Whitewash for the win!

A few months ago, while searching for bedside tables for The House of Goodwill, I found a small, old, oak chest for $60.  It was one of the last pieces of furniture available from two old ladies in a nearby neighborhood who were unloading their life's possessions.  It looked awful.  I'm not sure how old it is, but the drawer was put together without nails, as a clue.

It was dirty, water-marked, and had paint splatters and mold all over it.  It was the right dimensions, though, and I thought I could probably sand and paint it into presentability.  And of course, the price was right.

I always forget to take before pictures, and I really regret it with this one, because there's no photo to prove how awful it looked in the beginning.  I gave it a good sanding, and here is how it looked after that:

I love furniture re-do projects, but boy do I hate sanding.

This was a much more golden color oak before I sanded it; I had to sand it really deeply to get all the water marks, mold and paint splatters off.  But when I was done sanding, the wood grain was so pretty I really hated the thought of just painting over it.  

I thought about re-staining it oak, which would have been beautiful.

But then I considered whitewashing it, something I've never tried before.

I've been trying to lighten the house up, and when imagining this piece whitewashed, I thought it might look really nice.

Here is an up close view of the color change.

At first, honestly, I hated it and thought I was making a mistake.  So I added another coat of whitewash to make it less translucent.  After two to three coats (it took a long time to do!), I decided it was done.

(Isn't the photo bombing dog adorable? 💕  He ALWAYS has to be in the mix!)

I LOVED how it looked when finished!

It came out just how I imagined it.

I am generally hesitant about painting antiques, but this was in such bad shape it was absolutely necessary.  Now it looks like a really nice piece of furniture, instead of an old, junky chest.

Isn't this wood grain beautiful?

I found a bunch of this AMAZING 1970's-era vintage circus shelf liner for a few bucks at an estate sale, and I was waiting for somewhere I could use it in the house.

(I try and insert 1970's details anywhere I can in this groovy 1974-built house.)

My brother had curtains just like this in his bedroom as a child in the 70's.

My husband commented on how much he loved this vintage catch-all dish that I put on the nightstand for his loose stuff.

As we were touring people through the house Memorial Day weekend, I know people just saw furniture and saw furniture.  I, of course, look at every little detail of everything in the house and see the hours of work it took to get it that way.  This bedside table is an example.

But I love the end result!  For $60 and half a tiny can of white paint, (not to mention hours of work!), I got exactly what I wanted.

We were putting some of the finishing touches on the house last week.  "This place has you written all over it," my husband said.  "I love it."

Well, if that's not a compliment, I don't know what is!