I am a big fan of upcycling and not replacing things purely because I don’t like them anymore. I like to repurpose things rather than throw things away. An old BBQ of ours was upcycled into a planter for some Ivy, rather than just being thrown away because we weren’t going to be using it anymore.

 

 

So as Mr Myasthenia Kid is on holiday for the next two weeks, we decided to embark on a project that was years overdue. Back in 2009 I bought myself all new bedroom furniture. However within 18 months to 2 years I managed to spill nail varnish remover not just over one of the bedside cabinets but both. The nail varnish remover ate into the dark stain and left them both looking awful. I was gutted, it had been a stupid accident x2 and since then I never have placed the nail varnish remover on the bedside cabinet. That was a little like shutting the stable door after the horse had bolted.

 

 

You can see how very sad the unit was looking. At this point the drawers had been removed to make sanding easier. Jamie ( hubby) used our little black and decker mouse electric sander to take off the stain from the top of the unit and also on the wood that separated the drawers. We wanted those to be stripped back to the natural pine. It was a very quick job and took no time at all really.

 

 

After sanding we had to give the unit a clean. We used a soft brush to remove the wood from where it had been sanded. Then we gave the whole thing a wash off with some hot soapy water to ensure it was clean and grease free. We then allowed the unit to dry outside in the sun. It was a very breezy day so it dried very quickly. This was going to be the first time we had used chalk paint. I had always been put off before simply due to the amount of work involved in prepping the item that was going to be painted. With most chalk paints you would have to sand the furniture down, then clean it off, then treat all the knots in the wood so that they don’t show through, then paint it and then finally wax the furniture to seal the paint. Just thinking about it exhausted me!

 

I follow a lot of accounts on Instagram that upcycle furniture and through them I heard about Frenchic Lazy range. All you had to do with this paint was ensure the furniture was clean – the paint did everything else, even the wax seal was built into this. As my bedside cabinets were such a state, I didn’t see what we had to lose they couldn’t look any worse than what they currently did. The paint does say that you only need one coat on the majority of items. However as this pine has been stained using a very dark wood stain, I knew it would need 2 coats.

 

 

Just to make it clear we haven’t received any money or gifts for telling you what paint we used. It is purely here to show you so that should you wish to give it a go you can. The paint was purchased with our own money.

 

 

We allowed the cabinet to dry outside as the weather was good and the breeze was helping it dry much more quickly than we had expected.  The second coat went on really easily and looked much better. We were in shock at how good the cabinet was looking.

 

 

 

We used a matt quick drying varnish on the stripped pine. It took around three coats to get the coverage we wanted but it was drying within 20 minutes so didn’t take long at all.

 

Here it is all finished, it is one of those paints that looks a different colour depending on the light. Outside in the photos it looks very blue, the inside photo of the drawer front it looks green – which is much more the colour that it is.

 

 

So now to crack on with the second unit.