Last week, I said that I was going to embark on a journey to complete one of my DIY projects and I am chuffed to say, it turned out pretty well. It is a very solid, up-cycled solid pine toy box with a smooth, satin finish. Plus, it has soft close hinge lid = safety first.
So which method did I choose? I actually went with the ‘use-your-old-interior-paint-and-wax-over-it-and-hope-for-the-best’ technique. I am very satisfied with the result and the only part I am concerned about, is the wax needs to cure for a few weeks to harden but I have already given it to our son. Eek! Oh well.
Here’s what I did. This is the toy box or pine chest originally. It has a clear varnish over bare timber. I gave it a light sand with 180 grit sandpaper to remove the shine of the varnish.
I then gave it a quick and light undercoat using ‘Pascol’s Primer, Sealer Undercoat’ from Masters hardware which I had leftover from painting the house.
After a couple of hours, I was satisfied that the paint had dried and so I proceeded with the top coat. I used an old sample pot paint (interior low sheen acrylic paint) in the Pascol range, the colour being Storm Grey by Wattyl. I put on two good coats with a medium size synthetic bristle brush with no sanding in between.
I then decided to lightly distress the paintwork the following day after I knew the paint had dried and was well onto curing. As it was too cold outside to do any of this, I completed the project inside with the heater on and the window open for ventilation. I distressed the edges, corners and in between the grooves with a 120 grit sandpaper very carefully then wiped it clean to remove the loose dust.
I waxed with two light coats using Feast Watson’s Carnauba Wax in Natural using a ‘wax on’ cloth and a lint free smooth ‘wax off’ cloth. The strong lemon scent wafted down the hallway which kept the cats away. I popped the hinges back on and grabbed a spare soft close hinge that was left over from our kitchen installation from Masters. They are normally used for overhead cabinets where it needs to stay open and close softly. It works so well and I really happy about hinge.
The rest is now history. I am super happy with the result and now that the toys are packed away, our little man can enjoy more play space without crawling over stuff all the time. Ah. I just love a happy ending!
