Faux Bois, Anyone?

Hello my friends!

I am here!  Alive and well!  I have just been keeping busy with the boys, work and selling a gang o’ stuff. It’s been fun and I can’t even believe it’s freaking March and that the world is falling apart.

How about we just pretend all that other stuff doesn’t exist and talk about boring, non-important things like what I’ve been cooking up?

A few weeks ago I bought the beauty below.  I found it on an auction site and paid… wait for it… you will die… it’s coming… a whopping $22.  Overall, the cabinet is in really great shape except there is a chunk missing on the top corner.  Who would buy a cabinet with a chunk missing?!  THIS GAL!  No-one will ever see that chunk, yeah baby!  It’s most likely from the 1980’s (like duh), made in Italy and it’s made of birds-eye maple that has been heavily shellacked, as was the way in those days.  I forgot to photo the sides, but they are lovely!  They’re the best part actually.  They have a wavy detail and the whole piece is in an oval shape.  You may be thinking, “Yak! This thing is ugly” but I see so much potential as a bathroom cabinet.  Can you just imagine her stripped down, re-stained perhaps, with legs and a marble top?  Probable some new handles too =)

Right now she is sitting in my master bedroom.  Oh vey.

But before taking the cabinet apart, I’ve decided to tackle a different project!  Wow, remember when I used to do those?!  Ha!

I have this cut-in area with 4 doors that leads to the master bathroom, from my bedroom.  To the left is a sauna (which my fancy ass uses for treasure storage) and to the right is my closet.  This wwwwhhhhooollleee thing is really boring and no fun at. all.  The doors are just flat, hollow doors and I would LOVE to change them out, but that’s a pain and probably not necessary in the grand scheme of life.  For now I’m thinking (and I’ve been thinking for a few months now) that I’d like to try to do a treatment on them.

I’m pondering a cerused oak look… ala something like this…

Can I do it?!  Who knows!  Will I try!  Yes, I will!

I found this article from Bob Vila and it doesn’t look too difficult.  Of course, starting any new project is ALWAYS way more than you expect.  As of today, I’ve only sanded the doors and already I’m pretty annoyed…. I didn’t think about removing my mirror on the inside of the door and basically sanded into my closet.  I’m the bestest.

It’s hilarious because I waited until the day before our cleaning lady came so that I could make a mess and only half clean it up.  Pat on the back for laziness!  She hasn’t quit on us yet, but stay tuned because we are a house full of lazy dirt balls!

Right now, the doors are sanded and the base coat is mixed (I had some left over crap in the garage).  I need to patch up some holes and get that paint on there!  It’s a 2 week cure time before I can apply the glaze, and now that I’ve actually done something, I’m itching to faux bois!  But something is telling me that I may have some time on my hands next week…. call it a hunch.

What do you think??

Any advice?  I’m not optimistic about getting a realistic wood grain while the doors are hanging, but I really, REALLY don’t want to remove them.

Jessica

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