Lexington Desk and Hutch in Cloud White

When I finish a furniture makeover, I almost always want to keep it.   In the process of refinishing and restoring a piece, I fall in love and want to use them in my own home.  It recently struck me – that is how I should feel.   All of my furniture makeovers should be pieces that I would love to have in my own home.  I don’t want to sell furniture that I wouldn’t want to have for myself.  Feeling like I want to keep them is exactly how it should be.

So today I am sharing yet another piece of furniture that I want to keep, but can’t.

I picked this set up on Craigslist from a sweet young student whose parents bought it for her when she started college.   She actually told me I could return it if it didn’t work out. Who does that?

This is a really sturdy set made by Lexington Furniture.  It started out like this:

I took these photos after I had sanded, removed the hardware, and started to prime.

For this piece I tried a new primer which you can see in the photo.  I used the shellac based Zinsser BIN primer, rather than the oil based Zinsser Coverstain that I normally use. (affiliate link) RUST-OLEUM 00908 Stain Blck Primer/Sealer
Lately, I have been having a lot of pieces bleed through the Coverstain and end up having to apply a coat of shellac.  I decided to cut out the middle man and start out with a shellac based primer instead.  I really like this primer.  It dries very fast, sands easily and creates an extremely smooth enamel like finish.   A word of caution if you use this primer, it is super smelly and runny – watch out for drips.

After priming, I used my HomeRight Finish Max HVLP paint sprayer to apply 3 coats of Benjamin Moore Advance Paint in Cloud White. I will be doing a complete review of this sprayer in an upcoming post.  For now, let me just say, I loved it.

I applied a few coats of General Finishes High Performance topcoat in satin to the top work surface of this piece.  (affiliate link)  General Finishes QTHS High Performance Water Based Topcoat, 1 quart, SatinBenjamin Moore Advance paint is really durable, but can take a long time to fully cure.  I wanted to provide added protection to the top, so I gave it a few quick coats of the topcoat for good measure.

This set is made of oak which is a highly grained wood.   That and the paneled back of the hutch give this set a casual cottage feel.

I added new knobs to the top drawers and bin pulls in a satin nickel finish to the bottom two.

I love my new wall clock from (affiliate link) Painted Fox.  If you like farmhouse style, you should definitely check them out.

At only 18 inches deep, this set doesn’t take up much floor space, but has a ton of storage.  It fits so well in this narrow space next to my kitchen.  It would work great as a kitchen command center filled with cookbooks, etc.

What do you think of those lovely ladies in the photo?  That is my mom, aunt and their cousin back in the day.  One of my absolute favorite photos.

Thanks for reading my blog.

Susan

Linking with Finding Silver Pennies, The Painted Drawer, The Curator’s Collection, Anderson and Grant, Designer Trapped in a Lawyer’s Body, and Refresh Living