Who wants an ugly nightstand? Not me!

While trying to put together my studio / office space, I needed storage space bad. That and I love putting fun little decorative things on tables and shelves… my space tends to be cluttered, but it’s my space so it’s all good! My husband calls my studio the “Woman Cave”. It’s all of 100 sf… the garage, which we’ve recently changed to his “Man Cave” is 800 sf. So, yes, I can do whatever I want with it! LOL

I found this awful little 1980′s looking nightstand at a garage sale for $15 and it would fit perfectly between my door and drafting table. I lugged that bad boy home!

First I tried sanding off the nasty finish that was on there, it was an awful dark wood finish. It kept gumming up my sander and driving me insane. My husband suggested I try Formby’s Furniture Refinisher to finish the job.

 This stuff is super easy to apply… I took an old coke can and cut off the top to use as a “paint” bucket and older paint brush. You will also need to make sure you have a pair of chemical gloves, otherwise you will feel the burn! It is quite messy to remove… I sat in some of the Formby’s and burned my bum. LOL (I can laugh about it now).

In the picture on the left, the Fromby’s is still on the nightstand soaking off the finish. I can honestly say that I’d rather sand, than use this again. I am not a fan of sanding!

Finally, after taking about three days to remove all the finish, I get to paint it a beautiful red! You can see that in the right picture! I used Krylon Indoor/Outdoor spray paint in Cherry Red. I’m a HUGE fan of spray paint! I’m finding some new spray paints that you don’t even have to SAND!!

Redraw...

Since I didn't hear from one of the winners, I just re-drew a new name on random.org... the new winner is... you are NEVER going to believe it! I think she is the one who wanted it MOST!! I guess it was just meant to be!! You go girl!

The winners {yes, plural} are...

I know I said I'd post the winner tomorrow, but I love giveaways and I get so thrilled to announce winners, I just CANNOT wait!

Since I had to confirm you all were indeed a fan of my page and got to check out your fan pages, I got little excited about your businesses too! I decided to draw 2 WINNERS, instead of only one! I made that decision before I drew to be fair {cuz that's the kinda gal I am}!

If you entered the giveaway and your name/number was not chosen by random.org, you will be given a 50% discount for any design services at {Serendipity} design studio, to be used anytime between now and October 31, 2011.

So, the WINNERS....

I removed Caitlin from the lineup, then adjusted the numbers accordingly and regenerated a number...

Congratulations to both of you! Please email me at michelle@serendipitydesignstudios.com and we can discuss the package and I'll have a survey for you to fill out before we get started!

plain chairs turned PURDY

I've posted pictures of my studio on my Facebook page that show my BORING chairs. Pretty much just pine chairs... nothing fancy. Then, I got myself addicted to Pinterest and found spray paint! Did you know you can pretty much spray paint anything? I am now a spray painting fool! You'll see in more posts to come.

 

The picture to the left is where I do all my work... Yikes, I've totally updated eveything! Not working on a laptop anymore! The one on the right is where my daughter does a lot of painting work... you can see a canvas she was working on at the time.

I sanded the chairs just enough to remove the body oils to ensure the paint would stick. Some areas of the wood absorbed a lot of paint and required some extra coats. I sprayed several light coats to prevent the dripping that can happen if you spray too much at at time. Since the chair on the right has the metal bar on the bottom, I removed that prior to any painting. After letting the final coats of paint dry for 48 hours, I sanded the edges and the areas of the chairs where your body would rub to give it a worn look. I chose not to give it a protection coat in hopes of getting some real "wear" on the chairs as well.

I found a great little table, which used to be a nightstand to go right next to the drafting table... that's redone too! Look for that in the next post.

Introducing Serendipity's Creative Sparks Blog... and a GIVEAWAY!

*LEGAL STUFF: This giveaway is in NO WAY sponsored, endorsed, or administered by Facebook. You will NOT be notified by Facebook if you are the winner. You MUST be at least 18 years of age to participate. By entering this giveaway you are providing information to {Serendipity} design studio and NOT to Facebook. Your information is kept confidential and not sold, traded, or loaned to any outside entity.