Painting Furniture

Okay, one of my favorite things lately has got to be refinishing furniture and looking at blogs of people who refinish furniture. You know you've seen them - befores and amazing afters. And they make it look so easy. It really is. Just go on Craigslist and buy old grama furniture - it has to have good bones and be real wood. But some people sell it for practically nothing and some people even put it out in the dumpster or take it to Goodwill. Here are my recent projects...

I'd been looking for armchairs for my entry way room (living room, visiting teacher room) forever. These beauties are what I found. I thought I was going to reupholster them. And I even bought fabric. But it didn't look good in the room and would have been exhausting to do - maybe someday. Instead I figured I'd just paint them. It took 2 days but I think they're gorgeous and shabby and look great in my front room. They're too short for Jim but just the right size for me and the kids. Love them.

Sarah and Annie have had Gracie's old changing table/dresser in their room forever and it finally fell apart. The door was hanging off of the cupboard and one drawer had totally broken off the track. Hooray for the durability of Target furniture... This is the replacement piece I found. I love the scalloped edging and beautiful feet.

I spray painted it Heirloom white and added new drawer pulls (thank you Ikea). I need stuff to go on top of it but it is huge and gorgeous and will be with us forever.

The same people who sold us the dresser had a cute little bedside table that matched. We needed a new one in our living room, so I did it up in black and distressed it a bunch. It looks perfect!

So my advice: go get some old furniture, pull out the spray paint and go for it. Who need to spend tons of money on new pieces when you can just refurbish old ones???