Estate Sale Console Makeover

I sort of revealed my red console in my Christmas Cookie party post, but what furniture makeover is complete without a post completely dedicated to it, right?!  Right.
My sister found this console in an estate sale held at the home next to her:

As you can tell, it was in excellent condition.  Whoever had it either never used it or took very good care of it – score for me either way.  Oh, and did I mention it was only 50 bucks?  Super score!
I know what you’re thinking… why make over a piece that doesn’t have anything wrong with it?  Believe me, Mr. home.made. would agree with you.  He just couldn’t understand why I’d want to paint “perfectly good wood”;  honestly, I thought about keeping it as-is for a very brief second for that same reason.
But then I realized – it’s great as-is, but I wanted to make it mine, to make it more home.made.  Plus, I have a lot of dark wood in my home between furniture and wood floors and wood plantation shutters, so more dark wood is not what I had in mind.
Enter Glidden’s Red Delicious paint.
Rather than sanding, I decided to simply prime this piece.  I ran out of my foam rollers, so I used a textured wall roller for the larger areas – not a good idea if you’re looking for smooth, even coverage, mind you.  I however, like the stippled effect it left – after applying the red paint, the stippled primer coverage gave the paint the effect of an old piece of enamelware – it was a happy accident!
I wanted a hand-painted look, so I brushed two coats of the paint on with my trusty Purdy brushes.  Once dry, I brushed on a dark umber glaze made by mixing tintable glaze with dark umber craft paint.  I then wiped it off with scrap t-shirt rags, leaving more of the glaze in the natural nooks and crannies of the wood to enhance the patina.
I finished it off with a coat of Annie Sloan soft furniture wax, buffed to a soft sheen.

I painted over the original hardware with some chalkboard paint to give them a matte finish, leaving a little of the gold peeking through for a worn look.


I did a little bit of sanding to distress the edges just enough to show the white layer from the primer.

This console has been a perfect addition to my dining area.  It’s already been put to use as a buffet during our cookie decorating party and was a perfect complement to my cherry pie and vintage Rosepoint China on Christmas Eve. 

And I’m happy to say, it even won the approval of Mr. home.made.
Turns out that “perfectly good wood” is sometimes perfectly good to paint.


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