New TV Stand

(This post is old - like from Thanksgiving 2010. For some reason I never posted it)

I am thanking my lucky stars tonight because... I HAVE A NEW TV STAND!!! You would completely understand my GLEE if you knew my old TV stand. Now, technically speaking there wasn't anything wrong with the old stand, but it definitely didn't go with the decor of our house. See for yourself:

Yuck!

For months I looked for the perfect piece of furniture to set my Husbands precious TV on and I was just not finding anything I loved. Then one night while blogging I came upon this very inspiring photo posted on one of my favorite blogs Sixth-Fifth Avenue:

What a great idea! Using a long buffet as a TV stand creates tons of storage space for all of my movies and it looks great as well. And so my Craig's List search began. Eventually, I came across this little beauty:

She was perfect! So, I dragged poor Tommy, and eventually one of his work buddies out on a Friday night to haul her into the back of my car. She ended up having to sleep outside that night, because our neighbors weren't home to help Tommy haul her into the house. Once they got her inside I took some more shots:

So, my Thanksgiving week was spent priming and painting. First stop, Home Depot! I ended up being there FOREVER trying to find all of the perfect products. I am a very indecisive person, especially when I haven't a clue what I'm doing. So, I ended up talking to the man in front of me at the paint counter. He told me to use an oil based primer tinted gray. I was scared, but I decided to give it a try because, as I said before I am clueless when it comes to paint. I ended up buying Cover Stain Primer. After sanding like crazy and taping all of the inside corners I began the priming. The Cover Stain covered like a dream and I managed to ventilate the room well enough to keep most of my brain cells. 

 Painting was another story. I choose a random shade of black from the displays at Home Depot and I decided to use Behr Paint and Primer in one (gloss). I was trying to skip the polyurethane step. I think that was my mistake. The finish is not what I would like it to be, but it is good enough for now. Here are some painting pictures:

Here she is with half of the hardware on:

In case, you were wondering what happened to our old nasty TV stand I give you exhibit A:

Finished Buffet!!!

Wow, it has been a few weeks, but the buffet is now finished! It was definitely a ton of work and slightly overwhelming, because it was that first time I have ever attempted painting furniture. It was totally worth it in the end. I love the buffet!!! It turned out exactly how we wanted it to look, and it adds tons of storage to our kitchen area.

First, lets begin with the knobs. After scouring the town (twice lol) we landed on some black metal knobs from Home Depot. They were exactly what I wanted, or so I thought, but after getting them home and thinking things over, I realized I had my heart set on crystal knobs. They are just more me. :) So, we ended up making an emergency stop at Target (don't you just LOVE those) where I had previously seen these gems below:

These knobs are four for $14.99 and I LOVE THEM. Now for the before and after pictures of the finished buffet!

Before:
Here she is in all her dirty glory:

After:
Here she is now:

Our wonderful neighbors came over yesterday to help Tommy move our new TV stand inside (more on this in my next post) and they couldn't even believe it was the same piece of furniture. They were amazed! Our neighbors, of course, helped Tommy move this buffet inside as-well.

The Process:
I was incredibly blessed to have my amazing Mom here to help us paint this buffet, otherwise we would have both been lost, (and crazy). We started by going to Home Depot and getting our 120 sandpaper, oil based primer, tarp, foam mini rollers, and Martha Stewart Living Paint in Glass of Milk. I think now I would have gotten a rougher sandpaper because the finish was so glossy we really had to work hard to get it sanded down. I also think I need to invest in a mini paint brush instead of using those disposable foam tip things. They don't hold up real well. We started by giving her a good wipe down followed by sanding her down so that the surface felt rough. Then another wipe down. The next morning, we started the painting process with one coat of primer:

Once she was completely primed and dry we started the painting process: We ended up doing one coat of a high gloss paint and no polyurethane, which I don't know if I will do again. The gloss made the paint very temperamental and difficult to perfect with a brush, and I am definitely a perfectionist!

We found that setting the door fronts on top of paint cans made the perfect painting holders. I am super happy with the outcome and I can't wait to tackle more furniture re-dos! Here are a couple more after pictures. Check out our cookbooks and cooking magazines new home!

 

 

Isn't she gorgeous!!!

Sharing with Southern Hospitality:

http://southernhospitalityblog.com/top-projects-of-2010/

Knobs for the Buffet???

Hmm, I am now having a difficult time deciding on the perfect knobs for our wonderful "new to us" buffet. These are the ones that I am considering:

But first here is what the current knobs look like:

They are a little to gold/brass for me. This little love is a key hole knob from Anthropologie. I think that the width of it might just be perfect for the buffet. It would definitely be a classic choice.

This Ripe Melon Pull would fit perfectly, but is still a shade of brass. What do you think?

This Rosy Knob comes in four colors, but I think I like either the blue or white one. I am not sure how this one would fit or match because there is no metal on it. Oh, but how I love it.

I absolutely love the color of this Urchin Test Knob. It is just beautiful, but I am not sure how it would look with ivory paint.

Now that I am thinking about the ivory color maybe something slightly more like this Bauble Knob. This one seriously makes my heart jump. :)

Or, how about this Glass Melon Knob. I love that it has a bit of metal in with all of that wonderful pink color.

Alright let me know if you have a preference. I am going to be busy thinking about it for the next couple of days. I have to order them soon so that they can be here for next week!!!

New Buffet :)

Yippee!!! We got an amazing deal today on craig's list. I have been searching consignment stores and craig's list for weeks looking for the perfect buffet for our entryway. This morning I woke up and checked criag's list to find a buffet made for our entryway. It is exactly what we have been looking for. Here are the listing photos:

When I saw that there was a drawer where we could keep all of our millions of keys. I was so happy! How two people can have so many keys is unknown to me but somehow we do. After much heartache and phone calls we went and got our beloved buffet and brought her home. This is what she looked like once inside the house:

Of course the other family members had to check her out and make sure she was alright ;) My next step was to give her a good cleaning (which was truly disgusting). After her bath this is what she looks like:

I can't wait to paint her next week on my time off. She will be cream to match our hutch. I am soooooo very excited.