NAME: Corinna
LOCATION: Ballard — Seattle, Washington
PAINT USED: Dutch Boy | Tiramisu & Election Blues — both $2 mis-mixes!
This secretary has been in my family for 30 years — thus the hilarious yellow color. Needless to say, it didn't match our robin's egg, ivory, and black bedroom decor! I finally got the guts (after 9 months) to match the colors, and lucked out with 2 cans of $2 mis-mix paint that fit perfectly! I finished it off with hardware from Anthropologie, but I didn't have the guts to remove the original locking hardware. Does anyone have any advice on where to get new locks for the door and fold out desk — the brass doesn't match my silver hardware!
This project was NOT without its bumps. I have never painted furniture, but taping off — even sanding every single piece — was the easy part.
Even though the paint cans had handles, somehow, the can slipped right out of my hand! I had laid paper, but it was no match for the spray, which got all over my legs, the concrete porch, the wall. A word of advice — know the clean-up protocol for a paint before you start with your project, and be ready for mistakes! I should have cleaned it up immediately with soap and water, but I was a total dope and didn't know that!
In the end, the outcome was worth it. I look forward to showing this bad boy off!
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Great job...I really LOVE the colors!
Beautiful piece of furniture, I'm glad you brought out its potential.
Wow Corinna! That looks fabulous! I really love the colors and the accessories!
I agree with everyone above - great colors and a superb job! I cannot notice the brass hardware that you find offensive, and I wonder if its worth the effort to replace it. Or, would it be possible to give it a dark oxidized patina? At least that might help it lose its brassiness without potential problems of removing internal hardware.
so lovely! this motivates me to try painting my old furnitures. i started off with sanding a piece of old coffee table, also 20over years old, but after trying on a small section for quite some time, the wood still looks smooth and very little seem to have been sanded off.
I actually think it looked much prettier in the before picture. Now it just looks like a desk you could get from Pottery Barn with that cliche large wooden letter.
I like the new two-tone paint. How fun!
If your hardware can be removed, you might consider painting it. You can get spray paint in several metallic shades, like brushed nickel, or hammered aluminum. Depending on the condition, you might want to strip it first, then prime. I painted a TP holder with brushed nickel Rustoleum and clearcoat and it's still holding up.
I want a secretary :-( So jealous!
I agree with *ngnerd*, you could spraypaint the existing to match the rest of the hardware.
I love how it turned out! I would not have thought to do the blue inside, but it's gorgeous and I love how the knobs pick up the color.
I have the matching bedroom set that we "inherited" from my husband's family. I painted it white a while ago, but kept the original hardware. Now I wish I had the secretary too!
I like it with the original hardware (and your new Anthro knobs).
Check out Lee Valley Hardware for latches and hinges:
http://www.leevalley.com/us/hardware/index.aspx
And for future painting jobs where you're brushing it on, try the Handy Paint Pail, available in Lowe's, Home Depot and lots of other places. It's a smallish pail with a strap along the side so that you can fit your entire palm through and not have to grip anything with your fingers. This is very secure and it also is much less tiring than holding onto a container for hours on end.
It also has a magnet inside that will hold the metal ferrule of a brush securely when you need to put the pail down to move your ladder, answer the phone, etc. No more paintbrush falling onto the floor or into the bucket!
And last, you can get thin plastic liners for it so that cleanup is easier.
I do a lot of painting and I'm just sorry I didn't get one of these sooner. (No, I don't work for them! I just LOVE this product.)
There is a product called "Oops!" that you can find at any hardware store that will get up the spilled paint. It also removes stuck-on gum, cleans up stickers where stickers ought not to be and removes glue, etc... Great stuff. If you can't find Oops!, then look for graffiti removers.
http://www.taginator.com/
I have this exact same piece of furniture - only without the top part. It's yellow and everything! I got it on ebay - I so wish we had the top part, too, now!
I've thought about having it sprayed the same yellow and refinishing the little yellow details on it - just to spruce it up.
Thanks for sharing your project!!! I love it.
Love it, love it, love it .... and I can relate to your "oops". As for hardware, I love http://www.dlawlesshardware.com - terrific prices and they ship to Canada (where I am) cheap!
I was just at Michael's and saw some darling escutcheons (the hardware that fits over a keyhole) and they look to be the right size for your secretary.
http://www.michaels.com/art/online/search?pageNumber=1&channel=0&search=yes&searchWords=keyhole&type=0&as_fid=1&x=0&y=0&as_fid=1&as_fid=1&as_fid=1
They're not attached to a lock, but you might want to use them to get a more finished look while you search for locks.
If the latch still works, then you could find a touch-up stick of automotive paint, from an auto parts store, matching the colour of the new knobs. Don't use spray paint because it will get into the gaps between the moving parts and gum things up. Remember to pick up a small container of the right solvent in case of a spill. You always will get a better result by removing the hardware before painting it. Don't worry about taking the hardware off. Undo the screws and wiggle or tap the mechanism away from the wood, taking a good look so you remember how it goes back. Allow it a whole day for it to dry and give the mechanism a small drop of oil before reinstalling it. No sense in junking something that works.
I think both versions are lovely but the blue is such a happy colour. Good paint job.
Wow. The bones are so lovely, but the old color was just (in my opinion) heinous - amazing job bringing out the potential! I like that you made the turquoise pretty subtle from the outside when it's closed, and then when it opened it's like a magical jewelbox, ta-dah! (There's something in the way I'm wired that I love beautiful things more if they have a bit of *hidden* beauty that most people can't see right away.) What a burst of pure joy.