Upcycling Furniture

"Crafting is cheaper than therapy - and way more fun."

I read it somewhere I can't remember. This line has stayed with me ever since and I got reminded of it at the furniture workshop, but I truly lived it when I wore a crafting hat myself this past week. I'm not a DIY-kind as I lack patience and somehow always chasing the clock. Having said that, sometimes, it feels good to do the unusual.

From browsing clothing stores to searching art suppliers, I landed on the famous Bluebird Arts website and filled up the cart with Caviar-coloured chalk paint. Further research about this paint led me to add a clear top coat containing polyurethane, sandpapers, rollers, and light gold enamel paint.

If you are wondering (or not) what's cooking then let me tell you I ordered this stuff to upcycle an old drawer chest that was chipped from various places. I was obsessed with green colour a few years ago, which explains the previous colour of the drawer chest. It looked luxe when it was brand new but over the years, it suffered abuse at the hands of my then-infant child and mover-guys. It was finally time to give it a makeover.

Currently, I'm all into grayscale with hints of green here and there for a pop of colour - plants (actually) to give some life to my otherwise monochromatic bedroom.

The package from Bluebird Arts arrived at my remote residence in only 2 days. I was thrilled to see the right products, which meant I could start right away, but I had to wait until the culinary competition was over, which took all my spare time.

I started working on the furniture right after coming back from the culinary event. Yes, I was that excited. The chalk paint doesn't need sanding or priming as per the instructions, but I still sanded it to even out the surface. I thought sanding the areas which were swollen due to moisture would be a good idea but man was I wrong. Since the chest wasn't made of natural or "living" wood but engineered plywood, sanding it exposed the inner uneven layers. _(Mistake#1)

Wood-filler might have saved the day, which I didn't order and couldn't find in the local market.

The next morning, I wiped off all the dust and prepared the paint. 15-20% water for every ladle of it. Of course, I didn't use a ladle; it's just my expression for amount of paint more than a dollop.

The first coat looked ugly. Second, a little better, and third, suspiciously beautiful.

My impatience kicked in by the third coat, I wanted to wrap it up and put the drawers to use. But my husband found out that I had skipped the sides and insides of the drawers. So, he took the charge and painted all the drawers.

For a change, I shifted to painting the handles. It was difficult to handle the enamel paint. The texture was different - the whole thing was weird.

It didn't stay easily on the sleek handles, and on top of that, the gold shade was a little too bright for my liking. How must I have felt when my little boy said, it's yellow, not gold. It was too late to change the colour so I compromised on what I had. At least, I got around to handling the paint after a few failed attempts.

The last step was to apply a clear coat, which I got in matt. I didn't do homework on how to use a top coat and quickly jumped to the application part. ^Mistake#2

I applied one thick coat, which resulted in some cloudy patches here and there, but the piece looks fine in general. Later, I learned that the last step needed 2 thin coats and a dust-free environment. I locked some dust in with the top coat. But hey, it was my first project of furniture upcycling. Mistakes are allowed.

Lo and behold the final look. It's not perfect but much better than the chipped green version. My next project involves making a beautiful planter and discarding that dirty pot behind and now that I'm pro at handling chalk paint, I might change the paint of the mirror frame. How about black?

P.S. I might change the handles into a more muted colour sometime later. Champagne gold, maybe.