One of the things I had to achieve when moving my art studio into a bigger space was to work within an extremely limited budget. So far we've paid out $1200 for double doors to be put in and the lighting cost $600.
As for furniture, I've taken all the surplus to requirements furniture from within the home & garage and I've moved them into place in the garage. All mismatched. For now thats fine but eventually I want to paint everything white. Walls and bookshelves etc. That way I'll have a blank canvas for all the arty bits & pieces of colour to pop out & brighten it all up. Along with all the white, I'm happy to have a few select pieces of colourful furniture too but not many.
A while ago, I found this cute little cabinet, with short legs on wheels, and 2 drawers. I think it was $20 from my local op shop. I just knew it would make a great little hidden storage area & super useful for putting inspirational magazines or baskets on top too.
You can see my before picture here on the left....
And this is it now below! Oh and I have added drawer handles of course.
Now, how I made it over....
I am not the most meticulous at some things. I'm not very patient either. Good enough sits perfectly fine with me for many things, definitely making over furniture. If that horrifies you, you best move on to another blog.
If you like quick & easy, you've come to the right place. I like quick results.
The drawer unit I bought was covered in brown paint & a thick coating of chipped shellac. The first paint store I went to, I was told that the only way to fix up this little unit of mine was to sand it right back, add a primer & then paint it. I couldn't be bothered with all that so I went off looking for another opinion.
Thing is, I'm not looking to lovingly restore a piece of antique furniture for a dining room masterpiece. I'm just looking to brighten up a cute little piece of furniture for my painting studio in the garage!
Next, I found this fabulous lady at Bunnings who has done the same thing many times and she put me onto a brilliant product.
So, here was my saviour.... Grip Lock Primer. The lady said if I couldn't be bothered sanding, 'this stuff will stick to anything, and anything will stick to this stuff!' Paint it on, paint over it. Simple. Quick. Done! Yessss!
So off I went & primed my little unit, I only did the outside including drawer fronts, not the inside, and waited for it to dry.
I then painted the unit red with spray paint. LOVE spray paint. So quick. I've been using White Knight Squirts.
Next I narrowed it down to these two colour schemes and my dear instagram followers convinced me to go with yellow. So I sprayed the drawer fronts yellow.
I then left the unit to dry overnight before adding a floral napkin [with a white background] with gel medium, over the yellow paint.
Spray matted the drawers with matte spray and left to dry!
And there you have it! Done. Since these inferior quality photos, I have added the handles back on & its become a very cute & functional piece in my studio.
Next mission was to make over my grandfathers old singer sewing cabinet. Again I primed it & I've painted the whole thing yellow. For the moment, its just yellow. I'm not sure if I want to do anything with the doors. But for now it proudly sits in my studio with my old 1980's record player & stereo on it.
And oh how I LOVE having a stereo & record player in my making area! Lots of grooving has been done in here already! See exhibit A below!
Exhibit A:
Do you have any easy peasy lemon squeezy makeover tips for updating furniture? Do share!
