, look what I found! It has wheels! How exciting is that! So, when you see the rest of the pictures, you’ll notice that it’s just barely off the floor.

Coffee Station with so much storage!

This repurposed buffet is so roomy, and very versatile. It’s great as a coffee station, but offers tons of storage. If the new owner added some hooks and or towel bars to the side, it would make an awesome kitchen island.

I painted the inside of the drawers and lined them with some cute drawer liner.

Have you noticed the extra steps I went to yet? How observant have you been?

 

There was one original door in the middle, and remember…. the left and right were panels . . . I made them into workable doors, for easy access! Did you catch that along the way?

 

Look at that paint finish! It’s flawless. I wish it had been easy all the way around, but at least the painting was a breeze with my Homeright Finish Max! Thank you Homeright for making my projects go smoother!

Did you see the pallet coffee cup rack tutorial I posted yesterday? It is my first pallet project, and I showed you how to do contact paper stenciling that will change the way you make signs if you use a vinyl cutting machine.

How to stage furniture for sale

Are you ready for one more tiny secret? If you’re new here, you probably don’t know that this coffee station is set up in a garage with a fake wall and a fake floor I made for photographing projects.

What’s your favorite part of this repurposed buffet? Would you use it in your kitchen as a coffee station or an island? Maybe for some other purpose? do tell!

gail

sharing here:

Vintage Inspiration Party

DIY Sunday Showcase

disclaimer: I am so happy to be a Homeright brand ambassador. They supply me with great products and compensate me for my time. All thoughts, opinions and projects come from my own little head! I know—sometimes I surprise myself!