Ikea Sideboard Makeover

This sideboard project has been about a million years in the making.  Ever since the dawn of Pinterest I've been Pinning inspirations like the ones below for how to makeover my plane jane wood sideboard.

       

Once I saw the pin for this technique from "Just a Girl" on how to paint furniture to have that glossy black "pottery barn look" I was sold.  I waited until the perfect opportunity presented itself (Mike traveling on a Men Only weekend get away) and it was time to execute.

This is what I've been working with for the past year...

I gathered my materials and got to work.

The first step as recommended by Chris, the woman behind "Just a Girl", is to clean up the piece of furniture.  Let me tell you, I'm glad I did not skip this step.  As soon as I got my sideboard outside in the direct sunlight the dust bunnies revealed themselves.  Yuck.  With a little bit of elbow grease and some 409 I was able to get it cleaned up in a jiffy.

Then I applied a coat or two of primer with a foam roller and craft sponge.  This was not easy.  With all of the slats and the narrow legs there were basically zero flat surfaces to roller, which meant that 80% of all the painting was done with that three inch wide sponge.  Slow going, but at the end I was rewarded with this:

I kept the top un-painted since I use it so often as a cutting board and for other food prep, I wanted to keep it functional.

I let the primer dry for a few hours then it was time to do it all over again with my black paint.  Unfortunately it was no easier the second time around... but through the magic of the internet we can fast forward to the finished product.  

Ta Da!

I let it dry outside over night.  This morning I put it in place.

Then loaded it up with my dishes.  I keep all my daily plates, bowls, cups and silverware in this baby.  This leaves more storage space in my tiny kitchen for pots, pans and (best of all) food.

Here is a quick reminder of how it has looked for the past year or so:

And now the after:

Doesn't it look a bit more 'at home' in my dining area?

I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  I think future improvements to the side board will include adding hardware like drawer pulls, a towel rack or peg and maybe even a wine rack.  I'd also like to do something about the slats.  Maybe put a piece of wood across each shelf to keep my cups from falling through the cracks?

What did you do any overdue home improvement projects this weekend?  Do other people wait for their significant other to leave town before tackling home improvement projects?  No?  Just me?

~Claire Out.