A Bold Vintage Buffet Makeover {Before & After}

I really have furniture flips on the mind these days 🙂 Hot off my time with the Clean Foundation at the annual #FixItFair where I did a presentation in front of people about my love for rescuing old things, I figured I should probably share my latest conquest with you. It took me a while to get this bold vintage buffet makeover on the blog because, well, to be honest, I wasn’t sure where to shoot it.

It is HUGE. And it took Dan and I about a month to decide a) where to put it and b) how to move it. We ended up having to take it out the back door, around the yard, up the driveway, up the front stairs to the main stairs to the top of the second floor where it is now. (Did reading that make you tired? Because believe me when I tell you my arms still hurt and I’m still swearing like a trucker because it was SO HEAVY.)

But I love the piece and I was so happy to have a big, juicy project I could dig into over the early fall. This buffet required a LOT of rehab. Here’s what she looked like when I brought her home for a cool $28.

This furniture flip was NOT for the faint of heart. Here are the steps I took to fix it up (with links where I actually broke it down into posts)

Clean and CLEAN AND CLEAN (guys – there was SO MUCH MOUSE CRAP in this thing…)
Sand and strip veneer (this was kinda fun)
Prime and seal with a stain blocking primer
Paint three light coats with chalk-style paint in Cascadia Green (sanding between coats)
Wax to seal the paint
Remove broken glass inserts and replace with new Plexi-glass
Repair broken hardware and paint it all Oil Rubbed Bronze to match
Line shelves with Fabric

All in, this piece took me more than five weeks to complete. FIVE WEEKS. And I don’t think I was a slacker 😛

I am most proud of the way the drawers turned out. The sanding and removal of the veneer was definitely the most labour intensive part of this project. But uncovering that silky looking maple was totally worth it.

I also had to learn how to cut Plexi-glass. Hard to believe I’ve never done it before. I was going to do a whole post on it, but it’s dead easy. You measure, score with a utility knife a bunch of times and then it snaps. It took some muscle and Dan helped me with that part. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.

I love the flirty fabric on the shelves. Where the piece sits now, I have it full of my off-season white dishes and the polka dots really give it a playful vibe.

I’m looking forward to playing around more with this piece to see how functional it can be for us. l’m sure, just like everything else, I’ll change it up a million times before settling on something permanent!

I don’t have a post planned for next week. I guess this is the new way of life for me with a job and a baby and a blog and all that 🙂 If you’ve been watching my InstaStories, you’ll have seen that we’ve FINALLY decided on a colour scheme for the main floor of the house and I’m beyond pumped to get going. I’ve been living in a white box for almost two years and it feels incredible to make progress on adding personality and colour back into my home. We are basing our plans on our favorite painting. So maybe I’ll fill you all in on where my head is in that regard and show you the small portion of wall I’ve already painted – NAVY!!! Squeeeeee!!!!

Chat soon! – E