I’ve been on a roll getting things done in the garage….Remember that garage sale where I bought a ton of furniture pieces? Well this is yet another piece that I bought there. Before I bought it I did a lot of debating…a LOT! It was marked at $75. That’s more than I typically spend on a piece to re-do and sell. A lot more. I liked it…I liked it a lot but then the internal debate started…would someone else love it. UGH! Who knows? I don’t want to be out $75.
Then another guy came to the garage sale. He had his wife on the phone and was talking about the furniture. He was driving a trailer and was picking some furniture pieces. I quick grabbed the lady who was operating the sale and said- “I want all of these things (and then pointed them out)…will you shoot me a deal?” I could visibly see that the guy was angry as some of the pieces he was talking to his wife about were the pieces that I had taken. I didn’t know what he wanted… This the garage sale life. He got a couple dressers I wanted so I think we were even.
The lady ended up giving me what was equal to $5 off the piece so I paid $70 for it.
As you might have noticed from the picture above you can see that were was some damage to this piece. Here’s a close up picture of the top. UGH.
I showed Hubby and he wasn’t thrilled with my purchase. He wasn’t mad. He definitely didn’t think it would be a money maker. When buying it is my real goal was to try to learn from it and at least get out of it what I put into it. But after his lack luster thoughts on the piece, I had all the motivation I needed to fix it right and actually turn a profit.
Hubby wasn’t much help on suggestions on renewing the top so I just did what instinct called for….sanding. I sanded and sanded and sanded. I used different sand paper weights and sanded until my arm vibrated. I sanded for almost two hours. Those water marks were deep.
I ended up giving up on completely removing the worst mark but it had GREATLY improved. The dark marks were gone. I didn’t think it needed to be perfect as it is a vintage piece. If it was too nice on the top then the bottom might start to look bad. There’s a fine balance and I thought I had found it….now what to do about staining the top? Do I varnish it? Hmmm.
I asked Hubby if he had any light stain around. We don’t do light typically so we had none. He said, “I do have that scratch (Old English Scratch Cover-light wood version) stuff you like in a light version”….Hmmm. That was my only option so I decided to give it a try….
Here is how the cabinet looks now….
