Just Tryin' to Make Cents of it All: I WONDER WHAT MY MAMAW WOULD SAY IF SHE SAW HER BUFFET NOW!

Pin It I don't know how, out of the three of us sisters, I managed to score the ownership of Mamaw's buffet. You know the kind I'm talking about...not all that attractive, very brown, but useful. I've had it for a couple of years now, moving it from one house to the next, not really paying much attention to it. Until one day last year I looked at it through different eyes. Not sure what triggered it but something sure did.

I suspect it was this gorgeous napkin and plate I ran across at Pier One. I think they only had one of each and they were less than $5 together. I don't know what drew my attention to them...color?....the design? We may never know the answer to that. Regardless, I brought them home.

And of course, like most of my projects, there they sat. And sat. And sat some more. Until one day, that trigger went off and I looked at the napkin....and back at the buffet.....and then back to the napkin....etc. You get my point.

I couldn't get started fast enough. Well, actually Nancy had flown in to spend a week and harassed me to start it.

THE PROCESS:

First, let's be clear - I did NOT strip the finish off of this buffet! I'm entirely too lazy for that. I knew since I would be painting it with acrylic paint, I could just prime it and go. I'm partial to the Home Depot Gripper for priming just about anything. My "non-DIY" sister turned me on to that awesome stuff. Thanks Julie! I primed the entire buffet. Okay, not the inside. Again, I was too lazy to paint the inside...

After priming it, I knew I wanted a creamy background so I used some Sherwin Williams Shitake Mushroom that I had leftover from painting the family room. It was perfect! I then just got to work. I didn't draw the design on the drawers first, I just free handed it. The design is very funky and forgiving so you just kind of let go and do it. I inherited all of my mother's craft paint plus I had a few sample tubs that I had picked up from Home Depot. I don't know if it's "illegal" to mix acrylic and latex and didn't really care. After completing the two drawers, I used a really thin Sharpie to outline everything and it really made the colors pop. One word of caution....you can't paint over sharpie with a poly coat. For whatever reason, I decided to test it in a very small spot and boy am I glad I did! I'm not usually that cautious about things but for some reason there was a little voice inside my head telling me to test it. So for this reason, you definitely wouldn't want to do this on anything or anywhere you needed a protective poly coat. Yea, I probably should have a poly coat on these drawers but really, this thing rarely gets used so I figured I'd take my chances. I DID however use a poly coat on the top. I didn't use a sharpie to highlight anything on the top.

So here is the new and improved buffet. I just wonder what Mamaw would say!