Revamping the 1950s

When I think of design for our new house.. 1950s certainly isn't the style I was going for. We're not extremely modern people either but our style is probably more modern with a shabby chic touch? I don't know, I've never been very good at identifying my style.

I like everything. LOL

So, it did make furniture shopping hard. We were looking for solid wood pieces that we could stain or paint and make it match my husband's current dresser. 

We found this piece at one of our local Salvation Army's. It must've been there for a while because the manager let it go for $40. STEAL! The bumps in the paint were not there when we bought it. 

That's a paint remover. Forby's makes a Paint remover for furniture. We used that here to remove the paint. Terrible process but it works well. 

So, basically you paint this liquid on and let it set for 15 minutes or so. Then, you scrape it off. LOOK AT THAT WOOD!! I was so excited to see how beautiful it was underneath. 

Next-- the sanding. I have a love/hate relationship with sanding and for multiple different reasons. This project wasn't so bad. We used an 80 grit sand paper and removed what was left of the paint and made it smooth. We did uncover some issues on the bottom of the furniture. We had to replace it with this really, really thin wood (I can't think of what it's called but we got it at Woodcraft). It was simple. Glue and stick. 

The wood was so beautiful that we decided to stain the piece. We started with an Espresso color and didn't get the look I wanted. So, in the end we went with Ebony. 

Next, we polyurethaned the entire thing. 2-3 coats and called it a day. 

The whole project took probably 3 weekends total. Granted, I'm not spending all day every weekend of them but it still was a hassle. I would do some things during the week before work but still.. it took a while. If you ever use Formby's or a similar product.. GET GOOD GLOVES! That stuff does not feel good when it gets on your skin. 

We also bought new hardware. It looks similar to the old but it's a brushed metal rather than a gold and more square. This piece is probably is one of my favorites. I'm really proud of it. It was a lot of work but in the end.. it turned something that was old and dingy into something beautiful again. 

So, you may be wondering where am I getting the 1950s from this? Well.. we had to take the mirror off of its plastic pieces and there was a stamp on the back. Dated 1949. 

Do they even make furniture that will last that long anymore? I hope it will last for many more years!