oh my buffet!

Some people call it a sideboard but I call it a buffet. No matter what you call it, it's such a great piece of furniture. Those legs! The designs! The storage without overcrowding the space! It's perfect and I wanted one. But they don't make them like they used to and even if "they" did, I wouldn't spend $500+ on one. I also knew no one would have it in the color I pictured for my gray & white dining room.

here's the style I like:

but I wanted it to look like this buffet painted by European Paint Finishes

I just love it and wanted to do something similar. So I searched. And searched. And searched for probably 2 months for a buffet on Craigslist that met my budget. I got bupkis. I didn't give up. Then one day in a town 40 minutes away there was an old buffet in someone's storage unit that called my name. It was darker than I wanted and in rougher shape than I imagined. But it had wheels!! I went. I loved. I painted.

 

But first I did something only a rookie would do. I tried to take off the veneer. I know you just winced and maybe got a little angry. I get that way too just thinking about it. But if you only saw the shape it was in you would try to fix it too. Okay, maybe not. I took off about 25% of the top before realizing it was a bad idea. Then it sat in our garage for about 3 weeks before I tackled it again.

I headed over to my local hardware store for some wood filler and a sander. While browsing through hand sanders I heard someone ask "whacha lookin' for?" Paranoid and distrustful I brushed off the older gentleman with the long fuzzy gray beard and said "just some sandpaper."

He continued, "what are you working on?"
"Just a piece of furniture." Leave me alone.
"Oh, well I refinish furniture too, maybe I can help."


Sigh.


He then proceeded to explain to me everything and anything I could know about sanding manually. I casually said I was using a bit of wood filler to fix some problem areas. He asked what problems. I hesitated. He was a wood purist and I knew what his reaction would be if he found out I defaced a perfectly nice veneered buffet from the 1930's. I told him that the top veneer had been partially removed. The curious old man pressed further, "how did that happen?" I'm a pitiful liar.

"I did it." I frowned shamefully.

"Oh, I see" he kindly stated, "well I won't chastise you for that, but you probably should have left it alone".

I knew very well he was right and that's why I was standing in the sandpaper aisle, trying to find a remedy for my mistake. He gave me very useful information on how I should approach my boo-boo and then wished me the best of luck. I saw the doubt in his eyes. I thanked him and grabbed my supplies and headed home.

My first step was filling in the spots I took off the veneer then sanding it as smooth as possible. It wasn't easy. I did my best. You can judge me if you must.

After I sanded it down really good I vacuumed and cleaned the piece really well. I wanted to keep some wood detailing because I love when pieces have some of their original character mixed with paint. I cleaned up the hardware, which was REALLY nasty before scrubbing it with silver cleaner and lemon juice.

I wanted to use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Florence but it wasn't at my local shop when I painted this piece. Because I have such great luck it was made available a week after I completed this buffet. Oh well. I made do with Benjamin Moore Paint & Primer in 1 in Juniper. What a color!!!! I used 2 coats on the body and 3 coats on the top surface. I love it. It adds so much character to the dining room!

Paint...on a budget

I have wanted to paint our piano room since we moved in. I spend many hours a day there, I teach there, and I need it painted. Like now. But I couldn't decide on a color. It needs to exude relaxation and peace, at the same time be welcoming and inviting. Enter Restoration Hardware paint in Silver Sage, like this room below:

contemporary dining room design by sacramento interior designer Kerrie L. Kelly

eclectic kitchen design by austin interior designer Van Wicklen Design

contemporary family room design by los angeles interior designer Zuniga Interiors

It's blue, it's green, it's gray...and it can hold it's own as a neutral. I love it. Our beautiful dark mahogany baby grand will look stunning next to this color. Normally it's $39 a gallon...yowza. I will need 2 gallons for the room, so I told myself to research some more. I called RH and it's on sale right now for $33, that's pretty good. Still not good enough.

Benjamin Moore makes a color that's a 95% match called Grey Wisp, according to a great website Color Charts that let's you search any color and find matches in other brands.

Shermin Williams makes a color very close called Comfort Gray. If you read this great great thread here you will see that a couple people actually have RH Silver Sage on their walls used SW Comfort Gray and despite the color charts looking different, it's an EXACT match. I believe that.

Quite honestly I don't trust the big boxes to get my color right. It's a delicate blend of blue, green and gray. Any more blue and I wouldn't like it, and more green and I would hate it. This color is really perfect for me.

Alright, now to price it out. BM and SW are still pricey (in my opinion). What I found out though, SW is starting a sale tomorrow 4/20/12 and paint is 40% off for 3 days. That's more my speed. High quality paint at very affordable prices. I'm heading over tomorrow morning to grab a couple gallons of their high end paint and get to the piano room painted!

 I'm so excited.