31 Day With ME: Waterfall Buffet (Before and After)

 You're back! Good! Today is day 10 into my 31 day series. I keep wanting to put the word 'challenge' in there instead of series, really it's just a series for 31 days but it's a personal challenge for me to see if I can do it. Please visit The Nesting Place for a lot of other partisans.

A lot of you know that I have a booth space in Joplin at Rangeline Antique Mall, and I just finished this buffet to put in there. It occurred to me after writing My Secrets To Second-Hand Shopping, that some readers might not know that I shop to fill my space.

Do you remember the vanity? It sold and I had a huge hole, so I was so happy when I found this great piece.

 I haven't tried milk paint, or chalk paint, I haven't even tried the DIY chalk paint but I tried this method for the first time and wanted to show you the end result.

 I found this waterfall buffet this past summer. It may not appear too bad in the photo, but it is in pretty bad condition. The top is horribly scratched with watermarks and some damage on the door. I didn't plan on fixing any of those things, so a distressed finish seemed to be the way to go.

 First things first, I painted it white...well, I removed the hardware first, then I painted.  Regular ole' semi-gloss generic off the shelf white, some stuff I had in the garage, leftover from painting the fireplace. I did not sand. I did not prime.

 It took two coats and I gave it some time to cure.

 Then, I used sandpaper and went over the edges and details. All that stuff I've done before...

 ...but what I've never done is this: I used dark walnut stain over the white paint. I used a brush and did small sections at a time. Brushed it on and quickly wiped it off with a clean towel. This style of furniture is good to try it on, lots of little crannies for the stain to catch in. You have to move pretty quick though, the dark stain does the trick quickly...and you don't want streaks, that happened on a couple of the doors. I just let it dry, repainted and tried it again.

 It took me a little while, but I really like the effect. Of course the technique toned the bright white down significantly. The thing is, had I used cream/off white as the base paint, it would have turned out too yellow. Starting with white eliminated that, unless of course, you like that look. What I like about this finish is that you can't mess this up...I mean, I have never done this before, but I sure will again when I find another piece of furniture.

 Right now, it is acting as my "Halloween Buffet" in my booth space. I think it's a nice size, not too big. Hopefully someone will give it a nice home. Do you like the back drop? I grabbed some bi-fold doors at a yard sale and painted them in chalkboard paint and did a little chalk art. They provide a nice spooky backdrop for Halloween and I like the dimension and height in the booth instead of the plain peg board. I'll show you more of what's going on in the booth a little later...

So, have you tried this technique before? Did you like how it turned out?