Painters Prison Vanity

Have you ever bought a piece that you thought would be an easy turn around, but found out it was a disaster?  That's what happened with this vanity.  

I can't believe I didn't get before pictures.  I bought this at a garage sale a couple of years ago, then stored it until I got some inspiration.  The woman I bought it from said she wouldn't budge on price because she had just refinished it (oh, and the chair didn't come with it).  It was all painted a shiny black.  I thought I could figure out a way to dull the shine, or dry brush it, or something.  I finally tackled it a few months ago.  First go around was going to be just painting over everything with a black chalk paint, but then I really looked it over.  This is where Painters Prison comes in; the women that I bought it from should have a life time conviction.  I honestly don't know how you could get this bad of a paint job.  There were horrible brush marks all over it, globs of paint drips so bad that I thought there was electrical tape stuck on the feet, but when I went to pull it off it was dried paint.  I mean really, what did they do dip this thing in a vat of black paint?  After 2 years the paint never cured, I could hand peal the paint off in spots.  

Second go around I was going to leave the top and drawers wood and paint the rest.  Well the top was OK after stripping, but the drawers were an ugly, chipped veneer  The end result was that I vinegar stained the top, sanded back the worst spots, painted the drawers a really pale gray and the rest a really dark grey.  The handles were cheap shiny silver so I sprayed them with hand rubbed bronze.

The chair got the same dark grey, and new upholstery.  I was so glad to get this out of our workshop and in Paris Antiques.  I really thought this one would sit there for a long time before it sold, but it was gone in a month.  Yeah!!!!!!!!

I'll be linking up at:
before the picket fence
miss mustard seed
funky junk interiors