- leables
Doing it Myself: Quarantine Diaries #1!
Updated: Apr 13, 2021
Hello everyone! Lauren here!
SO. Life is crazy right now. At the moment, the Southern Institute of Faux Finishing is operating as well as it possibly can under changing recommendations from health and government officials. Paint-shoppe.com is operating normally. We're going minimal contact between staff members, which means I'm working from home! My cats are my new coworkers! They've actually been great- they haven't gotten sick of me spending all my time at home just yet. For the next couple of weeks you're going to see video and blog content written and filmed in my tiny apartment, and the kitties will make a ton of cameos. They did just that in today's video upload, which is linked below.
The nightstand I'm working on in today's video as well as the tv stand I paint next week were both gifted to me several years ago, and I'm excited to make them match our new decor! I'll be using all sorts of Jolie Home products along with some of the other products we offer at SIFF and paint-shoppe.com. Today's project is a much needed makeover for a tiny endtable/nightstand that, when finished, will look great in my first apartment with my future husband. With all of this COVID craziness going on, I've had to drastically alter my plans for the next several months. My wedding, which was scheduled for May 24th, has been cancelled. My college graduation likely won't feature an actual ceremony, and the remainder of my Graphic Design degree is being completed through an online format. But that's all okay!
Why am I being so calm about this? Why is everything okay? Because I'm equipped with the knowledge and now the time to complete projects that have been gnawing at me for months. The nightstand along with a matching tv stand have been on my list for so so long, and I'm excited to finally check off those boxes.
The next few videos will include the entire process of upcycling my items, from cleaning, to painting, to waxing, to probably having some happy accidents. We'll see. Wish me luck! Hopefully I don't get too much cat hair in my wax.
Products used in this project:
1. Pure White Matte Finish Paint
I used Pure White everywhere except on the bead board. I wanted the nightstand to be a little brighter- the previous white paint had a bit of a yellow tint to it! Pure White is the only Jolie Matte Finish Paint that has zero pigment in it. No color- at all! It covered the yellow-pigmented white paint well, but I wouldn't recommend using Pure White when painting over a darker color. You may require more coats of paint to get it covered if you're using Pure White! For turning a dark piece white, I recommend using Palace White, Dove Grey, or Gesso.
2. French Grey Matte Finish Paint
I knew I wanted a grey, but I wasn't sure which grey. All credit goes to Virginia for this color suggestion! I love the way it turned out! I have several different greys in my color palette for our future apartment, and French Grey will fit right in without clashing.
3. Brushes
I used a small synthetic bristle brush to do all my painting. Synthetic was a better choice for me, as I was going for a very smooth finish. If you want to see brush strokes, I recommend using a natural bristle brush. For waxing, I used our Ultimate Waxing Brush.
4. Clear Finishing Wax
I obviously used Jolie's Clear Finishing Wax to wax the nightstand. Clear Wax covers a lot of ground and hardens quickly!
5. Cheesecloth
Cheesecloth is used to remove excess wax. It's what you see me wiping the nightstand with just following the wax in the video! Cheesecloth from SIFF is my preferred wax removal tool!
Before:

After:

If you're in Mississippi like I am, you know that our numbers are increasing every day when it comes to positive diagnoses of the Coronavirus and that our neighbor to the East, Louisana, has already issued a mandatory Stay-At-Home Order. Below I'm going to list addresses and phone numbers for the testing locations that I know of in case you or a loved one is showing symptoms of the virus. I'll update if I get any more information! The information below and MORE can be found at https://msdh.ms.gov/msdhsite/_static/14,21912,420,874.html!





And with that, that's all from me today. I hope that you'll all staying safe and staying as happy as possible during all of this chaos. If you need us, get in touch through our Facebook page, through this website, or just call the store. We'll be happy to hear from you regardless. I'll update you soon with more fun, furniture-improvement based content!
See you next week!
