First Time Furniture Fix-up

Last Friday, I got a text from Momma that included a picture of this baby:

She was at Goodwill and knew that I had been looking for something like it for my bathroom. How much? $10. SCORE! It just needed a little TLC (if you take a closer look at the top of the pic, you can see why).

So naturally, she was the perfect candidate for a self-proclaimed fixer-upper (I didn't say anything about being good at grammar, now, did I?!), such as myself. I was sold... and thus - so was she.

She came home with me yesterday. My schedule has been crazy, and then there were a few days that I just plumb forgot about her! But finally, I swung by momma's house (thank you, momma bear!) and picked her up. Now she was aalllll mine!

But after sizing her up, she seemed that she'd be a little to small for the space in our bathroom... and I had just the spot in mind for her, once she was ready.

So now it was time for that TLC that I was talking about, earlier. I have these amazing Guardsmen wood touch-up markers. Seriously, people... AH-mazing. Although, I didn't realize just how amazing until last night.

You see - for the longest time (I've had these puppies for a while, now, thanks to an over-zealous bone chewer named Austin... he really gets into it, folks), I thought that they were just glorified Brown markers. You draw on the furniture to touch it up and hope it doesn't just make it look like little Susie, the paste eater from Kindergarten, ran out of paper. And since the wood trim on my couches is so dark, I was lucky enough that there wasn't a single sign of little Susie, anywhere. *Whew!

When I started trying to touch-up this little $10 gem, it was starting to look more and more like it was - well... $10.

But alas, I decided that all those little letters on the side of the marker deserved a quick read-through. Ah-Hah! Directions?! Who needs 'em.

Pssh... ummm - apparently I do. Because you aren't supposed to just go to town drawing on the thing as your inner child squeals with glee. No. You're supposed to have some kind of rag with you and gently wipe in the direction of the wood grain immediately after each application.

Oooh.

NOW it makes sense.

But don't worry - if I reapplied it rather generously, and then wiped again, it would correct the little kiddie marks I'd already made. Score! Now nobody has to know!

... until I blog about it, anyways. :-P

But if you find that it hasn't given you the coverage that you need, you just let it dry for about 10 minutes or more, and then apply another coat, still wiping gently after each application. It's actually the perfect way to break up a night full of some So You Think You Can Dance finale commercial breaks and a little bit of this, action:

Presto-Chango!!

Your Momma's $10 Goodwill find becomes you're new treasure.

And now... for the "re"finished product:

Here are a few pics of it's new home, with some of the top decorating done...

I feel like it's belonged there this whole time, and now it's finally complete. *sigh

So in the interest of full disclosure, it doesn't make the markings go away completely, BUT it just makes it look a bit older and like it's got some character, rather than like a very tall neglected rabbit had nothing better to do to pass the time between carrot feedings. And I bet that if I wanted to take an extra 10 - 15 minutes and sand the rough edges a bit before applying the Guardsman markers, you'd probably not even notice them to begin with... but I'm a sucker for character and a furniture piece with a story.

Anywho - what do you think? Do you likey, or are you unimpressed? Have you ever used Guardsman Furniture Touch-up Markers before? What was the result?

... and am I the only female that doesn't read directions on things like this?!

I'm just sayin'...

Toodles!