Cedar Wardrobe Transformation

Hello Friends!!  I'm back after a long weekend.  I have been painting, painting, and painting some more for clients the last few days.  I'm plum worn out!!  I haven't forgotten about you though.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day.  My hubby surprised me with a beautiful bracelet this morning from Kay Jewelers (my favorite).  It really was unexpected.  He said I hadn't gotten anything for me in a while and I deserved it.  How sweet is he?  Don't tell him I'm being mushy on here, it might be the last of the bracelets I ever receive.

Today, I'm showing you the transformation of a cedar wardrobe that I just completed.  I got this piece back around Thanksgiving when I traded someone a buffet I had for a fabulous dresser and this great wardrobe that they had.  I rarely pass up a cedar wardrobe if the price is right.  I just looooove the smell of cedar.

Here's the after:

 The before:

 I wished I could take good pictures so that you would be able to see the alligator skin that this baby had.  I mean the whole thing was super scaly (and not really in a good way).  It had been coated with I don't know how many layers of super glossy polyurethane.  So, while it had good bones, cosmetically, it was crying to be rescued.

I sanded the glossiness down using my orbital sander with 120 grit paper.  I knew I was going to distress this piece, so I didn't sand for too long.  I primed it all with Smart Prime by Zinnser from Benjamin Moore in white.

 And I had help from this tiny little guy.

 After priming, I painted two coats of an oops $2 paint I had on hand from Lowe's.  It was a slightly antiqued white.

 There was an old skeleton key that came with this piece and worked great, but there were no handles, so it wasn't the most practical for everyday use and opening and closing.  I decided to put a knob on each door, but needed to drill a hole first.  It's important to use the right size drill bit for drilling your pilot hole.  You want the hole big enough for the screw you're using, but small enough that the thread on the screw will have a little something to grip.  The trick here is holding a screw next to your drill bit and selecting the bit that is just about the same size as the body of the screw (not the threads).

You can see where I placed the hole on the right door.  And if you look really, really, really close, you can see some of the alligator skin on this piece.  That worked out great for me when distressing.  I used my hand sander to distress the entire piece.

 I'm putting the screw in from the inside of the door here so that it can screw directly into the knob on the exterior.

 Here it is with the knob in place (of course, the knob is sprayed with ORB). 

 Here's another little trick for you.  Did you know that you can lightly sand a cedar piece like this (for instance on the inside) to revive the cedar aroma.  Over time the pores on the wood close up or get build up on them.  By sanding it, you completely refresh the piece.

 This piece sold quickly at my booth at De'France once I put it there.

 

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Knick of Time