DIY Farmhouse Buffet Makeover with Chalk Paint

I’m so excited to share this DIY farmhouse buffet makeover with you. All it takes is some homemade chalk paint and a little elbow grease.

I make it a point to stop in to local thrift stores as often as I can because you never know what you’ll find on any given day. It’s like a treasure hunt only this treasure’s cheap and when you’re on a budget, every penny counts! With a little time, imagination and paint, you can make anything your own. 🙂

 

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I’ve been looking for just the right size buffet for some time for my kitchen to replace the desk we had installed when we built the house. Side note, if you are ever building a home, DO NOT add a desk to the kitchen. It sounds like a great idea at first but just takes up valuable storage space and you will NEVER use it for anything other than a bar at parties. Just sayin’.

Lesson learned. 🙂

Anyway, after months of looking, I finally thought I found a piece that I thought was the right size but it turned out to be too small. It was a two piece hutch at the Salvation Army for $49.99 and 75% off which made it 12.50! How could I possibly pass it up?? For that price I’ll FIND a spot for it so I told the girl I just wanted the bottom and she said that was fine! Happy as a clam, I was on my merry way.

I never did get a full picture of the entire thing with the top on it but here is the bottom before.

 

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Can you believe it, $13.50 with tax!?!

It was probably a very pretty piece when it was new but it’s in fairly rough shape now with several large scratches. It also had a channel built in on the top where the upper shelf part slid in to stabilize it. That was easily removed with a hammer and crowbar.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, it left not only nail holes but also some small gouges.

 

 

I gave the entire piece a quick sanding with 120 grit sandpaper and then a good cleaning including vacuuming, so that I could see what I was really working with on this farmhouse buffet makeover.

Of all of the farmhouse furniture makeovers I have done, this one definitely had the most damage. I used wood putty to fill in the holes and gouges in the top and along the front and used a putty knife to smooth it out. I let it dry 24 hours and then sanded it again with 220.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s so cold out here I had to bring it in the house from the barn to paint it. 🙂

Even though I was using a darker paint, I gave it a coat of primer. You can see where it turned a bit yellow toward the bottom and it was even more noticeable in person. This confirmed that if I hadn’t primed it, the paint could have had a yellow undertone. When in doubt, always prime.

 

 

 

I used the Caribbean Blue I used on my TV Stand makeover mixed with a dark green I had leftover from another project.  I mixed up some homemade chalk paint using plaster of Paris. (One cup of paint, a quarter cup of POP and warm water). The color looks lighter in the pictures but it’s very close to a eucalyptus leaf green.

After two coats of paint, it was nice and smooth.

Normally, I suggest removing all hardware before painting but the screws were stripped on the hinges and I didn’t want to fight to get them off. I actually like them painted.

 

 

Tragic error, in my excitement to get to the distressing, I forgot to take a picture of this but I used the palm sander with 120 grit sandpaper to rough up the places where it would have some wear over time like the edges and doors. Then I went over the sanded areas with the antiquing wax from Country Chic Paint that I used on this antique cabinet project.  There is a good example of how I applied the wax on that project.

Here is the final product…

 

 

I think this may be the first time I’ve actually used the original hardware but they work with the color. I really like the pop of color and the flow into the family room of blues and greens.

 

 

Applying the dark wax really brings out the wood underneath and helps create a really worn look on this farmhouse buffet makeover.

 

 

You can see the shutter project here.

 

 

I cannot stress this enough when doing a furniture makeover, but prep, prep, prep! The smoother and cleaner your surface is when you paint or stain, the better the finish will be.  Stay tuned for some tips on picking out pieces to flip and painting furniture coming soon.

For more farmhouse buffet makeover ideas and other furniture flips, check out my furniture makeovers page.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Happy DIY’ing!

Col

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