Shabby- Chic White Armoire Makeover - Part 2 ( The Reveal)

As promised, here is the final reveal of my armoire makeover.  As some of you  will remember, my husband found this vintage wardrobe/armoire left out at the end of a neighbours driveway in February.  We brought it home and I have been giving it a complete makeover.  It actually ended up being a lot more work then I had anticipated, but the final result was well worth it.  I just love how it turned out.  Here's a recap on how the armoire looked when we found it:



Before.

It had a funny old-wood smell to it- not moldy or musty- but just old, and I'm happy to announce that I finally got rid of the smell. I tried everything- baking soda, coffee grounds, vinegar wash, mild bleach wash.  None of these solutions worked.  Finally I coated the entire interior with Bin primer ( this is a shellac based primer that seals in odours and stains).  This got rid of the old-wood smell, but left a strong shellac odour which I really didn't want in my bedroom.  I have left it airing for several weeks, and finally added two lavendar sachets-one in the bottom drawer and one hanging in the main compartment.  Finally, it is suitable for putting into my room.  I decided to use it as an accessory armoire, and put some really pretty details on the inside.  So now , down to business, and here are the final  steps I did to get it looking great.  You can see Part 1 here.

After

This is the end result, and I will post all the steps on how I got this look, immediately following, for those of you who are interested.










Here's the front view before I added the glazing.

This is a view of the top side panel, before I added the final glaze.

I used Behr  Faux Glazing Medium and Behr Ultra latex paint in a flat sheen, both from Home Depot.  The color is called Bear Rug, and the code is S-G-790, for anyone that's interested.  I bought a sample size, since you really need very little paint  for the glaze.  The ratio is about 3-4 parts glazing medium to 1 part paint.

 

First you brush on a layer of the glaze.

Then you wipe off most of it with a damp, soft cloth.  The glaze stays in the cracks and crevices of the beadboard, as well as the areas the I distressed with a hammer.  It also gives the piece an old worn look, which is the look I was going for.

Here's another close-up of the glaze before it's all wiped off.

I used a small foam brush to get the glaze right into the crevices.

I used a piece of the scrap dowel inside my damp cloth to get some more of the glaze out of the cracks, as I didn't want it to be too dark.

Keep wiping off the excess until you get the look you want.

Here's a close-up of the bead- board side panel.  The trim around the panels is just wooden dowels that I cut with a saw and mitre box. The dowels mimic the bead in the bead-board, and are very inexpensive and easy to cut.  I just glued the cut dowels around the edges with Weldbond glue and let it dry over- night with painters masking tape to hold it in place.

Here are some more side views after I had wiped off most of the glaze.

Here's a close-up of the door with some good views of the distressing that I did with a palm sander and some glaze wiped over it.  I bought the crystal knobs at Home Depot as well.  I had originally intended to use some vintage crystal door knobs from my husbands old family home, but I couldn't find an  economical way to convert them into pull knobs.  These ones cost about $4.00 each and I like the added sparkle of a little "bling" on my new armoire.

Here's the bottom drawer, with close-ups of the wooden applique's that I added and the crystal pull knobs.

Here's a last look at the before and after:



Before






After

 

Well, I hope you've enjoyed the process so far ( I say so far, because I have even more to reveal with the inside of the armoire).  I did something extra- special on the inside, but you'll have to come back to see that in my next posting.  Otherwise, the posting would have been w-a-a-a-y too long. 

Until next time.  Au Revoir.