My new tv stand

A couple of weeks ago, we got a new tv stand. Our old one wasn't very tall and Alex kept climbing up on it, so it was time to get a different one. I originally wanted one that was taller and not so wide. I knew I would be getting a used one and painting it. I started checking craigslist every day, but didn't see anything. One day, I had to run some errands and ended up stopping by a Goodwill. I saw a dresser that would work as a tv stand. I really liked it, but it was longer than what I wanted. And I wanted to make the decision with Dan. So I didn't get it. I then went to Salvation Army, nothing. Then, I stopped at another thrift store, American Way, and lo and behold, there was the exact same dresser there! And it was half the price of the one at Goodwill. I figured it must be a sign! Lol. I mean, really, what are the chances you find the EXACT same dresser at two different thrift stores on the same day?

I took a picture of it and sent it to Dan's phone. He was working though. I knew he would be on his lunch break soon, but he never texted me back. So, I left. A few hours later, he texted me and said he liked it. So basically, he came home, I got the van all ready-took out the car seats, laid the seats down, put down a blanket, etc. I figured if it wasn't at American Way, it would probably be a Goodwill. So I drove to American Way, and it was gone! Bummer, because it was only $30.

I went to Goodwill and it was still there. I bought it, but it wouldn't fit in the van, so I took home the drawers and this one came with a really large mirror (the other one didn't). And the one at Goodwill was in a little better shape then the other one. Dan went back the next night with rope to close the back door of the van and got it home.

Here is the before.

It's not the best quality, sorry. And there is a board of some type on top of it.

It's just your typical, 70's kind of furniture. However, it's a solid piece of furniture. Not like the junk they make today. And it has a TON of storage, which is why I really wanted to get it. I got it for $60.

I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. My friend Tara, recently painted a dresser this really pretty blue color. So, I copied her and got the same paint color! *thanks Tara* :)

One of the blogs I follow, All Things Thrifty does A LOT of glazing furniture. I've always wanted to try it out. Here is an example of what she does and what glazing is. *click to enlarge, you can see so much more detail.

You buy mixing glaze and add paint to it. You paint it in the crevices of the furniture, then wipe it off and it stays in the nooks, crannies, ridges of the furniture and really makes the detail pop.

So that was my plan with this dresser. This dresser didn't have as many places for the glaze to stay, like the example, I showed you.

Here is the dresser, all primed and ready to be painted.

Here she is, all painted and purdy. :)

Here is a before picture one of the doors. This is pre-glaze.

And the color is off. I could never really get a picture of the dresser with the true blue that it is.

Here is the door, after the glaze.

Can you see the difference the glaze makes? See how you can see the detail better?

(Please say yes, or it was all in vain...)

I also added glaze on the top and bottom. Do you see the dark lines?

Here is another before

(along with the flash making the blue look off)

Here, the left door is glazed and the right one is not. Can you see the difference between the two doors? It's not the best picture, sorry.

Here is a shot of it all done. I used the original hardware and spray painted it black. I think it looks really nice.

Another shot of the glazed drawers.

It's one of those projects that looks so much better in person. I hope the picture enlarges, so you can see more of the detail.

I thought glazing was going to be really easy. And technically, it was, but it was just very time consuming. This seriously, took me hours and hours to do. I didn't want a messy glaze look, where it kind of looks dirty. In the example, I showed you, she did that and it looks great, but I didn't think it would go well with this project. So, it was hard to wipe the glaze clean. Plus, the crevices on this dresser weren't very deep, so I had to be careful not to wipe all the glaze off of the crevice, but still try and get it off, on the other parts where I didn't want it to be. I had to reglaze a lot of spots.

Overall, I'm very pleased with how it turned out and am looking forward to glazing more things. Now, I just have to redo the colors in my family room, since the blue doesn't match some of the stuff I have in there. Honestly, the arrangement of my family room bugs me a lot, but there's not a lot I can do about it. I am going to try and work on improving it and make it look nicer.

*the overall cost for this was about $100, after buying spray primer, paint and glaze. Not too shabby, considering something like this would be more than triple that amount in a store.