Old to New Again!

That's brown paint, not stain!

My friend recently retired (I'm quite jealous) and downsized her house.   About 10 yrs ago she had an old buffet sitting outside in her detached garage.  It had been painted brown at some point and had lived in her parents house for numerous years. She was saving it to someday redo it and put in her house.   Fast forward about 5 yrs and she was thinking about selling it.  I was thinking about buying it to paint and redo it....but then she decided she couldn't part with it.  Fast forward 5 more years and she's retiring --- deserting me at work!  She and her husband downsized to a smaller house and as they purged their house,  and she realized she wouldn't ever have room for the buffet.  She offered it up....and I accepted of course!  After talking with her, I cleared it that she wouldn't mind if I put outside as a potting bench....

I had been wanting a potting bench outside in my garden and had seen several on pinterest made out of old dressers.  This buffet was in really bad shape and I really didn't envision it --- because of the condition --- being inside.  So I decided it would be my new large potting bench.  It was the perfect counter height for a tall person like me!  I borrowed a sander from my daughter, bought spray paint, stain, and lots of varathane (or polyeurothane --- whatever it was) to weather proof it.  I figured I'd likely have to put 4-5 coats of varathane on it and then tarp it in the winter during the rainy season. After all, it spent most of it's time in an old detached garage for the last 10 yrs.

Left = sanded, right = unsanded!

On my 2 1/2 week vacation, I started working on it.  Because one of the small doors was damaged beyond repair, I removed it and the matching one on the other side.  I removed the drawers and started sanding.  I discovered by accident that the hardware could also be sanded to a brighter color!

I sanded as much loose paint off as I could and tried very hard to get the loose paint off the drawers so I could stain them.   After alot of work I was able to start painting and staining.   I'm a confessed spray paint user.  I very rarely use regular paint....

Once the buffet was finished I brought the can of varathane outside to start coating it.  It was at that point that I realized just how beautiful this buffet has turned out ---- and I could no longer bear the thought of leaving such a beautiful object outside!!!   It's now in my living room as my TV table and it looks fabulous!

I LOVE how it turned out!!!