Persistance is key...

It's as Simple as Black & White
or is it white and black...

I started this project what seems like forever ago.  (You can read all about that here).  In all actuality it was about 2 months ago.  When I first brought this piece home, I was overjoyed to be working on a furniture project.  I had great ambition to have it all finished and ready to return to its owner within 2 weeks.

Then life happened…as it always seems to.

One weekend I found the time to sand the cabinet to rough it up a bit.  Then it sat for several weeks until I found the time to prime it.

And that was a nightmare.

The primer wouldn’t stick…it would just peel right off.  UGH!  To say that this was frustrating is so much of an understatement.  SO MUCH!  But I pushed through and sanded and primed again…and again.

And then I let it sit for a week to be absolutely certain that the primer was going to stick.

I checked a few areas here and there to make sure that it was good and primed and no peeling was going to occur.  All seemed good…you know where I am going with this don’t you?

Well, I busted out the sprayer and sprayed the cabinet with two light coats of Martha Stewart Latex paint in Silhouette.  Then used a very fine grit paper to smooth it out.  Everything was going good so I sprayed a final coat of black to the cabinet…then a realized that I forgot to paint the doors.

So I sprayed a few light coats on the doors and let them sit for a few days.

I really liked the way this project was going…it all seemed to be clicking into place.  The cabinet looked awesome!  Its owner was impressed…it’s all good.

And then the nightmare began…again.

I went to sand the doors before putting the final coat of paint on and it all began peeling off.  I don’t just mean a few areas…I mean in big looonnnnggg strips of paint.  In my haste to get the doors painted (after forgetting them) I FORGOT to check to make sure that the primer had stuck.  GASP!  It hadn’t.  Insert long stream of bad words here…no, seriously, longer than that.  I said a lot of not so nice things.  I seriously think my neighbors are afraid of me now.  I may have even thrown a few things around and slammed doors.  I call it painters rage.  I’m just saying.

I suddenly hated this project that I had so much adoration for in the beginning.

I loathed looking at this piece…and yet I left it sitting in my view for ANOTHER two weeks.  I seriously believe that I was secretly punishing myself for taking this project on to begin with…I mean as if I don’t have enough to do with my time.

Once I was certain that the paint was there to stay, I lightly distressed all the edges using a sanding block.  I wiped it all down with a tack cloth then wiped on a coat of Minwax Stain in my all time favorite color…Special Walnut.  I did not remove the excess stain.  Instead, I let it sit for several days to soak in.

After that process was complete, using a cheese cloth, I rubbed on a thin coat of Annie Sloan Clear Wax…waited 24 hours then applied a second coat….waited 24 more hours and buffed it with a soft cloth to achieve a low sheen. 

In the end, it turned out magnificently!  In fact, so much better than I had envisioned.  And totally worth all the frustration when I returned it to my mom knowing how much she appreciated it and LOVED the new look!  Pottery Barn watch out!  There's a new paint brush in town!

Have you had any nightmare projects like this that have turned out WONDERFULLY in the end?  If so, I'd love to hear about them and how you over came your obstacles.

You may find this post partying in the following places:

Monday:  Debbie Doos - The Girl Creative - Skip to My Lou - Craft O Maniac - Lisa's Craft Blog - The DIY Show Off -Everything Under the Moon

Tuesday:  Not Just A Housewife - My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia - Clean and Scentsible - Crazy For Crust - recipes - Uncommon Designs

Wednesday:  Savvy Southern Style - Blue Cricket Design - Seven Thirty-Three - Someday Crafts - Michele Raven Designs/

Thursday:  Delightful Order - Something Swanky - Recipes - The How To Mommy - A Little Nosh         

Friday:  Dwell on Joy- Finding Fabulous - Chic on a Shoestring Decorating - Fingerprints on the Fridge - Shabby Nest - Whipperberry – Miss Mustard Seed - French Country Cottage - Sweet Tooth Friday (Alli-n-son), I'm Lovin' it Fridays (TidyMom), Friday Favorites (Simply Sweet Home), Latest & Greatest Friday (Days of Chalk and Chocolate), Bacon Time, Fusion Friday (Jane Deere Blog