DIY // Sideboard Before & After

About a year ago on his way home from work, boyfriend found an old sideboard on the side of the road. Two days later after two nights of heavy rain it was still there and so at 3am that morning boyfriend and his friend carried it home. Since then it's been hidden away behind our sofa not used for anything as it was in such bad shape but after completing the kitchen table I had a bit more confidence and decided to just go for it with a pot of paint and some new knobs.

I painted it in the Annie Sloan shade Paloma which is a lovely lilac toned grey and only put on one coat so it looked a bit (purposefully) distressed. You can really see how thick the paint is when you compare the marks in the first image to the after shot - they're all gone! It took about an hour to paint it all so it was a super quick project. Annie Sloan chalk paint dries super fast so by the time I had finished two of the doors, the top and back were dry. Within two hours I had it under the window with things in and on top so you really can't fault a quick, easy and relatively inexpensive project.

If you don't know about the chalk paint, I'll briefly explain. It's a super thick paint that can be painted onto wood, glass, metal, concrete, walls, brick, fabric etc (pretty much any surface) without prior sanding or priming. The 1 litre tin costs £18.75 and for reference, I still have about 1/4 of the tin left after this sideboard was painted and some parts on the old TV table. You finish with either the clear or dark wax to make it waterproof and you're good to go! It's not chalkboard paint - the chalk name comes from it's matt chalky texture once it dries.

For the knobs I picked up this selection from a brand called Kuku. I don't know where you can buy them as I picked them up from an independent retailer but if I find out, I'll edit this section. I love the contrast of the large and small vs the patterned and plain. I plan on having two more knobs on the two doors but I'm yet undecided if I want one of each, two blue or two white - what do you think? Sadly there's not much I can do about the missing door bar hang a voile or curtain inside to hide the area but considering what it was to what it is, I'm really happy with it. I love having it out on display under the window (and that's why the lighting is so bad, folks) and inside holds all my games and DVD's, paperwork and unpaid bills. Not the most fun storage but necessary.

What do you think?