Cabinet project complete

Finally!!! I think it had been a month since I started this project.  There were some missteps.  But before I get into all of that, here is the before and after:

Before

After

Not bad huh?  I started by taking off the doors and all the hardware. I noticed it was rickety and the saw that there was a nail missing that connects the leg to the bottom of the cabinet so I nailed one in. I think most furniture has screws holding it together but I opted to nail it since that is how the other leg was attached. Then I sanded everything with my palm sander and then by hand where the sander couldn't reach. Then I filled in some cracks and the larger dents (use wood filler or caulk) and sanded smooth after dry.  After that I wiped it down with a damp cloth and attempted to apply my primer. I wanted to use my new paint sprayer so I followed all of the directions for first time use. And it worked for about 1 minute and then stopped. Grrr.  So I followed the instructions for unclogging it about 10 times and then pulled it apart and cleaned it and put it back together three times and it still didn't work.  Grrrrrrrr. By this time I had wasted about 2 hours so I just decided to deal with the stupid sprayer later and proceeded to paint on the primer myself.  I used Killz latex primer. After all that dried I sanded lightly, wiped it all down again and painted using valspar's wedding bells, the same color I used on the guest room night stand, because I had most of the can leftover.  I had to use 4 coats. I opted to paint the inside blue for a fun unexpected pop of color.  It was the color I chose for our downstairs bathroom, when we remodel it, it's a nice soft beachy blue.  So then I decided to cover the cabinet with a protective clear coat.  I picked up a spray can of polyurethane and sprayed it on the top.  My stomach   immediately dropped as I realized that not only was the coverage extremely spotty, it was showing up yellow. Gah!!!! I read the directions again and in tiny little print on the bottom it stated not to use on white paint as it may yellow. So with a huge sigh I stopped, let it dry for a day and then sanded it and repainted.  Luckily I had only only put the polyurethane on the top.  Then the next day I fell down the three of the stairs that lead to our lower level and really hurt my back and neck so I took a break for a couple days. We were scheduled to go to California for thanksgiving so the day before we left I put a few quick coats on the doors and spray painted the hardware with some oil rubbed bronze paint.  I read that on white paint it's better to use polycrylic rather than polyeurethane becaus it is supposed to dry crystal clear.  So I picked up a small can and applied it all over the cabinet confident that it would look great.  A few hours later I checked on my cabinet and the side panels were orange!!! Blerg! What the hell? I have no idea why the polycrylic turned orange even after going to the manufacturer's website for troubleshooting and searching online to see if other people had the same problem. So I sanded the sides and painted them AGAIN. This time I didn't cover the sides with poly.  For the doors I thought it would be fun to add some color on the inside and I modge podged some wrapping paper onto the inside, the same kind that I used when I lined the inside of Z's dresser. Then I put the knobs back on and added some foam thingies to the bottom of the legs, screwed the hinges to the cabinet and screwed the doors onto the hinges and was finally done!  It didn't take me many hours to complete, but took forever because I squeezed working on it between Z's rare naps and being out of town. So, some things I learned from this project that may help any of you to avoid my same mistakes:

-use wood filler to patch up any dents and scratches on wood

-sand lightly with higher grit sandpaper between paint coats to get a nice smooth finish

-don't use polyeurethane over white paint, it will yellow

-for an inexpensive upgrade, spray paint hardware like pulls and knobs the color you prefer 

Even though this project annoyed me with all of the problems and repairing and repainting I had to do, I'm happy with it.  I may decide to repaint it a different color in the future cause I like to change it up.  That's the great thing about paint, you can always paint over it!  And since I had most of the supplies on hand I saved a good chunk of change by redoing this piece rather than buying a new table, probably saved at least $100.  Here is the breakdown:

Cabinet $50

Valspar's wedding bells- $0 already had

Valspar's blue paint (can't remember the name right now)- $0 already had

Oil rubbed bronze spray paint- $0 already had

Wrapping paper- $0 already had

Polycrylic $9

Polyeurethane $5

Hardware $0 used existing

Foam floor protectors $4

Total $68

Not bad considering the cheap tables I was looking at were at least $150 and the ones that I really liked that were more upscale were upwards of $300. Woohoo!  Now I just need to finish putting together the front entry by hanging some pictures and art and whatnot so hopefully I can show you that progress in a few days. 

So much better than the sailboats!