How to Transform a Dirty, Dingy, Vintage Buffet

6 Materials
$40
4 Hours
Easy

You will not believe how easily you can transform a dirty, dingy piece of vintage furniture. With a little paint and some sanding you can completely bring back to like any piece of furniture.

Finding the Perfect Piece


I have been searching for the perfect piece of furniture for one of my Living Room walls for quite sometime. I knew I wanted something that would provide storage, was old and cheap! Not too tall of an order right?


Well... at $20 this turned out to be the prefect piece! I found it at a "store closing" sale along with some amazing other vintage pieces. ( see them all here!)

Fixing the Damage


There was quite a bit of damage to the piece but the shape and storage potential instantly drew me to it.


To fix the damage I began by sanding down the top. The top was veneer but I was able to carefully sand the top coat of stain off without damaging it.


Once the top was free of the stain and clear coat, I left it as it and just re-nourished it with two coats of Hemp Oil.



Fixing the Missing Bits


Luckily, most of the missing trim that had simply become unglued, was in the large drawer. With a little wood glue, I was able to easily reattach it.


There were a few spots that I didn't have the trim for so I just let them as is. I don't mind a little missing trim... it just makes the piece feel like it has a history to me and has been well used and loved.

Painting the Buffet


To paint the outside of the buffet, I gave it a good scrub (inside and out) and then several coats of Fusion Mineral Paint in Plaster. Plaster is a gorgeous creamy neutral that goes with any space!

Painting a Pop of Colour


To give the buffet a little surprise on the inside, I made a custom mix of blue.

The $20 Buffet


I can't believe just how much this piece was transformed with just a little sanding and some paint! It was well worth the whopping $20 it cost me to purchase it. Now... just wait until you see what I did with the inside of the large drawer... it is something I will cherish forever!


To see the original Recreated Design post, visit the blog. To get details about my new book - Recreated Designs; Cottage Projects With a Vintage Flair, hop over to the blog here...

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  1 question
  • Janis Janis on Aug 19, 2020

    How would you make a new top for a cupboard like this to be like a butcher block top i want one exactly like yours but 2 tweaks i want the butcher block top and red inside to go into my farm house kitchen white cupboards and red accents

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 2 comments
  • Chi23664566 Chi23664566 on Aug 21, 2020

    I will if I can find a piece of old furniture similar to the one above

    • Recreated Designs Recreated Designs on Aug 24, 2020

      Thankfully pieces like this were pretty mass produced so depending on where you live, you can usually find them fairly easily. Best of luck!

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