Peacock Blue Twin Bed

A little bit of paint turns a ho-hum before...

Into a dramatic after!

Okay, not that dramatic.  Especially since I was way too busy last week to do anything but throw the frame into the front yard and snap a picture.  I'm also way too busy to properly maintain our yard - that's why it looks so depressing.  Although, to be fair, it was an unbearably hot summer and the grass only recently turned green again.  And that's my neighbor's crazy bush, not ours.  We call it "The Murder Bush" because it completely covers her front porch and if I was a nefarious murderer looking for an easy place to hide before leaping onto some unsuspecting person, that would be it.  We used to have one too, but they luckily removed it before we moved in.

Unfortunately, it left a large discoloration on the bricks.  You can see it directly behind the bed in this picture.  Anyone know how to get that off?  One day I'm going to add some curb appeal to our house and it would be nice if it didn't look so dingy.

Anyway, back to the bed.  I finished it a while back and everything was fairly straightforward except for my attempt at glazing.  It looked beautiful around the carving details, but when it came to large flat areas it just looked dirty.  I obviously wasn't doing something right.  Luckily, I only glazed the headboard, so I didn't have to repaint the entire bed.

I think it's super cute and wish I still had a girls' room so I could keep it.  I listed it for $125 on Craigslist and it just sat there.  Not a single e-mail.  Pretty discouraging.  I'm not used to things not selling right away, so I aggressively dropped the price to $75.  Not nearly the profit I was hoping for, but it must have been the right price because I suddenly had several buyers.  I love having back-ups, because anyone who has ever sold something on Craigslist knows about those annoying no-shows.

So here's the profit break-down:  I bought the bed off of Craigslist for $25.  I spent $25 (or $24.32 - something like that, after taxes) on a quart of Martha Stewart paint in Plumage and Minwax Wipe-on poly in Satin from Home Depot.  So, total investment, $50, for a $25 profit.  Not that great.  However, I had to buy the paint and poly anyway to finish another project, so my "glass half-full" brain likes to think of it as a $50 profit, which sounds so much better even if it's technically not true.

Bedside Tables - After

They're FINALLY finished!

Silly me, I thought this would be a fairly quick job. (Don't I always think that?)  Unfortunately, they took two weeks to complete from purchase to listing - but that's what happens when it's 108 degrees.  I didn't want to move my workbench (who are we kidding - it's an air hockey table in the garage) into the house, so that meant my time was limited to really early and really late.  And I don't wake up really early if I can help it.  I don't even like waking up kind of early.

Remember the before?

Here they are now!

As I mentioned in this post, the wood was incredibly dry and the finish was peeling and flaking off.  I completely sanded the old finish off the tops and stained them a beautiful color:  Minwax Jacobean.

It was my first time staining and one top looks fantastic (pictured below), the other was a little splotchy.  I probably should have used wood conditioner.  Live and learn.

The goal was to use supplies I already had on hand to maximize potential profits.  I'm a big fan of color, so the only white I had on hand was a quart of custom-mixed semigloss from four years ago.  I kid you not.  It was one of those cans I probably would have discarded long ago if I ever bothered to find out how to properly dispose of paint.  (I think latex is okay to just throw out, right?  I mean, I wash it down my sink.)  Sorry to disappoint you if you needed the paint color, but it's just white with gray undertones.

(Totally off topic:  Did anyone see that episode of Sarah's Summer House where her husband Alexander is joking that all of her off-whites are really just white and Sarah was trying to keep her cool?)

The bedside tables definitely needed a coat or two of primer.  But since I didn't have some on hand (and I was trying to be cheap), I skipped that step.  Which meant that I had to do about 3 1/2 coats of paint.  It stuck well because the wood was so dry, but the dryness also meant the wood soaked up the paint like a sponge.

I spray painted the original hardware with oil rubbed bronze.  I also spray painted the grates, but you can't really tell, so that was a complete waste of a couple of yards of Frog Tape (which the boyfriend brought home as a present - isn't he the best?).  I went back and forth between glazing them or not, but in the end I think the details look pretty nice without the glaze, so I skipped it.  Honestly, I'm a little hesitant to try glazing on a product I want to sell since I've never done it before.  And sometimes things are better left undone.

