Confessions of a Stripper

I did it.

I said I'd never do it again, but I spent the weekend....

stripping!

Come on!  You know I'd never wear pink.

This is the kind of stripping I'm talking about.

Now that Annie Sloan Chalk Paint has taken over, there isn't much of a need

for chemical paint strippers, denatured alcohol, mineral spirits, or primer,

but last weekend I used all four.

Do you remember the two fixer-upper cabinets I bought last fall for $25 apiece?

They were built into an archway of the house they came from.

I repaired the broken mullion (this is the before) and removed the decals from the glass. 

 The open side was enclosed and the piece was given a new wood top and molding. 

 Even the warped and broken shelves were replaced.

Here it is ready to be finished.

I cleaned the piece with mineral spirits and touched up all the chips and scratches

with artist oil paints.  I also stained the new wood to match the old mahogany stain.

Then I talked to our daughter and she said she'd prefer a painted finish.

No problem, right?

I wiped down the piece with mineral spirits to remove most of the stain, and

gave it a light sanding.  Then I primed it with Zinsser primer.

Oh, noooooooooo.........

This has never happened to me before!  The primer crackled! 

Shellac based primer + oil based stain = DISASTER

What to do?  Now that the stain was sealed under the primer

 I thought a second coat would go on smoothly.

Nope.  Now the finish was alligatored!

Did I stop there?  Oh, no.  I sanded the cabinet down and applied one coat of

the water based white paint to even out the finish.  And it worked!!!

Whew.

Fast forward to the next morning.

After drying overnight the crackled, alligatored texture was back.

There was only one solution to this whole ugly mess.  I grabbed the nearest pair of scissors

and cut my hair off.  Yup.  Some people resort to drugs or alcohol.  Others may

overeat or bite their fingernails.  Me, I choose to mutilate my hair when I'm

at the end of my rope.

Okay.  Back to the problem at hand.  After I calmed down and lightened the load

on my brain I realized the only way to fix this cabinet was to

Strip.  All.  The.  Paint.  Off.

The worst was over........or so I thought.

I was out of paint stripper and had to go out in public with my self-inflicted haircut!!!!

I managed to get in and out of the store without bumping into anybody I knew.  Then

I spent the next 8 hours....well.......stripping.

After 2 long days of toiling on this cabinet, I'm pretty much right back where I started.

Well, if you'll excuse me, I have a phone call to make.  It seems I won't be needing

my Friday afternoon hair appointment after all.

How was your weekend?

Vickie

Swiss Miss

If you've followed my blog for awhile, you've probably noticed that I have an affinity for

all things medical.  I'm not sure if it's because I work in the medical field

or that our house number just happens to be 911.

A vintage Red Cross flag hangs as art in the home of HGTV's Emily Henderson.

Google Images

Fashionable girls having fun.  Note the cigarette on the right.

Charming vintage advertising art by Jessie Wilcox Smith.

Stylish pillow created by Amandajean of Crazy Mom Quilts and featured on Sulu Design blog.

Do you see a theme here?

The images above were inspiration for my latest project.

Do you remember this medicine cabinet I bought for $24 at last September's Junk Bonanza?

Well, it finally recently underwent a minor facelift.

The nail studded wood was replaced with beadboard and the interior painted sterile white.

I still need to have 2 new glass shelves cut to fit inside.

I didn't do much to the exterior.  I left the glass knob, latch and hinges in place.  After a good

disinfectant cleaning, I lightly sanded the cabinet to expose previous paint colors.  Done.

As for the garish blood red spray painted glass.....I kept it!

I used the red as the background color for this design found on Google Images.

This logo pays homage to Switzerland where the Red Cross symbol originated

and also adds international flair to my cabinet.

I cut a circle stencil from Contact paper and applied it to the unpainted side of the glass.  I also

adhered a cross in the center of the circle and sprayed the surface with 3 coats of paint designed for

glass and ceramics.  I peeled the stencil off and transferred the letters to the painted portion of the

design with tracing paper.  Then I painted the letters with 2 coats of black acrylic craft paint and

after much sanding and drybrushing I sealed it with matte acrylic spray.

Painted glass panel.

Refurbished cabinet.

I mounted it on the wall between the two guest bedrooms where it will store baby lotions,

shampoo, bandaids, etc. that we may need when the grandbabies visit.  Now, everything

will be conveniently located in one place.

Here's a wide angle view of the space.  If you stand in front of the cabinet, you are at the perfect

distance for a quick vision screen.  The light fixture came from my great-grandparents house, which

was probably built about the same time as ours in the 1920's.  With the dark trim and doors this hallway resembles a boarding house, don't you think?  I've started to paint the trim, but I'll leave the doors as they are.  The door you see here leads to the bedroom we are currently working on. 

I do love old metal beds, but Infirmary Chic is not the look I'm after.

This is more like it!  I love this quilt!!!

The pattern is available at Kelly McCaleb Etsy.  I even have a similar full-size bed!

Last, but not least, I found this WWII pin in a local shop for just a few dollars.

AND the previous owner of our house worked for the

 Red Cross when she lived here.  Coincidence? 

I think not.

Thanks for visiting!

Vickie

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