Beautiful Boxwood Makeover

It had been quite a while since I had a furniture project to work on. Winter tends to have that effect on you. Curling up on the couch and reading or watching TV is a lot more appealing than getting out all of my supplies and tackling a new diamond in the rough.Now that Spring is here, it was time to get busy again.So I went down to my local Habitat for Humanity Restore and found this solid wood beauty and took her home for a whopping...get this...$25! Did I mention it was solid wood? What a steal!

After getting it home, I started the incredibly tedious process of getting the hardware off, stripping, and sanding. The wood was so pretty and there were only a few scuff marks. (You can see some on the top in the left hand corner in the picture above.) I was bound and determined to restore this piece and leave it all wood. My ambition turned into a 3 month project. About 10 sanding pads, 1 can of stripper, 1 bottle of stripper wash, and 1 can of stain later, I decided that this piece needed some paint. To channel Spring, I settled on Miss Mustard Seed's Boxwood. This color is so rich and deep. It's darker than a grassy green but not quite an olive. It's the color of...well...boxwoods! Here she is in all her glory:

Cute, right? I decided to leave the top and feet wood and paint the body.

The inside turned out really well. Those shelves are solid and buttery soft, as is the rest of the piece. To achieve this feel, I like using the "wet sanding" technique. Essentially, you paint your piece with MMSMP and then brush or wipe on some of her hemp oil. This product deepens and enriches the color of the paint and conditions and protects the wood at the same time. Using a sanding block with a soft grit, gently go over your piece in small circular strokes, working the hemp oil into the surface. Allow it to sit for a few minutes and soak in, and then using a lint-free cloth, wipe off the excess hemp oil. You'll need to allow the oil to "cure" for a bit. MMS recommends 30 days for it to fully cure, but you can begin using the piece after about 2-3 days.

I decided to leave the original hardware. It's a little dated, but I couldn't find what I was looking for in the stores I visited, so I decided to leave them as-is. I really like the hinges though. The screws are so interesting!