The first coat of paint with a refinishing newbie

Our resident Texan is trying her {freshly manicured} hands at painting her very first piece of furniture!   Here is a little more about her adventure...

Hi y'all....my name is Melanie and I have worked at The Old Lucketts Store for goin' on two years now.  I have had the pleasure of watching these talented ladies bring in what I thought was "junk" and turn them into whimsical, beautiful one-of-a-kind treasures.

I sat back with wonder thinking "Ya think I could do that"? After many months, I finally got the nerve to ask my co-worker and friend Heather if she might be interested in "tutoring" me on how to paint furniture.  


Here's the little cupboard.  He was very dry from sitting in my sun room!  A perfect project for painting!

The paint aisle can be sooo intimidating for a first timer.  I won't lie, there were a few {okay many} calls about what paint color and type of paint to get. I am definitely a "question asker" and thought I just might drive Heather crazy!!

I settled on Butternut Squash by Behr in a semi-gloss finish for the top coat.  We're using Maison Blanche La Craie in Vanille as a base coat.

Thou Shalt Protect Thy New Manicure...

Look at the intense determination!  I'm removing the hardware before painting because I want to leave the hardware au natruale. 

Here goes the base coat.  What you can't see is me asking "Can I mess it up?  What if I do? Can it be fixed? Do you ALWAYS have to use a primer? Does it HAVE to be perfect?"

{First timer tip:  paint WITH the grain of the wood like Melanie is showing here.}

Drips worry me.  Oops, found some!  Catch them while they're wet and smooth them out --- and it's not a big deal!  Use long even strokes when painting and you'll limit drips.

Here comes the butternut squash top coat!  After the base coat dried, I added my semi-gloss paint on top.  Again, be sure to work with the wood grain.

After everything dried, I added a coat of clear wax and the original hardware was put back on.  I'm sure I had that same concentrated look I had while taking the hardware off  :  )  

With a bit of nudging and encouragement on this cold and wet day at the shop, Heather walked me through the process. Guess what? I did it!!!  And here the cupboard is out in my sun room.  Success!

Thanks for following along with me.  After years of being timid about trying a project like this....AND succeeding.....I am HOOKED!!!

Love,
Mel