The French Sideboard

Oh, French Provincial furniture. I can never seem to get enough of it. My love affair with the Hollywood Regency decorating period started last summer during my Master Bedroom Makeover, and continues to this day. I can still occasionally be found surfing Craigslist for a cheap French Provincial piece to rescue. The serpentine fronts, the curvy lines, the attention to every detail on the piece...there is just no furniture style to match it.

Thus, this project. We have always have always had this "spot" in our kitchen nook/breakfast area that just. needed. something. I could never quite figure out what. The "spot" was basically just a big, blank wall between the kitchen and living room. Placing furniture against it would surely block the walkway into the living room, I thought. So, in my naiveté when we moved in 5 years ago, I slapped a large piece of canned wine bottle art on the wall and called the "spot" finished.

Then came the reading of the DIY blogs, Pinterest, and many, MANY DIY projects. Slowly, I realized how terribly I had finished the "spot." The "spot" had a clear purpose, and its purpose was to host a slim but long sideboard, with open shelves above it.

This is what I knew after reading all the Pinterest decorating things.

To Craigslist, I went. For months I scoured, searched, bargained. I couldn't find a French Provincial sideboard anywhere on the East Coast for less than $200. I started to think my vision might never materialize. The "spot" would always be useless.

Then, as usually happens if you search long enough (a fact which I tend to forget in the frenzy of wanting to finish a project RIGHT NOW), someone posted this beautiful, but desperately in need of a makeover, old girl:

I always name my French pieces (see Antoinette, Herbert, Amelie, and Charles), so we shall call this lady "Juliette."

I emailed the seller immediately, and the next day I found myself meandering through someone's storage unit only a few miles down the highway from my house. Sixty measly bucks later, she was mine!

I was excited. But alas, this purchase occurred in September, and it just so happened that the following month we had not one, but TWO weddings to attend within two weeks, and all four of us were IN both of them (if you've been through such a wedding experience with toddlers in tow, you understand the enormity of the situation...TWICE). So in the garage Juliette sat. Following October came the holidays, and then all the cold weather, which kept me indoors and dormant from DIY.

Patiently, Juliette waited for me, and finally April arrived.

Soooo many DIYs in April.
Juliette was my second favorite.
The 1st favorite is a big post to come.
Stay tuned.

When we bought Juliette, she smelled like smoke and had some stains.

She was in rough shape aesthetically.
So very un-French.

Luckily, her bones were solid. My vision for Juliette was a stained top and white, distressed body. Because I wanted to re-stain the top, the first thing I had to do was strip it. I never stripped a piece of furniture for re-staining before, and I'm not going to lie to you, it was no picnic. After much research, I decided to go with Citristrip Stripping Gel, because I liked the fact that it was a green product that people seemed to have a lot of success with:



Amazon Affiliate Link HERE

While it did manage to get a lot of the stain off, I learned a few things. First, you need to use A LOT of it. I should've used a much thicker covering than I did. Juliette's red stain was old (50 years or more), and it was BRIGHT. I definitely didn't use enough of the Citristrip gel. In certain areas where I did apply it thickly, the stain came off well. The rest, I simply sanded off, which was a difficult job.

My little "Mouse" (Amazon Affliate Link) sander worked hard, but this job may have been too much for even him.

After many hours of sanding, and with arms so sore I could barely lift them, this is what Juliette (and her drawers) looked like:

This is with the second coat of Citristrip applied to the top.
Her body has been fully sanded, however.
Why does that sound scandalous?

After I finished removing the stain from the top, I got out my favorite primer. Zinsser Cover Stain (Amazon Affiliate Link) is so thick that it not only diminishes the need to sand, but it gets rid of any moldy or smoky smells in a piece too.

Meaning it came in particular handy with Juliette.
I love you girl, but you stank.

Mid-prime.
The top was finally completely naked.
Again with the scandalous comments.

After priming, it was time to go for the stain. I knew I wanted the top to be in the gray family, so I went for a new stain color from Minwax called "Classic Gray."

Amazon Affiliate Link HERE

I had been using on several other projects before I got to Juliette, and I was loving it. I didn't know too much about staining at this point, but I followed the directions on the can.

Following the directions turned out to be a mistake, because I was staining under HOT sun.
Never let stain sit on an object which is out in the hot sun for 10 whole minutes.
You WILL learn this lesson the hard way. 

Because I let the stain sit on for too long (never 10 minutes in the sun...just...NO), the stain got really dark in certain places. I contemplated starting over. But then, I decided that a dark gray top might not be so bad. So, I threw caution to the wind and painted on a second coat!

Impulse control.
I have none.

After staining the top, I painted the body with two coats of Benjamin Moore Advance in Pure White. I love Benjamin Moore Advance because it is made for wood products and I have yet to use a paint that self-levels and adheres better than this one. It's a little pricey, but it is most definitely worth it!

After painting, I lightly distressed the body a bit using some 120 grit sandpaper, and then applied two coats of Minwax Satin Polycrylic (Amazon Affliate Link HERE) to the body. To the top, I applied 3 coats of high gloss Minwax Polyurethane (Amazon Affiliate Link HERE). I used polycrylic for the bottom because polyurethane has a tendency to amber over time and I didn't want the piece to turn yellow. I used polyurethane for the top because, well, it's polyurethane, which means it's oil-based, which means it WORKS (and I did NOT want to re-stain this piece again).

And finally, it is my pleasure to present to you My Lady Juliette, in all her curvy, refinished glory:

She was a lot of work, but what beautiful girl isn't? She is working out absolutely perfect in the "spot," which finally has a reason for existing. She's made the perfect place to store dish towels, placemats, and party supplies, and she even has room to spare! I love her so much, I'm pretty sure the two of us are going to be very happy together for a long time.