The beauty of blog photographs is that you can crop chaos out or pull back far enough that readers don’t see the unsightly state of furniture.  People want pretty.  Unfortunately, that’s also what leads others to believe you’ve got it all together when really most of us bloggers are like ducks, calm on the surface but paddling like hell underneath.  With that in mind, I bring you my Monet of a media stand.  From a distance all you see is a pretty, plain black media stand.

Until you see her close up.

Before

I won’t be offended if you have to shield your eyes, lol!  We purchased this media stand eight years ago from Walmart after replacing our massive tube tv for a flat screen.  It has been through three moves, two children slamming toys, two dogs whamming dog bones, and hundreds of drippy sippy cups and sticky jelly fingers just to name a few.  Over the years I would touch up chipped paint with a permanent black marker.  Safe to say we are finally past the point of no return.

Now, it would be just plain awesome if I could replace it with a beautiful new, larger piece of furniture.  I’ve got my heart set on this one.  Unfortunately our couch that we’ve had for eleven maybe twelve years decided that now was a great time to start falling apart at the piping.  Replacing two large pieces of furniture at the same time isn’t my idea of fun.  Let’s rephrase that.  It’s not our bank account’s idea of fun.  The media stand will live to see another day, but a refresh is in order.

Refresh

I’ve partnered with Amy Howard at Home to bring you this post.  The materials used we’re provided to me at no cost.  I’ve used her paint before on my patio planters and loved the result, so I was really looking forward to trying it out on furniture.  I initially planned on refinishing this using Amy Howard’s paint sprayer, however, this makeover was done during the days following Hurricane Harvey so taking a piece of furniture outside wasn’t an option.  Instead I kept the piece indoors, covered the floor with paper, and painted by hand with a brush.

Before painting I gave the media stand a good cleaning with Clean Slate to remove any dust and kid junk.  Once dry I was ready to paint!  This is a chalk based paint so there is no need to sand down the furniture.

I went with Amy Howard’s One Step Paint in Basic Black.  In the photo above the areas that are already painted are the matte charcoal areas.  Below, the entire piece has been completely covered in one coat of the paint.  I definitely isn’t a deep black all on its own.  While I really did like it this matte charcoal finish, I really wanted a deeper black and protective wax finish.

Next up was a coat of the Clear Wax.  The wax deepened the color of the black and gave it a soft, velvety sheen.

I’m going to be completely honest with you, I ignored the suggestions of how to apply this and messed it up.  No matter how “good” you think you are, always read the instructions!!

What I did (the wrong way):

Get a quarter size amount of wax and rub it into the furniture with a cotton rag.  DON’T DO IT!  While I was spreading and working that wax around it was just plain too much.  No matter how many times I went back trying to buff it off, I couldn’t get the cloudy look to go away in some areas.  I still love how it came out, but I know it could have been so much better had I done it the right way!

What you should do (the right way):

Use a brush to lightly apply the wax.  Load only the tips of the bristles with the wax, and then offload excess on a piece of cardboard before applying it to the furniture in a “cross hatch” pattern.  I highly suggest watching their video about wax here.

After

I know this isn’t a dramatic before and after because I didn’t change colors, but I am thrilled with the result.  All of the abuse the stand has seen over the years was erased in about two hours!  That’s what I love so much about this paint.  Immediate gratification without the hassle of having to strip old paint and wait forever for new paint to dry.  It looks and feels like a much nicer piece of furniture now.  Money was saved by salvaging this piece and I can put the savings towards having to replace the couch.

Before you toss it out, donate it, or sell it, try giving it a refresh.  You might end up loving it again!

SHOP THE LOOK:

SHOP THE PAINT PRODUCTS:

Disclosure: The products used in this post were provided to me by Amy Howard at Home.  All opinions are completely my own.  For more information about my disclosures, click here.

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave