Lighten Up - part 2~
This buffet was pretty in black, but it sucked up all the light in that corner of the room, and with our large chalkboard on the adjacent wall...there was altogether too much black going on over there.
I had been thinking and thinking about what color to paint this buffet, but I was coming up dry. That is until we painted the pretty blue dresser for the living room. "Aha!" thought I. Blue is the answer. Now lest you think that I am going to have painted-blue-furniture overkill going on in my house...let me just say that the rooms are adjacent, but the pieces are far enough from one another that they just help to carry a color scheme from room to room rather than seeming matchy-matchy.
So I painted the little buffet Cafe Blue by Valspar in semi-gloss. I. love. it.
There are about 124802384092809482340 tutorials on how to paint furniture floating around cyberspace...and since I don't claim to be an expert on the matter, I'm not going to add another one. I will give you a couple of pointers that I've learned along the way, however.
1. Primer is your friend! As you can see, I took this piece from a darker color to a lighter color. To make the transition easier, I started off with a coat of Kilz primer. The blue paint took much easier this way, and I only needed 2 coats. (If you've ever tried to paint over black, you'll know that 2 coats doesn't usually work.)
2. NEVER accessorize a piece of furniture until it has had a full 24 (and usually more like 48) hours to cure and dry. You will inevitably have a patch of paint that peels up if you do. Even if you used primer. It always makes me wonder when I watch those one-day makeover shows where they paint the walls and the furniture and then accessorize everything. I'm sure the homeowners end up having to do a lot of touch-ups after that!
3. Don't be afraid to try a color. If you don't like it, you can always repaint. That's the beauty of paint!
So here is the space as it stands now. I've given you a little run down of my plans.

24 comments:
Ooh looking good. Definitely like the game plan! :)
So pretty! I love the color you chose!!
I love it, so cute! I believe most makeover shows are actually done in 3-4 days and are edited to look like one. That's what I've always heard. I haven't checked it out but I do remember reading that in the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy wikipedia.
Ohhh I love that piece of furniture! And the color is fantastic! Can't wait to see how it looks after the accessories are added :)
love your color choice for the table! that shade of blue swoons me. can't wait to see all your dreams for that space materialize!
I love the lighter brighter color! So pretty! I have learned lesson #2 the hard way, more than once actually. I am way too impatient!
Love the new color! Can't wait to see how it turns out, and I feel ya on staying flexible -- I tend to figure things out as I go along, and a lot of the time my plans change! It's more fun that way, right? ;)
Ohhhh - very nice! It looks great. As always, I love the blog!!
Ohhh - very nice! It's looking great. As always - love the blog!!
I love it in blue! Black is great but sometimes you just want a little light in your life.
I love seeing this makeover of the corner in your room come together.
I love the color scheme you are going with it is so inviting and warm, just Beautiful!
Loving the plan! That blue is just perfect.. great color!
Love the color. So bright and fresh!
Happy Wednesday! :)
I do love the blue!
Off topic...what font did you use to "write" on your photos?
I think it looks great! The color is very calming.
It looks great! I have a couple of projects waiting for warmer weather!
Don't you just love Cafe Blue? I used it on my old washstand and it only took two coats also, then use 1 part brown paint and 1 part med. over it. I'm still looking for hardware that's why I haven't posted about it yet:) Love your buffet!
I really like that cafe blue! We have an OLD (like well over the 50 yr mark) cherry veneer vanity which was given to us. So much of the wood in our living room is dark and I've thought about painting the vanity/desk... I think this may work out well since it sits below a picture of a fishing village in France...
ON a side note.... have you thought about adding white knobs to your buffet? (we've done it before but I kept the old knobs so I could change back and forth... Yep queen of indecision here!! ha ha ) And that scale would look lovely sitting under it... Just a thought. :)
Great shade of blue! looks great!!!! i'm looking forward to seeing how you accessorize.... i'm finding that to be the hardest part of revamping my rooms!!
xo,
LuLu
YAY! Yesterday I was actually thinking that table would look SO GOOD a little lighter!! It looks fabulous :)
So cute I dig the blue! Amazing what some paint can do. Paint is my best friend lol! I am a new reader just stopping by to check you out :)
Wow it looks soo much better in blue, I never would have thought. So cute!
Tina
One of the prettiest shades of blue I've seen. It really does lighten it up! Looking forward to what you do with that lampshade!
looks good! i would spray paint the lamp shade in some bright color that coordinates with your table (burnt orange?) then stencil a white design on it. i'm sure anything you do will look great. =)
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