Before/After & Before/After - It's Just Paint :)

Corinne Nolan Somerville
by Corinne Nolan Somerville
6 Materials
$20
2 Days
Medium
I was gifted this washstand that once belonged to a favourite Great Aunt and months after I painted it I decided I was just going to sand down the top and refinish it, that's where it all started :)
This is what the washstand looked like when I got it. It once belonged to my dear Great Aunt Nell (loved her so much!)
You might notice (other then the shellac) that all the products I used for this project are Fusion or Homestead....that's cause I LOVE their product line and very loyal to it (and no....I'm not a retailer :) Even the brush is a new brush line that my Fusion retailer let me use and all I can say is....IT'S AMAZING and a must have !!!!
This is what it looked like after I painted it with Fusion Soapstone and then Homestead Espresso Wax. It was missing the harp so my uber talented hubby made a new harp for it for the first time I painted it :) I did love this look and was only going to just sand down the top and stain it....well.....that was the plan
Step 1: This was where I was going to stop....it took me several hours to sand it down, I started with 50 grit then 80 grit, then 220 and finish it off with 400 grit (I love my little black & decker mouse sander) and I also loved that there was distinctly two different types of oak...made me think about who had made the piece and how much work he would have put into making this washstand.


Step 2: Once the top was all sanded down it was time to cover the rest of the washstand with Fusion Concealer. I used Concealer first because it's a cost effective way to put a coat of paint over a dark stain before using your Fusion paint colour. Concealer is considerably cheaper and works amazing! Do you see it???? The pink door??? Yup...I had a bleeder !
Step 3: A lot of these older pieces can be prone to "bleeding" The red stain is able to seep up through the wood and through the paint. You have two options to deal with a bleeder....paint the project a dark colour (which is why it didn't show up when I had it painted in Fusion Soapstone) or seal it with a shellac and then you can paint it whatever colour you want. I opted to do two thin coats of shellac as I wanted a lighter colour on the washstand.
Step 4: Once the shellac is dry (and it doesn't take long to dry at all) you can go ahead and paint whatever colour you'd like. I chose Fusion's Lichen. It's a gray/beige/green colour and it's absolutely gorgeous !!! Then I did some light distressing and finished it off with Homestead Espresso Wax to give it an aged look.
Step 5: Final Step was to finish off the top with Homestead All in One Finishing Oil in Cappuccino ! I did a couple coats to help marry the darker red oak with the lighter white oak. The end result was gorgeous !
Step 6: All Done !!! Even though this little beauty was painted twice (by me :) The truth is...."it's just paint" If you finish a project and don't love it or want to change it up.....go for it !!! You won't regret it...and if you do....just paint it again :)
Suggested materials:
  • Fusion Concealer   (Fred & Bessie's in London, Ontario)
  • Fusion Lichen   (Fred & Bessie's in London, Ontario)
  • Homestead Espresso Wax   (Fred & Bessie's in London, Ontario)
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