My Biggest Challenge Yet

My favorite store to buy clothing is Lululemon. Not clothing for going out in, but rather for working out and just living in. They're the most comfortable workout clothes I've ever worn. When you buy something from their store or online they give you a reusable bag. They're changing them all the time and are even sold on Ebay by people who collect them. My favorite bag they've had is a bag that had phrases written all over it that were inspiring and meant to make people think. My favorite phrase was "Do something every day that scares you." I've thought about that phrase many times over the years in an effort to help myself grow.

Since January I've definitely made this my mantra. I'm not the most confident person on the planet, but at the end of January I decided, after a year or so of prodding by a great friend, to start this blog. I was so incredibly scared! Scared of what people would say or think. Scared that I wouldn't have anything good or worthwhile to write, but I did it anyway. I will never forget writing that first blog post and hitting PUBLISH! I've pushed myself in many new and scary directions since then. The blog has blossomed and grown into something I didn't expect, a small business.

A couple of weeks ago I was faced with another scary proposition....doing work for a friend's Mother. This friend is a sweet girl who has been very supportive of my work so I decided I would take on the job after only seeing one iPhone picture of her Mother's cabinet. She and her Husband dropped the cabinet off on the hottest day of the year and I almost fainted when I saw it. I kept saying, "OMG Melody what have you gotten yourself into? There's NO WAY on God's green earth you are going to be able to do anything with this! You're not qualified to do this!" I went to bed that night in a state of panic wondering how I was going to do this. It was so hot for the next few days I couldn't do any work on the cabinet so this made things even worse for me. All I did was doubt my abilities and worry. Then finally it cooled down and I was able to go out and start on the cabinet. I kept reminding myself of that Lululemon mantra, "Do something that scares you every day." I got started and for the next 2 weeks I worked a little bit at a time and started to make progress. Every day I got a little more confident that this was going to turn out great.

I'm finally getting to it! Here are some before pictures of the cabinet. I wiped it down with bleach water and left it in the sun for a day or so then filled some holes and cracks before I took pictures.

This is a really cool cabinet my friend's Mom bought at a tag sale. It had been sitting out on her screened in porch for awhile and had a lot of mold and some damage to the paint. The paint started to peel right off in places when I sanded it.

The mold got a bit better with the bleach and sun.

Isn't the top cool?? I love the yellow tiles!

I know there are lots of pictures, but this is a big cabinet and I wanted to give you, the reader the whole effect :-)

My friend's Mom had originally wanted the whole cabinet white, but I wasn't sure that was such a good idea with it sitting out on a screened in porch. I really worried that it would just start to mold again and her Mom would be really disappointed. So we decided to go with Annie Sloan's Graphite instead. I knew it would look wonderful with the yellow tile top.

I taped up all the mullions and got to painting. Yes there were a few hiccups in the road, paint seeping behind the mullions, but I carried on and pushed through!

This is how it looked with 2 coats of paint. The inside I painted a pure, untinted white from Sherwin Williams. It's a semi-gloss from their professional line and it was GREAT! Loved the coverage and it went on nicely.

I want to point out how flat and dull the paint looks in this picture. This was with only the clear wax coat on top. Lots of people ask me why I use the wax on top of the paint. Well, first it protects the paint and gives it a nice sheen. Second, with a color like this the dark wax gives it such warmth, depth and personality.

Now you can see how much nicer it looks with the dark wax on top. It gives the piece such richness!

I love how all the nicks and imperfections look so nice with the dark wax!

After 2 coats of Annie Sloan Graphite on the outside and 2 coats of pure white Sherwin Williams semi-gloss on the inside. I waxed the outside with the clear Annie Sloan wax then went back over it with dark wax to finish it off.

I honestly am in AWE of this transformation....really completely in awe. I can't believe I did this :-)

Normally I like to move things outside in front of the tree for the pictures, but the Hubby is away on business and well, this thing is REALLY heavy. The garage and the table it's sitting on top of will have to do this time.

OK, will you look at that top now?! It just POPS!!!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

My Biggest Challenge Yet