Young House Love's Winter Pinterest Challenge

I've been an avid Young House Love reader since way back in the day when they were This Young House.  I love me some Petersiks.  So, when my favorite Youngsters decided to team up with Sherry's BFF, Katie Bower of Bower Power Blog, and two other illustrious co-hosts--Megan from The Remodeled Life, and Michelle from Decor & The Dog, I was completely on board.

The biggest challenge of the Winter Pinterest Challenge is narrowing down a project to conquer.  I decided that my challenge would originate from one of two boards:  Do or 1868 Pleasant.  At first, I was going to sew up the pillowcase dress for my two youngest kidlets (they take the same dress size).  I received the Amy Butler fabric a couple of weeks ago, and thought that this would be the perfect time to light a fire under my butt and get it done.

But then, I found a pin about distressing wood with paint and Vaseline (petroleum jelly).  My love affair with painted furniture has been ongoing, but really hit home during my field trip to The Blue Cupboard.  I wanted something that picked up the shabby chic vibe that Stacy cultivates in her shop, without the whole Rachel-Ashwell's-cabbage-roses-on-everything element that makes me cringe.  This could be because I've been suffering living with a pink walled, pink carpeted bedroom since July, but I'm completely not about the florals.

Of course, last Friday, I found my future nightstand at the thrift store.  Did I mention that there was also a large, basketball-sized red cabbage on a table?  An actual cabbage.  I asked about it, and the clerk told me that if I needed it, to take it.  I thought it was very sweet, but declined, leaving it for someone who did indeed need food (insert shameless plug to ask you to please "grow a row" in your garden this summer to donate to the local food bank, veterans' home, senior center, or soup kitchen).

the latest resident at Danielle's Home for Rescued Furniture

I stopped by Home Depot to pick up some paint, and ended up with a quart of Behr's paint & primer in Belgian Cream in a flat finish:

and some sandpaper.

Since prep is 75% of painting work, it was time to get down to business.  After the dropcloth was down and my painting clothes were on, I removed all of the knobs from the cabinet.

There was a spot on one of the drawers where some tape had been applied, so I had to bust out the Goo-Gone.

While cracks and dings can be lovely on a distressed piece, some of them just need some love... and wood filler.

The legs also needed some filler, since there were deep chips in them.  I filled in all of the divots made by screws, and all of the larger scratches.  The legs had to set up for a minimum of 8 hours, so we went on a shopping trip to find a new quilt for the bed, since the current turquoise one clashes with our bedroom's future paint color (we're still prepping the bedroom for paint, if you're wondering what is up with that).  After the wood filler set up, the above crack looked so much better!

Then it was time to sand down all of the finished surfaces that would be painted.  I painted the insides of the drawers as well, but they were unfinished, so no sanding was necessary.  I did wipe them down with a damp microfiber cloth after everything was sanded.

I love this tiny sander

I don't know about you, but if I don't empty out the dust catcher immediately after I turn the sander off, I completely forget to do so.  My dust catcher is a bit sticky to get off, so I got my face too close to it and ended up with a face full of dust.  A lot of sneezing followed this, so I'm going to make a note to wear a dust mask when sanding and emptying the catcher in the future.  By the time I finished sanding, it was around 10 p.m., so I changed my clothes and cozied up on the couch with the tall drink of water that is my man.  I watched a couple of episodes of Lie to Me then hit the hay.

When I woke up, I started in on the Vaseline application.  I like that there was already some greenish paint crazed onto the wood, so I wanted to make sure that some of the petroleum jelly was on those bits.  I didn't want to go overboard, so I applied a few thin swipes with my finger, since the original post said not to apply it thickly.  

The Vaseline is hard to see in the photo, but it is there.

Once I was happy with what I had, I applied the first coat of paint.  The spots with the Vaseline were immediately noticeable, even with paint on them.

After the third coat, however, it was somewhat difficult to tell where the Vaseline had been applied.

Do you see the Vaseline spots?
Neither do I.

I would suggest numbering the drawers and taking a photo after the first coat to help you keep track of where you need to rub paint off.  I'm sure that the bits that I missed will eventually have the paint rub off, so I'm not that worried about it.

Once my final coat was completely dry, I took a paper coffee filter and used it to rub the areas where the Vaseline was applied.  I just moved it around in a circular motion, making sure that  there was no peeled off paint bits around the edges.  

When the paint was completely dry, I could see a little crackle-like finish
where the Vaseline had been applied.

I rubbed off all of the jelly-covered spots.  This is what one drawer ended up looking like:

I scored some fantastic glass knobs on ebay on Sunday morning, and am excited for their arrival.  Since the bedroom is going to be dark, I really needed something to reflect some light.  Besides, who doesn't love a little sparkle?  

Photo used with permission
Want knobs at great prices?  *Find them at GrandCentral on ebay!

I waited a good 12 hours for the paint to completely dry.  It still looks very naked.

I wanted to get some sort of idea as to what it'd look like when the knobs do finally arrive, so I popped in a couple of glass knobs that I had laying around.  I only have the two, and they're too big for the nightstand, but you can really see how the light is refracted by the glass.

I kept the flash off

I styled it up a bit, and shopped the top knobs onto the bottom two drawers so you could get the idea of what it will look like when the knobs finally do arrive.  It is also in the dining room at the moment, because there is no sense in putting more furniture into a room I'll be painting this weekend.  I love how it came out!  

Doesn't it look sweet?

*The folks at GrandCentral kindly allowed me to use their photograph, without any sort of exchange for promotion or perk (so they didn't pay me or give me anything for free).