Credenza Makeover

Mar 24

I would probably call restoring furniture my hobby, and when I have free time I scan through Kijiji and a few other local pages to check for deals that are in need of a fresh face lift! I have been into restoring furniture around the time Jack turned 6 months old. It started with updating my vanity in my bathroom. Then I started following these girls who had started a blog called Better Than New, where they displayed and sold their furniture. Over 2 1/2 years, I have painted 13 pieces of furniture ranging from bathroom vanities, fire mantels, nightstands, dressers and garbage cans... what can't a little paint fix!? If I had more time, and by that I mean a few good solid hours in a day, I would totally be painting everything in sight, my garage would be a furniture hoarding ground and my husband would hate me! Thankfully my kids keep my time occupied and I tackle one project at a time.

Recently, scanning through the furniture section of Varage Sale, I came across this cabinet, for free! This girl was not so pretty and may only have been attractive to some people... I saw potential!

How I Updated this Credenza with Stain and Paint!

Sorry for the crappy photo, this was the only before picture I had of the credenza with the two glass sliding doors. This is how she looked before any staining, however my dad did fill in the gap from the sliding door with another piece of wood, and he did sand a little of the damaged/rough areas.Very rough. I did consider painting her a fun colour but I wanted to keep some of the traditional wood tone from the credenza era. First I ran over to Home Depot with a few pictures on my phone of this credenza, hoping that I could match up the stain... I ended up picking english chestnut, which had a little red undertone. I find if you go with something that has red in the name... it's going to look red! So english chestnut was a safe and perfect match. Testing the first coat a little more. The stain turned out great, so I started staining all of the lighter patches first, leaving the stain on for a few minutes at a time and wiping off. After 3 coats of stain (on the lightest patches), I decided to stain the backboard as well. I'm glad I did because it really brought this credenza to life!The top was the worst part. I wiped the stain all over the top surface, thinking it would react the same way as it did on the bottom light patches. No, not at all. I left the stain on maybe 2 minutes and in some areas it looked like the stain seeped through the veneer leaving the surface sticky and not very appealing. SO, because this happened I figured I could paint the outer surface of the credenza to give it more of a modern vibe anyways. I began prepping the surface for painting. First, I standed to remove the sticky residue from the stain, and cleaned with a damp cloth. My favourite primer to use on any surface is Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3, seriously this stuff is amazing! Unfortunately the Walmart and Home Depot close to my house did not have any in stock :( so I went with a similar alternative, Zinsser Bin2. Bin2 is a thicker primer, as it has a stain blocker and odour sealer- very durable. *Tip: do not use your good brushes when painting with this stuff! It is nearly impossible to clean out of your brush afterwards! When painting furniture, I always use a decent/good brush to cover areas my small roller cannot reach. I did one coat Zinsser Bin2, let dry overnight and did 3 coats in Home Depot's Behr (polar bear) paint. With white paint, its always a good idea to do three coats because it gives that extra coverage needed.The hardest part was getting that door back on! It just would not fit properly... Sometimes the paint makes the edges a little thicker, therefore its a little harder to get back in the most precise place.. After a few adjustments and some serious pushing, the door finally fits properly. *It's best to put doors/drawers/hardware back on when paint has cured for a few days.After paint has cured, depending on what you plan to use your furniture for, I would recommend covering any light colour paint with Gloss Polycrylic Protective Finish if the surface will be used heavily. For stain coverage I use Clear Satin Polyurethane. *If you use Polyurethane on light paint, it may turn yellow over time. credenza knobedit I decided to paint the hardware white to keep the overall appearance of the credenza modern.Blossoms for spring!I love that I can add pastel pinks, blues and greens to the kitchen. Before with the red buffet, I was very limited with colours, although I do love my red buffet, and its currently sitting in my basement... pieces of furniture are hard for me to part with!