Old Beauty Given A New Life

It's been quite some time since I've posted anything on here, but I think I might actually have something fun to share. Before the holidays, I spent many grueling hours laboring over this guy:

I picked this up at a local flea market and while it wasn't horrible, red just isn't my favorite color and the paint job was pretty crummy. Not only did he use canned spray paint, but he also failed to prep the piece before applying the paint. There was wood damage all over the top that looked horrible. Here is a sample:

Since the piece was a solid mahogany, I decided to strip it down and refinish the wood. Unfortunately, once I got down to the bare wood and could properly assess the damage, it became apparent that it might not be salvageable. The damage was pretty extensive and there were water stains all over it. I busted out my hand sander though and decided to give it a try anyways. No luck. I was going to have to paint it. At least now I had the opportunity to apply wood filler to the damaged areas and get a nice even surface.

I knew I wanted a deep moody blue...but do you know how many shades of blue there are?! Well, I finally decided on Gentleman's Gray by Benjamin Moore.

One coat oil-based primer out of the spray can + one coat water-based tinted primer + 2 coats paint in gentleman's gray + 3 coats polycrilic... now I have a gorgeous statement piece right in our living room.

As you can see, I also updated the hardware with a oil-rubbed bronze spray paint. I'm pretty proud of it and it definitely inspired me to complete some of the other pieces that currently rest in our basement furniture graveyard! I may or may not have a Goodwill addiction...