And it was called yellow...

When my dad was a youngster he had a chest of drawers.  It stayed around and ended up in a closet in my room growing up.  When I moved to Dallas I took this chest with me.  Before doing so, I painted it white.

Now I decided to paint it yellow to go with this plan.

I started off by doing research and one of my favorite blogs came through with a "how to."  Now I didn't follow it to the T but it did help.

First I sanded down the piece with 220 sand paper.  I did not use any primer because I figured the white paint on it already could serve as a primer, and I didn't feel like spending money on primer. Not sure if that was wise or not, but so far so good.

 

Once it was sanded, I applied two coats of Behr Wildflower Honey.  When I painted my walls I used the Behr paint with primer included.  However, for this piece I used the paint without the primer.  To apply the paint I used a roller.  I tried both a fiber covered and foam covered roller and definitely preferred the fiber covered.

The top of the chest proved to be a challenge.  There were a few scuffs that were difficult to sand out.  So, I decided to use paint remover on the top.  It was quite a process that didn't go as I had planned. As a result the top has several more coats of paint than the rest of the piece, but you can't tell.

Once I finished painting it yellow, I applied three coats of Minwax Water-Based Polycrylic Protective Finish.  I used Satin Finish because I did not want the chest to be super shiny and glossy.  If you do desired that, use the Gloss version.  Also, from what I read the Water-Based is better because it does not turn yellow over time and it isn't as messy.  To apply the finish, I used a foam brush (which you can get for less than a dollar).  I do recommend using the Polycrylic Protective Finish.  When I painted it white I did not use the finish and I can definitely tell a difference.

Overall, this was a pretty easy project and I am quite pleased with the way it turned out.  The picture though could be better. Note: I lost one of the screws to one of the knobs so need to take care of that!

Senior Year Memory Part TWENTY: Not Quite Van Gogh...

JP and I used to go on walks several times a week in the Homewood neighborhoods behind Samford.  One evening on a walk we noticed a house that had put all kinds of stuff out for the garbage truck to pick up.  In the pile of stuff was this painting.

We rescued the painting from its demise and hung it on the wall above the futon in JP's student apartment.  Me, JP and his roommate had a quite a discussion about what the painting was trying to convey and which way it was supposed to hang.  I'm not really sure why we decided to hang it this direction.

During JP's senior year, he hung the painting again but hung it the opposite direction with the squares on the bottom.  He even carried this painting to the house he lived in the summer before we got married, and I think it was hung horizontally.  Once we were married and he moved all of his stuff to our apartment, he did not bring the painting with him.  We have no idea where it is now.  Maybe it was put out for the garbage truck and another couple just happened to stumble upon it.

After reading this post to JP his response was: "Oh no! I don't know where that is. I can't believe I lost it."