Thursday, July 19, 2012

Caribbean Upcycle

Mr. Dump and I were headed to the beach a few weeks ago and (like we do on every road trip) did a little junkin' on the way.  It was a typical Saturday morning.  Mr. Dump was at the wheel and I was sitting shotgun with my eyes peeled.  With every neon pink, yellow, or green sign, my head would whip around as I grunted for Mr. Dump to stop.  Depending on how much coffee I've had, we are typically by the signs before I see them.  But not this time.  We were sitting at a light, and there it was - the dark black arrow.  "There, there!" I shouted.  Side note: We were not having much luck on that particular day and I could tell that Mr. Dump was losing steam.  Mr. Dump (who was also very anxious to get to the beach) screeched into the turning lane, hoping this would be our last stop.  After we turned, we kept driving, and driving, and driving until finally THERE SHE WAS!  This beauty was sitting in the front yard...


I HAD to have her and was out of the car before Mr. Dump came to a complete stop.  I have been looking for a piece like this since we started this crazy hobby.  The man running the sale was clearly ready to get out of the heat, open a cold beverage, and get his junk (my treasures) off his yard.  After some brief haggling, we carted this around all week at the beach and brought her home.  I decided to tackle this piece while Mr. Dump was at work.  This is how you manage a heavy piece of furniture by yourself...  (and now we all know why muscle relaxers stay in the front of my medicine cabinet!)


Her top was in pretty good shape.  I had hoped to stain it, but discovered that it was covered with a layer of veneer...


She was pretty grimy from her former life by the sea, so I scrubbed her down and let the sun continue to disinfect her drawers while I went to town on the rest.


Since I couldn't stain the top, I loaded on a layer of primer to give it a little extra protection (plus she was used to wearing sunscreen)...


Then came the hard part...  What color would I use???  I have been trying to use up some of the paint in our garage, so I looked at and thought about every color.  None of them were good enough for this piece.  I had a color in mind, and that color was not in my garage.  Even though I was sweating from head to toe, I made a trip to Lowe's to find the perfect color (and hoped that I wouldn't run into anyone).  The first color that I picked up was the color that I had in mind... Caribbean Splash.... PERFECT for my sunbathing beauty!


Pretty soon I was back to work... I lifted her onto the sawhorses (don't ask me how - I think it was my super-strength determination)... and painted several coats with my sprayer...


After painting the drawers, I had to decide... to distress or not to distress??


Here she is now... Perfectly blue... Perfectly distressed... and Perfectly waiting for a good home...


Her side view...


It's not the beach.... but here she is waiting patiently in our booth...


She seems quite happy with her new life...


Time to go outside and sweat!

Happy Junkin'!

Sarah

21 comments:

  1. Beautiful transformation! Awesome fine.
    I am working on a custom one for a customer right now that's almost identical - except they wanted a light one
    They're my favourite dressers
    Hugs,
    Suzan

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  2. LOVE the blue!
    Great job guys!
    Tami

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  3. Lots of nice detail on the drawers! Great color!

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  4. Very impressive! You do an awesome job transforming these pieces.

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  5. BEE-YOU-TI-FUL!!!! She is a Caribbean Goddess! I love, love, love her. Why didn't you bring her up to live with me????

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  6. Wow! I love it! That hardware looks amazing with that gorgeous blue.

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  7. Totally cute!! I love your booth. Great job!!

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  8. Came over from Rustic Restorations to see your beautiful blue dresser. Love the curvy lines. I also love the color in your booth with the rest of your items -so neat and clean.

    Distressed Donna Down Home

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  9. Gorgeous! I'm in love! Why can't I ever find treasures on the side of the road??? Thanks so much for sharing! :)

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  10. She is gorgeous and would look awesome in any house! Thanks for saving her:)

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  11. She looks great! What a lovely find. Your booth looks great! Thank you so much for linking this up to Rustic Restorations Weekend!

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  12. That is a gorgeous piece! Love the color that you chose. :) Megan

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  13. I am inviting you to come and share this in my Show Your Stuff blog hop:
    http://juliejewels1.blogspot.com/2012/07/show-your-stuff-33-upsidedown-brownies.html

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  14. Lovely transformation! Loving that color. Thank you for sharing. Visiting from Mustard Seed. Would love it if you would share this at my Make it Pretty Monday party at The Dedicated House. http://thededicatedhouse.blogspot.com/2012/07/make-it-pretty-monday-week-6.html Wishing you a grand weekend. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

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  15. That color is spectacular! What a great find and I had to chuckle that you toted it around for a week while you were on vacation...now that's dedication. What kind of paint sprayer do you use? I expect that's gonna be my next purchase.

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  16. That came out really nice, I love the color. I am hoping to start my first painted furniture project soon and blue is the color I am using. My husband would never, I mean never, let me pick up something like that on one of our beach vacations! I'm lucky I can pick up shells and stones. You are one lucky lady. :)

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  17. Love the blue! I might try a similar color for my next project - looking for a sort of teal/blue to use.

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  18. Thanks for sharing your fabulous project at Potpourri Friday!

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  19. she would look really good in my house

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  20. I'm so shocked!! At a recent Drs appt, I was thumbing thru LHJ and found your article.I used that exact wallpaper on the ceiling of my previous home!!I am in love with what you did with that piece!
    Beautiful color:0) Just found this site today~
    Would you mind sharing the type of paint you purchased from Lowe's and also the type of sprayer you use.
    janfalco4@sbcglobal.netThanks so much~

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  21. I never would have thought to paint her blue and my first thought when I saw the color in the can was "Oh my" but it's brilliant!!!! I'm going to have to learn to take more risks in my life!

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