The Armoire - 8 Years in the Making

Have you ever bought something and had grandious plans

to make it into something beautiful?

And then never got around to actually

bringing those plans to reality?

I'm sure if many of you took a quick look into your garage,

patio or storage unit, you can totally relate.

For those of you who are so organized and disciplined that

your projects are completed before even a speck of dust

has tim eto settle on it, first of all,

there has to be something wrong with you....

I'm kidding of course....

I'd LOVE to have that problem trait!

Anyway, this post is about one of those pieces.

I bought this old armoire EIGHT years ago,

when I first started in this business of junkin'.

At that time I was slightly over-buying.

I seemed to have a serious lack of self-control.

(Some of you may relate to this as well.)

I actually bought two entire old bedroom sets,

that included three armoires.

I know, I know...

but I already told you, I had no self-control!

I could literally picture each one of them completed,

each with their own set of beautiful, ornate appliques.

The other two have sold long ago.

But for some reason, the one I had the biggest plans for

just sat and sat....and sat.

Eventually it ended up on my Mom's rear patio.

There it sat some more - 8 years total!

Well, here she is.

A little weather damaged,

which I'm sure many of you can relate to as well!

Oh, I'd say about a second or so after snapping

this photo, she decided to fall forward off of the platform.

Thank goodness my Husband was there to jump in and save her.

Sad, isn't it?

Poor neglected armoire.

She was so loyal, sitting there, patiently, for eight long years.

I had to make it up to her so I hunted around

to see what we could do.

 Now that's better!

With a little moulding and some glue,

she's good as new, or even better actually!

After a TON of sanding,

we went through 4 cans of Kilz.

Then I started to play with my appliques,

trying to find the best combination.

This is pretty much what I had envisioned all those years ago.

 My next step was to add a lighter primer to all the appliques.

The Kilz is much too heavy for the ornate detail of the appliques.

Here's what it looked like after my Husband

added a couple coats of paint with our HVLP sprayer.

After looking at it for a few days,

I realized I didn't like how bright it looked.

I debated on "shabby-chic-ing" it.

(You know, sanding edges and such)

But then I decided to antique it.

I played around with some glaze and stain but it kept separating.

 So then I thought I'd try something new.

I just used the walnut colored furniture stain alone

and dipped a rag in it and started to rub it on.

After quite a while of fine tuning,

I was very happy with the results.

You may have noticed the fan in one of the pictures.

That was because the stain was so oily,

it kept settling around the appliques.

It was taking FoRevER to dry so I actually brought

the fan outside and parked it right in front of the armoire all night!

Finally it all dried and ended up looking really cool.

 So there it is in my space.

The matching dresse/vanity is next to it.

Here are a couple of close-ups of it all done

and in my space at Mission Galleria.

If you have any questions about it,

just email me or post a message.

 I was hoping to link up to Marian's blog party

but I missed the deadline, darn it!

But thankfully I'm able to make it to

Debra's Vintage Inspiration Friday blog party

at Commom Ground! 

Yay!

I've been wanting to participate for quite a while now

and am finally doing it!

Please drop by and check out all the other

lovely bloggers' Vintage Inspiration.

AND I'm linking up to Terrell's blog party

Fabulous Friday Finds 

at Frou Frou Decor!

Hope you all have a super blessed weekend!

Missy