One Woman's Trash is Another WOMAN'S Treasure!

It has been month's since my last entry, and boy am I glad to be back! I have tons to say, and can't wait to share it with you all! Now that school is out for the summer I can focus on the many projects and goals that I have for myself. I think everyone always has different "things" they want to do, but a lot of the time life gets in the way. One thing that has been on my mind since March has been that I want to change my guest bedroom into a studio. Specifically it will serve as an area where I can work on all of my Ideas :). The items that I will be using to create my studio will be from gently used furniture that I am refurbishing or antiques. My most recent piece I received from my aunt. She no longer had any use for one of her nightstands, and of course I took it first because I have been looking for one that is the perfect size, and secondly because it was FREE! I also saw the potential that it had, so I immediately loaded it into my car. All I needed were a few items from Lowe's, and I was set to make the nightstand J.Michelle style! I missed taking a photo of the night stand before I started its dramatic change, but it was was a light brown wood that you can normally find when looking for furniture. The nightstand was in good shape. It had a few nicks, but they would all be covered up when I was done with this project. Lets start the transformation!

Items from Lowe's 

From left to right: Valspar Metallic Gold Spray Paint, Gel Super Glue (For any areas that need fixing. I had one area where the wood was separated), Valspar Premium Finish in Hotel Vanilla (I used 3.5 cans), Blue painting tape, and Valspar Metal and Patina Glaze in Gold. Also the color of my wood floor was the original color of the nightstand.

Step 1: First priority was to wipe down the entire piece of furniture...drawer included. I wanted to make sure I got off any excess dust to ensure proper coverage, and adhesion. Secondly, I took off the hardware: the one handle on the front. 

After I Finished the Last Coat

Step 2: Start with the Hotel Vanilla spray paint. I started with the drawer to allow it to dry since I taped it to create the drama on the front. :)

 Step 3: Begin spraying the actual nightstand while the drawer dries. I start spraying horizontally and then move into a vertical motion. I do this to fill in any areas that I miss hitting on the first coat. Spray one side, and let it dry by moving to another. I continued doing this until the nightstand had my desired coverage.

Step 4: Next it was time for the blue painting tape to start creating the diagonal stripes. My theme is gold, so that is why I chose this color, but any other will work with the cream color! Starting from center moving to the outer portion of the drawer made sure the stripes were separated as evenly as possible. I took my time, because I didn't want to do this more than once. Chevron would also be really cute on any piece of furniture!

Step 5: Next is a little trick I learned from my mom. Take a wet paper towel, and wipe the edges of the tape to make sure it is sticking properly to the surface of the wood. Following this get the Hotel Vanilla spray paint, and spray the surface again. This trick makes it so if there will be paint leaks it will be the same color as the base. Let this dry, and take the Valspar Metallic Gold spray paint, and spray the front of the drawer to create the stripes! While I had out the gold spray paint I went ahead and sprayed the hardware to make sure it matched the stripes.

Step 6: The wait time. I waited at least 3-4 hours before I took the tape off. There is nothing worse than being anxious for paint to dry, and you mess it up because you want to see the finished project. I touched up any areas once the tape came off with some acrylic paint it worked really well, and your all done!

A Side View 

 You can see behind the nightstand is another project I started. Sadly I still haven't completed it. 

The Finished Product 

Finally if you were wondering why I needed the glaze... it was for the INSIDE  of the DRAWER! A little surprise every time I open it. Simply take the glaze and a paint brush, and one coat will create this look!

The Drawer

I have to say I love the way my nightstand turned out. For those of you who aren't scavengers YET I highly suggest trying it sometime! You never know what you will find, and you will love what you come up with. We all have a creative mind!