Painting Project

Collin and I started a painting project Memorial weekend and finished it today.  Daddy was cleaning out the garage and remembered that we had an old chest of drawers and a hope chest in there.  These have both been in the garage over three years and where MANY more years older than that.  I decided that Collin could use the chest of drawers in his room.   This would be perfect to have him pick his clothes out in the morning instead of using the baskets he has used until now.  I am sure he will find plenty of excuses of why he cannot pick out his clothes.  At least I will not have to put all of the baskets back every time he dumps them over. He is going to start cleaning his room which will include helping me put his clean clothes away.

Here is a picture of the furniture before we began.  I let Collin chose the colors we used and showed him where to buy paint.  While the paint store was mixing the blue and red paint he selected, he got bored quickly. I tried to entertain him as I was walking around the store making sure that we had all of the supplies we needed.

The hope chest.  A little dusty, huh?

Can you see the top layer peeling away from the wood?

Before painting, we had to make sure the wood was ready to paint.  Because the top layer was peeling away due to age, we had to peel all of this off.  Collin was all excited to do this and hung in there until it got really hard to scrap the first layer off.  I did the rest of it and had to rest when my elbow started to hurt and I got two blisters on my fingers from hammering in the chisel to peel back the wood.

We then needed to sand the wood and fill in any holes.  Collin is filling in a flower design on the hope chest with wood putty.  I took care of the few spots on the chest of drawers.

Then it was time to paint. I don't have pictures of us painting because I did not want to have a camera in my hands and need to drop it to wipe up spills.  I learned that I did not give enough instructions to Collin before he started to paint.  He dipped the entire brush in the paint, did not scrap any of it off and then started to paint a drawer.  Yes, lots of drips that needed to be cleaned up.  Also, he sat on the hope chest to pain the chest.  At one point, he sat down and the lid on the hope chest feel in...and so did he.....with is paint brush.  He got paint all over his belly, arms and legs.  I immediately stopped to clean him up.  He was finished painting at that point.  I finished painting the three layers of paint on both of the pieces and then let them dry a few days.  Next, I painted the drawers red while he was taking a break.  Later in the week, I added the drawer pulls. 

Here is the finished product in his new room.  Doesn't he look proud of his new piece of furniture?  What a difference paint makes!

After this picture, he got his trophies and took some time to arrange and rearrange them on the top.  He then helped me move his clothes from the baskets to the drawers.  It took two of the drawers to hold all of his PJs.  The Boy really likes his PJs. 

I found some wood stars that we plan to glue on later.  I'll have to post an updated picture at that time.