Project Description
It’s always fun to breathe new life into an old piece of furniture. I’m talking real wood pieces here; not that cheap, single-lifespan particleboard stuff that would never stand the test of time. Woodworkers used to build their pieces with better quality materials and meticulous joinery, which meant they lasted much longer. These methods also lend themselves well to re-finishing and re-creating pieces, or as the hipsters have now dubbed it, Upcycling.
For this piece, I found an old mid-century-modern style night stand on craigslist. For FREE. My favorite!! You can always spot a well made piece worth re-finishing by the way it was put together. Observe Exhibit #1 (dovetail joints). I decided to go with paint for 3 reasons:
- The wood veneer was in rough shape, so filling the dents and hiding them with paint was the best solution
- I don’t like to expose myself to the nasty chemicals in most finishing products
- As much as I love the natural look of wood, it is NOT A CRIME to paint over wood!
When you consider something like a piece of furniture to be more like a blank canvas, you really open up to the limitless possibilities of what it might be. This one was a product of the paint I had available coupled with inspiration from the beautiful west coast forestry where I live. The result is a completely new (looking), one-of-a-kind furniture piece that is ready to be loved for another 50 years. Now that’s a trend I can get on board with.
