I transformed this Facebook Marketplace bargain into a beautiful armoire for the nursery with homemade chalk paint, glaze and new hardware.
Once I had it inside, I noticed some damage to the top piece but other than that, the drawers worked well and there was no other damage. I used mending plates and coarse-thread screws to secure the loose piece. Make sure to pre-drill before attaching screws to avoid splitting the wood.
Once the top was secured on both sides, I cleaned the entire piece with Windex and paper towel.
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There were some areas on the piece that had chipping finish so I went over those areas with 120 grit sandpaper over a sanding sponge to even out the surface.
I wiped down the piece and then mixed my base coat. I wanted brown to show through when I distressed the top coat so I chose a rich, chocolate brown. When making homemade chalk paint for small projects, I always buy the paint samples to save money. For the base, I used the homemade chalk paint recipe that uses Plaster of Paris, water and latex paint. Always use gloves and a mask when working with the Plaster of Paris.
I like to use an old immersion blender to achieve a smooth finish. Just make sure you do not use it for food or drink after mixing paint with it.
Using an angled brush, I applied a very thin coat of the brown to the entire piece and let it dry for 2 hours before applying a thicker second coat.
Once the base coat of brown had dried, I mixed the top color. For the top color, I used a different chalk paint recipe. This recipe is easier to distress. It’s made with latex paint, calcium carbonate, and water.
I mixed it using the immersion blender method.
I applied two coats of the mint color and let it dry thoroughly for four hours.
When the paint was dry, I distressed the edges some of the surfaces using 220 grit sandpaper and 120 grit in places where I wanted a more dramatic, distressed look.
Once I had distressed the entire piece, I applied a coat of Minwax Satin Polycrylic.
After the Polycrylic had dried for a few hours, I glazed the entire piece using General Finishes VanDyke Brown Glaze Effects. It really brings out the contours of the piece and adds lowlights to the books and crannies in the details. Make sure to work in small sections and have a damp rag on hand to wipe glaze away quickly as it dries fast!
Once the piece was glazed, I applied another two coats of Polycrylic to protect it. Then I used an awesome scraper tool to get the paint, glaze and finish off of the glass. You could tape it but honestly, this little tool made clean-up so much faster than tediously applying tape and removing it without pealing finish.
Then I added new hardware to the armoire doors.
I love how the glaze makes all the details pop.
This was almost a curbside castaway but I’m so glad I was able to repurpose it and make it a beautiful piece in the nursery!
