The Frugal Home

I wanted to paint my living room and dining room two shades of grey, with one wall accented in this fantastic metallic silver. It didn’t work and I was sad. The shades of grey ended up being shades of blue and I was left with a quart of metallic silver. When I found this sideboard at a local antique mall I knew that everything happens for a reason. And I was happy again.

Outdated doesn’t begin to describe this piece but I knew I could give it new life. The owner was asking $60 and I got them down to $45 and wheeled it out to my truck. The paint was about $5 but I barely scratched the surface of it. Probably $46 total!

I’ve cut corners before, (okay, I’ve cut a lot of corners) but I decided not to this time. So, in the spirit of not cutting corners, I first took the hardware off the sideboard. Instead of just painting over them.

Then I sanded. Probably not enough but I sanded. That sander there. That sander is awesome. It not only helped in redoing this piece but I also used it when I did the huge wallpaper removal a few weeks ago.

After I sanded, I primed. Yep. I primed. With real primer and everything.

Don’t forget the hardware! I spray painted it black. I thought it would make a nice contrast. And it did. Zoe really liked it too. I had to stop her from licking it.

Paint! Paint! Paint! I even used good brushes. You don’t think they will make a difference until you use them and then you realize that they make all the difference in the world. Just make sure you clean them after each use and don’t let the paint dry on them or you just have really expensive stiff brushes.

This is how it looked when it was done. Fabulous. Amazing. Prodigious even.