Ugly Credenza gets a Make-over

Hi There!

And so my oldest baby got married last Saturday... he looked so handsome and grown-up! This is a picture of me and him,

 and this one of him and his beautiful bride. It was a really private and sweet ceremony.
I know they will be happy and successful.

Today I am sharing with you my most favorite of projects so far... or do I say that every time? I guess that means I love what I do, right?
I bought this credenza, or buffet, on craigslist, looking very sad with a "most unfortunate" paint job...
But, I loved its lines, and only learned after that this is typical a mid-century piece.

It stayed at my front door for quite some time, waiting its turn to get an "extreme make-over".
Of course I forgot to take a before picture.....( have decided to take pics of the pieces as I purchase them, so as not to have this "particular" problem again...We'll see how that goes...)

At least I can show you what the two discarded drawers looked like...and that is a pretty good indication of the state of the rest of the piece. Bad, gloss black paint finish, with drip marks and peeling paint (not the nice kind, either) everywhere. These two drawers did not fit snugly, as a result of some swelling, or slight warping? I don't know, but they seemed too big for the space.
So, thanks to many other bloggers before me who have paved the way, I knew that I could just leave them out, and turn the empty spaces into shelves.

I had a completely different plan for this piece, but when I started sanding and saw the beautiful wood tone underneath , I changed my mind. (I think its actually just really thick veneer, but it still had a lovely warm tone.)

The doors had a sweet little black line in the wood, which I thought deserved a second chance to shine. So I sanded them down, and stained them a beautiful warm tone. Along with new hardware, they look awesome, don't you think?
I did the same with the top, but then painted a checkered black and wood pattern on it.

The drawers got a reverse stencil of 1,2,3, with numbers I printed off the computer, cut out, and sprayed with spray on glue.

The shelves on the bottom are now ideal for a DVR, or displaying of your favorite crockery.

I took this one to our booth at Armadillo Antique mall, Goodyear, and it sold within 24 hours!
I would have liked to keep it myself, too!
Now I have to get painting to get stuff in the booth before I leave for South Africa for two whole months.....    


                  Love,