So, now... on Saturday we began our Antique-ing journey. We were on the hunt for either an old mantle for the house or old window panes for some cool ideas I found on Pinterest. We probably went to about 7 different antique/flea-market places Saturday morning and ta da... we found old window panes.... well, they aren't window panes they are old cabinet doors. Here is what they looked like when we bought them:
Well, we thought we can just peel slash sand this paint right off. And yes, a good majority was just falling off with every step we took or minor touch. We set up shop with me in a little stadium seat and Rob in a lawn chair out in our empty parking garage and began peeling and sanding away with me in Rob's work gloves and Rob in his mountain biking gloves. Yeah I know.. we aren't pros. Bad news: the paint that was really on there was not going to just come off. We only had 100 grit sandpaper on us and we were getting nowhere fast on the paint that was really on there still. Rob was just really sanding away... but I'm like, I think we need some paint thinner/stripper. At first, he wasn't for it... but I'm all about efficiency and not having to work harder than I have to. And I could see that even if we sanded for the next 4 days we wouldn't be done.
So, we headed off to Home Depot. Which meant that we bought Paint Stripper and then we had to buy two paint scrapers. So that was another $20 bucks. Why do my DIY projects that aren't supposed to cost very much end up costing me at least $50 dollars? So unfair.
So we get back. Again, we set up shop in the parking garage. Between a BMW & Mercedes. HAHAHAHA. Thank goodness the owners didn't see us spraying that paint stripper near their cars, they would have freaked. And no.. this story does not end up with us spraying this stuff their cars. They are intack. Just how we left them. So, we sprayed my doors in our usual clothes and sandals. And then we started scraping. It tooks us about 2 to 3 hours hours to get all of the paint off of these suckers.
It was also way harder thanI thought it would be. Not to mention that we used this little table that I have and the paint stripper also burned a hole through my table and got black paint on my doors that I then had to also scrape off. This also makes a big gooey mess. I had never worked with the stuff before.. how was I supposed to know??? At one point... I realized that my pinky toe was on fire. Apparently, a piece of stripped paint landed on my bare toe. I had to keep checking that it didn't burn off. So yes... the professionals that we are stripped paint in a parking garage in sandals and in between two $70,000 cars. No big deal. With a burning toe.
Towards the end, I realized that we were probably going to need to sweep up this mess because it was a big mess. Well, do we have a broom? No. So.. this sparks a trip to Walgreens. So, I pick up the keys and drive across the street to pick up a broom and dust pan. One would think the dust pan would come with the broom.. but no. This required two purchases... plus a bottle of water because I knew Rob was thirsty.... tho why we didn't just get some from the apartment I don't know..but I thought it seemed like a nice wifely thing to do when I got to go to the store while Rob was paint stripping away. That was another $20 purchase. Note to self: Walgreens is not the place to buy ANY cleaning supplies.
Buy the time I got back, Rob had finished up a couple of trouble spots that had needed to be sprayed with the paint stripper a second time. So, I began sweeping up my big mess with this stupid broom whose head kept coming loose, but cost me $10 and I didn't even get a dust pan!!
Then, we finished sanding them down. You can really smell their real wood smell... if I was my dad I would be able to tell you what wood they are made from, but I am not and I have no idea. But they smell good. So, all we accomplished was stripping and sanding them down. Next, I'm either going to stain them or paint them.... but I won't decide that until we move and I know exactly where I'm going to put them.
So, I'm another $80 down and one more DIY project experienced. Luckily, I still have all 10 toes, too. So does Rob for that matter. Here's the cabinet doors after we finished stripping them back to their natural state.
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