Antique Buffet Makeover

by Sarah Trop

I love being creative and am always lured by the process of completely transforming an unwanted furniture piece into one that will be coveted! This buffet was structurally sound, heavy, sturdy and interesting but it needed so much love. This piece got a complete makeover, including the hardware.

antique buffet makeover, repurposing upcycling

It had damaged veneer and cleaning was needed!! So, I started with the repair and cleaning. Next, I wanted to give it an aged pewter finish. So, I hand painted it with Ace silver metallic paint. If you’re using that, I highly recommend painting outside because it’s oil based and pretty stinky. It adheres really well on anything though.

Not much to look at !

I tried using the orbital sander and hated it so I used my good old hands to sand the distressed area. As I was painting, I noticed that the bottom drawer had no detailing and would be a perfect spot for a print or design. I had bought these old map posters at Ballard Design in Florida a year ago and have been waiting for the right piece to use them on.

I used spray adhesive to to attach the poster to the drawer front and then clear coated it by using a spray paint can. I thought the silver was too bright at this point so I decided to glaze the whole piece to give it a darker more aged appearance. That’s exactly what it needed!! The glaze toned it down to the hue

And, what do you think of those globe knobs I found ;) ?!

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3 of 5 questions

Lorraine on Oct 08, 2016
how did you fix the veneer on the top draw?

2
Carol on Oct 08, 2016
What was the glaze you used? I want to paint an old frame silver but think it may need to be toned down.

1
Jean Darnell on Oct 10, 2016
That was a cover-up! If you were to do an actual repair, how would you do it? I need to do this to a piece I have. Thank you.

2

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2 of 76 comments

Sarah Trop on Oct 27, 2016
Sure they could. Good luck. Thank you for the love!

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Fee Miriam Rosenfeltz on Nov 26, 2016
How beautiful, lovely old world feel....wonderful transformation.

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