Armoire Makeover

When I found this armoire on Marketplace for only $20, I fell in love and knew that I needed it for our bedroom. Usually it doesn't phase me to paint a piece of furniture, but to be honest, I was hoping I wouldn't have to paint this piece. I loved the wood and thought it was beautiful as is, but no matter what I tried, this piece wouldn't match our bedroom set, so white it is!

I started by removing the doors and hardware to make it easier to paint.

Once the hardware was removed, I began painting. That's right, no stripping, no sanding, no prep work! I taped off the top of the base because the top piece was going to sit on top of it and cover it, so I didn't feel the need to paint it. I will add that I also didn't paint the inside of this piece just because I did love the look of the wood so I thought it would look pretty styled with the original finish on the inside.

I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get the handles off, so I just painted around them. Later, a few friends on IG reached out to me and suggested putting a flat head down inside the hole where the handle screws in to and trying to pry it off, and that did the trick. So I lightly sanded over the hardware outlines, and repainted to give it a smoother appearance.

After painting, I took 220 grit sandpaper across the entire piece to get rid of any brush stroke marks and create an overall smoother appearance. This will take off some of the paint, but it adds to the distressed look I was going for.

Then, I took 80 grit sandpaper (you can use the 220 grit, but I feel like this gives it a softer distressed look) and went over all the edges to distress it.