vintage buffet repurposed to media center

PIN IT!

 

I was given this old buffet back in the early spring. It’s been sitting in storage looking all pitiful just waiting for the tlc it deserves. When I got this piece and blogged about it, Susan remarked that she had it’s twin. I already knew it would make a perfect media center since it was missing the middle drawer, but after seeing Susan’s, I just had to have this in my living room to replace the one I built from scratch years ago.

 

Sure, she has some problems, but great bones!

 

The first thing I did was tackle all of the bad veneer. Some was loose, and some was missing. In the middle left picture… I just took the rest of that veneer off.

 

This is the top, it was in pretty rough shape, I sanded it totally down.

 

You can see the top here, and I gave everything a quick coat of my diy chalky paint as a primer.

 

It was ready for the paint booth, but first I had to protect the top from paint, because the plan is to stain the top. I always lay a layer of painter’s tape on first, then I tape paper onto that.

 

While I was spray painting during the 24 in 24 challenge in Cleveland, I figured out a great way to spray drawers without getting paint on the inside. During that challenge, there wasn’t time to tape of the insides of the drawers. You can see here, that I simply lay them upside down—no paint getting inside these drawers when I use my  HomeRight Finish Max Fine Finish Sprayer. NOTE: I did not tape off the insides of the drawer areas, look how little overspray there is.

 

It even worked well with this extra large drawer. You can see the difference in the paint here. The drawer hasn’t been sprayed yet. I used Behr Premium Plus paint (Beluga) in semi-gloss.

 

Look closely at this picture. You can see along the bottom where I did the primer coat with the chalky paint.

 

Look at the top of the paper, very little overspray there either. To be honest, a lot of this has to do with how much I use this sprayer, I’ve gotten really good at it.

 

Here is the top, ready to be stained.

 

I used Minwax Jacobean to stain the top, then I sealed it with several light coats of Minwax Wipe-on Poly (satin).

 

I spray painted the hardware, using a semi-gloss black.

 

The poor old thing is missing some trim, but I just think it adds to her charm, and is part of her story.

 

I love old furniture. They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore. Remember, I didn’t tape these drawers… love that Finish Max! It makes my life so much easier, and gives a great finish. win/win

This is where I keep it real. This piece has been finished for several weeks….in storage just waiting for one last touch. I’m hoping to have it in the house very soon, thinking if I show you this much, I won’t keep putting it off.

 

gail

EDITED TO ADD: updated pictures. I added some wheels, and changed the color of the hardware—see the details in my post Updates to the Buffet Media Center.