Every Oak Furniture Lovers Dream – A Smashing New Look

The latest and my favorite by far -

We have an old oak desk set in our basement.  It was my husband’s bachelor pad furniture.  A nicely made set, (he never bought anything cheap) but never my favorite.   When a piece of furniture is solid, and functional, its hard to kick it to the curb.

I decided to whip on the Caromal Colours Barnworn Distressing products (told you I’m close to Caromalling the cat!).  I applied two layers of Caromal Colours chocolate textured base coat.   Here is layer one,  guess who was keeping me company?  Yup, Bruno... never saw him come, never saw him go, and thank the Lord there were no brown smudges on the carpet.  Easily fixed, I went right over it.

This is the full set,  after the two layers of chocolate textured base coat, and after a layer of Caromal Colours Chipping Cream.  Looking at the pictures I can’t believe I didn’t move this to a better work area!

One night I did the first layer (2 hrs).  The next evening I applied layer two of the chocolate textured base coat (1.5 hrs) ,  the Caromal Colours chipping cream (1 hr).   The next morning I applied the final texture of cobblestone textured base coat (2 hrs).  When it was dry, I pulled out my palm sander and went to town distressing.    The file cabinet (in the front) has been sanded, and toned. (I was excited and needed to SEE IT NOW!)  The three other pieces still need to be sanded and toned.

The desk and return are done and returned to their corner. Sanding and toning until its done.   Cleaning up as I go…   The shelving unit is 1/2 toned (see the brush inside the cubby?)  I gotta admit,  I like to get things done quickly because I’m anxious to see the end result.  That old pine armoire I refinished in the blue/cream?  I only did the front because it was quick and easy and I could get instant satisfaction.  This furniture?  Not so easy…. I couldn’t cut corners and only do the front because I want to use this furniture out in the open.  The inside shelves, all four sides of each cubby, were a drag… I was SOOOOO ready to be done after cubby #1.

This is looking so much nicer than the before. (scroll back up and compare)  Getting close,  mess is vacuumed up,  games are waiting for it to dry.

I got new furniture!  Total investment?   6 1/2 hours to apply the layers.   I didn’t keep track of separate times,  as I was sanding then toning, piece by piece,   but those two steps took about 5 hours – that included cleaning up the whole mess, vacuuming, washing tools, and moving everything back.  So  about 11 1/2 hours in labor.  Product used 2 quarts of chocolate textured base coat, 1 1/4 quarts cobblestone textured base coat, and 1 2/3 containers chipping creme, and 1 toner.

Nick, playing Vanna White (we both love Wheel of Fortune) -

Life was one of my favorite games as a kid.  I loved driving around with the pink mom and blue dad and adding a pink or blue baby peg-

I hope you enjoyed this refinishing project.  If it prompts you to get your hands on these products, then head on over to Caromal Colours store and try it out yourself.  If you do order?  PLEASE  do me a favor and enter my name,  PATTYH, in the coupon code.  Or if you call in an order, make sure to mention the coupon code. For one, the code will give you a discount off shipping,  and two,  it allows the company to see that you are ordering products because I turned you on to them.  I am a Certified Independent Representative for Caromal Colours, and its my job to SHOW people what can be done with these products, and to share my knowledge and passion with others.  If I do my job well, then I will be rewarded, but I can only be rewarded if you remember to mention my name!