For some reason some people are against pine, maybe because pine furniture is cheaply produced - it's cheap, fast growing timber, and for a long time, pine furniture with a varnish gone orange was the thing everyone wanted to get rid of. Old stains made the pine yellow and it eventually fell out of favour - I mean, I'd rather die than have yellow pine in my house.
However, as some of you have already seen here, I've had success it making pine look a lot nicer, and every time I do it, Jamie has to concede it's really not that bad. This time I had a pair of bedside tables for free off Marketplace. They come up every now and then if you keep an eye out. They can be covered with crayon marks, chips and stickers, so often need a good clean before you even start.
Then, you either use stripper or sand. I just sand the tops with 80 grit working my way up to 240, then I use a paintwash - for this one, Taubman's Oak. You use 1:3 water, wetting the wood first, and then paint it on and rub it off, and allow it to dry. If you want more colour, go again. Easy. Just make sure your tan paint has green undertones, because it's that that will balance out the yellow of the pine.
You'll soon find out why you use the tanwash when you brush it over with a poly paint or as I used here, Fiddies Hard Wax oil that sets hard and forms a long lasting matt surface. If I didn't use the tan wash, I'd be right back to yellow ehre, but now it's more a coastal kinda look.
You can still see the knots of the pine, which I love, even though we'd all love a walnut or an oak. I think pine has character, and a pine forest is beautiful and full of pine and amanita mushrooms, so don't be too hard on pine.
For the rest of the drawers, I just gave them a scuff sand and then painted three coasts of Algonquin Fusion Mineral Paint. This might seem expensive at $50 for 500 ml, but it's got a built in primer AND top coat, and a little goes a long way.
I added some lovely dark coloured wood look handles, which I think contrast nicely.
But the real joy for me was inside the cabinets, where I put a peel and stick mushroom wallpaper. You guys know how much I love mushrooms, right? The joy of this is that you don't see it on the outside, but it makes you smile when you open it up. And the peel and stick option means if you get sick of it, you just replace it.
What do you think of my upcycle?
With Love,
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