I listed them this morning for $150 for the pair and hopefully they'll sell around that point.  That's on the high end of what I usually sell things for, but they are very solid, wood furniture and I put a lot of work into refinishing them.  In the end, I did buy new brushes and the stain, so my total investment (not counting my time) is $45.  As a rule, I always try to get about three times my investment.  I don't always get that - especially if I resell a piece without doing any work to it (love the flip pieces!) - but it's a nice place to start.

This brings up a topic I've been wanting to kind of address.  I'm obviously not at the point in the furniture rehab business that I'm making a living.  I hope to one day make more money, but right now I'm still learning and amassing supplies, so I'm happy when my profits cover groceries for the month.  One day I'll get a paint sprayer and be able to turn over a piece in a couple of days rather than two weeks, but right now I'm okay with doing a couple of pieces a month.

I've had a few private debates with myself about detailing on this blog the amount of money I buy and sell furniture for.  I don't want it to come off as braggy in any way (although I love bragging about a good deal I scored).  I would hate for someone who bought a piece of my furniture to one day find this blog and feel like I ripped them off because they paid $150 for something I paid $45 for.  However, I'm not running a charity and profits have to be made.  I don't think this blog will ever be a go-to source for tutorials, but I want to be upfront about the money so that another mom reading this blog who is maybe thinking of rehabbing furniture themselves will be able to learn a little from my experiences.

Anyway, sorry things got so wordy.  Have a happy Friday and I'll be back on Monday to show you my latest awesome Craigslist score (this one is for keeps... I think.)

 

A Tale of Two Paintbrushes

I'm a big girl and all, but I have to admit that my mommy still buys my paintbrushes for me.

My mom, Queen of Bargain Hunting, is constantly finding high quality paint brushes for around 50 cents.  One time she had to pay 80 cents, and she almost didn't buy them (true story).  Since I paint a lot (way more than is normal), she always picks me up a handful. 

I'm really terrible about taking care of my brushes.  I usually designate one per paint color and only keep them if they're in really good condition.  And if I use oil-based paint - forget about it.  The rumor is you can use mineral spirits to clean your brushes after oil paint (says so right on the can), but I can't be bothered to test that theory out.  Not for 50 cents (or, technically, free) brushes.

However, with all the painting I've been doing lately, I ran out of stock.  So I braced myself and headed to pick up some paint brushes.

The key to a good paint job (especially on furniture) is in the quality of the brush.  That's why people spend $15-20 on a brush.  But I'll let you in on my paintbrush source and you'll never feel the need to spend that much.

That's right.  Big Lots.

I'm not a HUGE Big Lots fan.  Like most other stores, they have their good points and their bad points.  Just because it's there, don't automatically believe it's a great deal - because a lot of times their prices are higher than regular stores.  But I have gotten good deals there - like my Kodak EasyShare.  It was not refurbished (like a lot of Big Lots electronics) and was $15 cheaper than everywhere else I looked.  Sure, it can't take a decent picture in my cave of a house, but it takes great action kid shots.

Anyway, they have a paintbrush selection that is super cheap.  I've used their paintbrushes in the past and been pleased, so I had no issue with going straight there on the search for cheap paintbrushes for my dining table project.  I'm using oil-based paint for super durability, but since I don't clean them - there's no way I was going to spend $15 a brush.

The oil paint I am using suggested that I use a natural bristle paintbrush.  That's something I've never tried - so I had no idea what I was looking for.  I found this 3-pack for $2.  It said it had "Pure Bristles" which I guess means the same thing.  For only $2, I figured I could afford to give them a whirl.

Not surprisingly, these brushes were crap.  They shed like crazy, got terrible coverage, and left very prominent brushstrokes.

No more "Pure Bristles" for me.  Luckily, I had also tossed one of these in my basket.

I used this brand before and been pleased with the results.  It's called Painter's Essentials - and it might be a Big Lots brand for all I know.  I've never seen it anywhere else and they always seem to have them stocked.  I bought the 1 1/2" angled because of the detail on the chairs I was working on - $2.20.

My new, slightly less cheap, brush, worked wonders.  Smooth, even coverage - very few brushstrokes.  I went back yesterday and bought a couple of more to finish up the project.  The 2" brush sells for $2.50 at my Big Lots - in case you were curious.

So, before you run out and spend $15+ dollars on a paint brush, check out Big Lots.  You might get a bargain.