The Punisher! (It's another armoire, yo.)

Well, folks.  I finally finished the armoire that I had initially picked up for my mom for Christmas (but then realized it wasn't the "right kind"  she was wanting, and ended up going with this one instead).  I'm calling this piece "The Punisher" since it punished me, right to the end!  This is one of those pieces that you sit and think a few times about throwing it out in the alley...but in the end, you're pretty glad you didn't.

(Harsh, eh?)

I told in you the post about my mom's armoire that I picked this up in early October.  It popped up on my local CL (which usually NEVER has good stuff!) listed as a dresser, and was so reasonably priced, I was pretty sure it'd be gone when I wrote an hour after it was posted.  Surprisingly, it was not, and I was the lucky buyer.  It was a pretty good buy too, because I found out the family was moving and they also had two buffets that came home with me that day.  I'll share those with you eventually.

Anyhow, this thing was a beast.  Luckily the home owner's husband and neighbor were nice enough to carry it out to the trailer for me (despite my attempts to help).  When I got it home, I had to try and get it off the trailer myself since my DH was up north for the weekend, and my neighbors had gone MIA.  I got it off the ramped trailer, and went to stand it up.  Genius here forgot the owner had told me the front foot was off and in one of the drawers, so I stood it up from behind and had one of those slow motion "Noooooooo!" moments as it slowly fell forward, away from me, where I couldn't grab anything to prevent it's fall- and it smashed on it's face.  The door broke off, the support where the door attached to the armoire itself busted off, and the wood scuffed along the entire top and front of the piece.  

Can we all just say, "Auuuughh!" please?  Isn't that like the most disappointing feeling in the world?

At least it's wood.  And if it's wood, it can be fixed.  I pulled it down to my paint room and glued, clamped, pin nailed, filled, sanded, and gave it a thorough wipe down with Krud Kutter.

Okay- enough talk.  Time for pictures.  You haven't even seen the beast yet.  The green beast.

Yes.  She's big.  She's heavy.  And she's green.  I don't know why the previous owners went this route, but they painted EVERYTHING on the exterior green...and not neatly either.

I pulled all the hardware off and stripped it, gave it a good dose of ORB, and then sanded it lightly to bring the details out.  I bought a new piece of backer and attached, and repaired and re-affixed her leg so she'd be a solid piece.  Then I gave the entire thing a light sanding to degloss the paint, and went to painting it.

Since I had already planned on it being gray and white, I painted it in the same paints as I did Mom's armoire, only I lightened the gray a bit with some of the cream.  I started out by painting the entire exterior gray, and then I spent a small eternity taping and trimming the piece in cream.

(sorry- phone pic for the next two!)

I didn't distress this piece because I didn't want the green to show through, so I went straight to glazing it with a burnt umber glaze.  I loved the way it deepened the gray, but not so much how it made the cream look dingy.

I went over those parts with a sanding sponge lightly to try and bring some of the light back through.  I did end up with a tiny bit of green here and there, but in a nice way.  I waxed it, painted the metal wire front with gray, and reattached it.  I used clear wax to seal the piece, and reattached all the original hardware to the lower drawers.  I had to find replacements for the doors though, since one was missing.  Let me tell you, it's hard to find something that looks "right" on those types of doors!  I ended up using some mini knobs I'd previously taken off a dresser.  

I still have to finish some panels for the doors, and have a shelf cut for the top (even though it's the PERFECT size for up to a 32" flat screen), but I moved her into the shop anyhow, and she's getting rave reviews!

I think she's much happier in her "gray life," don't you?

Talk to you soon!

Sharing at:
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