It's Broke...Now What?

A long time ago, I started decorating our master bedroom. It was going very well until I stopped. I ran into a few function issues and I did not know how to solve those little problems. So finally I just decided to start shopping for an end table. I needed something black and I wanted something slightly funky. I needed it to be small and I also wanted to use it as an organizer for hubby's charging station in a chic sort of way. I had narrowed my search down to two end tables in my price range at CSN when I found something in our garage that had been left here when we moved in.



It was in terrible shape. The back was warping and had separated from the sides, the paint was completely gone in spots and about half of the little knobs that covered up the screw holes were missing. On top of that, the knobs had been painted a metallic gold color so it was very ugly.



I had looked at this piece of furniture for ages until a light bulb went off in my Mon's head. She suggested a few changes and suddenly I had a great idea! I had been looking for something with clean lines for our bedroom and I also wanted something that would be able to organize the mess of charging lines hubby and I use for our cell phones and IPOD's. For a few hours worth of work with supplies I already had, I figured that perhaps I could make this ugly duckling into something. So, I went to work gathering a few tools up.





I dug the little gold knobs out with a screwdriver.



Then I sanded the whole piece. I rubbed it down with a damp cloth and hauled it back inside. I filled the screw holes in with wood filler.



This is a multi-step process. I filled the little whole with wood filler and let it dry. Then I sanded the spot with fine grit sandpaper. You may need to add even more filler to the hole after you sand. The object is to make the hole disappear.



While the filler dried, I removed the hinges from the door and the cabinet and reattached the back of the piece with the nails that were already in place. Then I gave everything a coat of black paint. I did not prime it, but if you were going to use this in a high traffic area or if the piece will be taking lots of abuse from little ones or frequent use, then I would definitely prime it first.



While the first coat of paint dried, I ran up to my local hardware store with the original hing in my purse. I wanted something a little different. But I soon found out that this was an OLD hinge and the distance from screw hole to screw hole was something that I was not going to find anymore. So, I took myself over to the paint section and found a bottle of silver spray paint that would match my brushed nickle knob that I already had at home from another project.



After a couple of light coats, I was super happy with the result. So fast forward another coat of paint on the door and table, putting the door back on with the original hardware that had been painted...don't forget to paint the screws...and you wind up with this:





I'll show you how I turned this into our charging organizer in a later post.

I am very excited with my refinished piece. I am using this post to introduce a new category to my blog, "It's Broke...Now What?" I find great pleasure in re-purposing odds and ends, re-finishing them or using a bunch of old stuff to make a new project.