DIY Black Buffet Makeover

4 Materials
$100
4 Hours
Easy

I want to thank Zibra Paint for partnering with me on this DIY black buffet makeover. All opinions of their amazing brushes are my own.

You know that buffets are one of my favorite pieces of furniture to make over. I buy them whenever I can find them at a good price and in need of some TLC and love.

The things I look for in a buffet before I will bring it home are:


  • Is it made of real wood? If the buffet is not real wood, I will not bring it home.
  • Are there any major problems in the wood? If there are huge chunks of the wood falling apart of it a dog has chewed up the legs, I will not bring it home.
  • Does it have missing hardware? No problem! I can always find new hardware for it.
  • Are the drawers functional? Most of the time, we can fix drawers that aren’t working or are missing the bottom inside. When we weren’t confident in our “drawer fixing” skills, I would look at the piece and see if we could turn the broken drawer into a shelf instead and have it work that way.
  • Price. This is a huge deciding factor when picking up any piece of furniture. It has to be in my “buffet budget” to have it make sense to bring home and work on it.

Those are the main things I look for when deciding to bring a buffet home or not.

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This buffet checked off all the boxes so it came home with me.


The hardware was HORRENDOUS! I don’t know what they were thinking. The handles nor the knobs fit on the piece right. I found that out when I was taking them all out to paint the buffet.


Hardware is like jewelry on a piece of furniture. I think it sets the tone for the entire piece. It can be the main event or it can be in the background not making much of a statement. Hardware matters and this hardware was WRONG!


Just like with any makeover I do, I remove all of the hardware first. Then, I removed all of the drawers and gave the piece a really good cleaning with the vacuum and water and vinegar.


Supplies Used In This DIY Black Buffet Makeover:

Slick Stick – Dixie Belle Paint


“Caviar” Chalk Mineral Paint – Dixie Belle Paint


Zibra Paint Brush


Orbital Sander


Hardware


Once the cleaning was done, I was ready to try a new product from Dixie Belle Paint. Since this piece was very “shiny” from the topcoat and there was some red undertone, I wanted to try the Slick Stick from Dixie Belle Paint. The Slick Stick “allows you to paint shiny, slick, or slippery surfaces with ease.” This is a product that is great for painting laminate, metal, glass, etc.


I put a coat of this all over the dresser because I was painting the entire thing. It reminded me of their BOSS product that I love so much. I didn’t see a big difference between the two products, but since the Slick Stick is made for other surfaces like glass, laminate, and so on, I will save it for those surfaces and continue to use the BOSS on my wood furniture makeovers.


Once the Slick Stick dried, I was ready to paint the buffet.

You know I am grabbing my Zibra Paint brushes when I am painting anything. They make projects easier. Painting for me is like therapy, but if I have paintbrush bristles falling out during my project, there isn’t a lot of therapy happening. There is a lot of words and stress happening. Quality paintbrushes make all the difference and Zibra Paint has thought of all the things when they created theirs. My go-to brush from them is the Palm Pro, but I love the 2″ angled brush as well. If you tired of working with brushes that aren’t up to par, give Zibra paint brushes a try. You will never turn back.

I thought I was going to paint this buffet a light color, but when I got the Slick Stick on it, I didn’t like it at all. It goes on white and I didn’t like the lighter color in this buffet.


It needed to be a rich color, something to make a statement. I chose “Caviar” from Dixie Belle Paint. It is my favorite black paint color for furniture.

It was the perfect choice for this piece. I put two coats of the “Caviar” on the buffet. As soon as it dried, I had to find new hardware for the buffet.

I chose knobs and pulls for the buffet from the Veranda collection from Hickory Hardware. I went with black! I thought for sure I would have liked the brass better, but it was too bright for this piece.

It gave this DIY black buffet makeover a monochromatic look, but it works. The curves on the hardware were a perfect fit for the curves in the buffet.

This piece was done and ready to move to its new home.

I love buffets for so many reasons. They are such a versatile piece of furniture. I have one in our family room in our lower level. It has so much storage and is a great piece to decorate when the seasons change.


They used to be used for dining rooms and holding all of the “fancy” dishes, but not anymore.


Do you have a buffet in your home? If so, how do you use it?


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If you liked this makeover, you will also love these transformations:

Creamy White Boho Buffet Makeover


DIY Round Side Table Makeover


Two-Toned Painted Dresser Makeover


Farmhouse Nightstand Makeover

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Lindsay Eidahl
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  • Gail Gail on Apr 11, 2021

    I love buffets also. This was a pretty one and if it met all you criteria I was sad you were painting it. The hardware was aweful, and not original. I do love the outcome and the black hardware. It is very elegant! My question, what is the LONG term on these chalk paints? Do you have to wax them? reseal them? Do they stand up to wear/ water rings? They seem too easy to do. I took buttermilk paint off an old pie safe 45 years ago. It was the old kind the settlers made. It was H--L to get off. After that I decided to never paint a piece because paint is too hard to remove. I won't buy painted furniture unless it is going to stay painted. It was my grandmothers so I worked really hard on it. Still have it.

  • Shirley Keyes Shirley Keyes on Apr 11, 2021

    Did you do a light or heavy sanding? Did you go down to bare wood?

  • CAROL GORNTO CAROL GORNTO on Apr 09, 2023

    I noticed an orbital sander in your supply list.....did you sand the piece before you painted? If so, was it lightly or down to the bare wood?

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