Vintage Farmhouse Sideboard and Painting Tips

This project started with a long story about the farmhouse painted hutch I had in my kitchen. You can read all about that hutch by visiting the bold link. After several years I decided it was time to sell the hutch...

And that is where this new story began. The old hutch was so cluttered looking in my small space. The minute I put anything on the shelves, it looked like too much. I decided to sell it and it sold quickly because everyone loved it... including me. I hated to see it go but I knew I'd find something to replace it.

And replace it I did! I saw a Facebook ad for an old sideboard. It had been in someone's garage and they were selling it for $15. The price was right so I went for it. After loading it into my car and bringing it home, I realized that some of the drawers wouldn't shut. It had been in the garage for years and had swelled. I brought it into my house and let it sit for a month, after that time everything worked perfectly! This piece was going to be just what I wanted. It was a hand-made piece with dove tailed drawers. Each drawer and space was numbered so it fit back into the right place. I'm not sure of the age but it seemed to be from the 60's.

The first thing I had to do after I gave it a good cleaning inside and out was to seal the wood surface with Ultra Grip. Ultra Grip is a bonding agent that will help the Fusion Mineral Paint stick to the shiny surface of this sideboard. For most surfaces painted with Fusion Mineral Paint, this step is not necessary but this had a shiny surface so I primed it just to be sure.

While I waited for my primer to dry, I lined the drawers. I bought a few rolls of liner from Marshall's Christmas clearance. I measured each drawer then used an Elmer's glue stick to stick the liner inside the drawers. The bond will be just enough and can be removed if necessary. 

The liners look a little like Christmas but work perfectly in my sideboard. The best part was that they smelled like pine which covered up any musty smell it might have.

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Now it was time to paint the sideboard. I removed all the drawers and painted them first.

As you can see it takes a few coats. I'm using Fusion Mineral Paint in Casement, which is a beautiful bright white.

I used the original white porcelain pulls on the little drawers. For the rest of the sideboard I chose pewter cup pulls and pewter knobs from DLawless Hardware. Their hardware is great quality, arrives quickly and you can not beat their prices! They always seem to have just what I need for my painted furniture projects.

Like I said, the sideboard took several coats to cover the dark wood. That was fine, I still only used about 3/4 of a container of paint and it goes on so smoothly, it is hardly a chore to paint.

As you can also see, I do not spend too much time prepping my area, luckily I am a neat painter. Here are a couple of tips I have for all the painters out there... First of all when you are between coats, wrap up your brush in a damp paper towel and stick it in a plastic bag. This will keep the brush from drying out on you. While I had the white paint out, I also touched up several other pieces in the room because I've used this color on most of my kitchen furniture.

And secondly, I use a Scrub Daddy scrubber to wash my hands, it easily removes all the paint from your hands, even from my nail polish which is usually a big problem. After all, a girls gotta have pretty nails!

The next step once the whole sideboard was painted and dry was to distress the edges. I find that distressing the edges with a fine grit sandpaper makes every imperfection, dent and ding look like they are supposed to be there.

My sideboard was finished in no time. If you want to you could give it a final seal coat with a matte sealer like Tough Coat but I am choosing not to seal mine. Fusion Mineral Paint is a self-sealing paint and I like the imperfect look of a piece that looks like it was just dragged out of the barn.

The basket on the side is not my laundry, it is actually a wire basket with a large tray top I turned into a side table, follow the bold link to read all about it.

This is the view from my living room into my dining area and as you can see this hutch is a much better fit than the one I had there previously.

And now I will get real about the view...

My big dog Finn and his giant cage... but we work around it. LOL 

READ MORE: FURNITURE PROJECTS

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Disclaimer: DLawless Hardware and Fusion Mineral Paint provided me with supplies for this project, all opinions are my own.