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Amazing Grays!

Heidi J Marsh
Apr 23, 2018
4 min read

Yes, the title is a play on words, but I couldn't resist! I love grays and yes, "Amazing Grace" as well. It's one of, if not, my favorite hymns. I am also in love with this shade of gray by Designer in You Paints. It's called Gray by the Bay and I used it for the vast majority of this piece. But before we get into the details on the finish, I must show you the BEFORE pic and tell you the crazy (and scary) story about how I got this piece.

I was very lucky with this piece. The prior owner offered to delivery it, so I took a gamble without knowing whether or not it was in good condition. However, for the price, I couldn't refuse. I almost didn't get the piece though and the story of how I did, nearly gave me a heart attack!

Here's the story... So, the person dropping this piece off ended up "no showing"' at the time we agreed upon. I tried and tried to contact them without success for several hours (more like 5!). By 9 pm I had given up and decided to go bed. Like many nights, however, I couldn't sleep, and I was still awake at 10:30. Yes, I said 10:30 pm, when I saw lights in my driveway (you can probably see where this story is going). When the lights didn't go away after a few seconds, I started to wonder if someone was at our house. Then the dog started barking, and I knew someone was indeed in our driveway.

I panicked a bit and immediately woke up my husband and grabbed the gun. Yes I pack heat, especially since there had been a rash of brazen burglaries on our street recently. Generally, we live in a safe community, but a couple of burglars had made a hay day out of our quiet neigborhood. In fact, the K-9 unite had been to our home twice telling us to stay inside and lock up while they chased this criminal through our neighborhood. So... you can imagine why I was a "little" on edge.

After grabbing gun and waking my husband, I peeked through the curtains to see a dark red truck pull into our long driveway. It was dark, so I couldn't see super well, but I could see that he had something in the back. It was furniture. My first thought was, "Geez, I guess these burglars are interested in furniture, How odd!" Then it dawned on me that it might be my delivery. "But at 10:30 at night? Seriously?" I immediately texted my contact and asked if it was them. She answered this time. Thankfully, yes, it was her boyfriend and yes, he had our furniture. We ended up getting into a conversation about the whole thing, that I won't go into, but suffice it to say, it had been a rough night for them as well. I just wish they would have called. I mean who shows up to someone's house that late at night! I'm glad we didn't meet them with a gun...

I'm glad everything worked out with the delivery because I not only got this piece, but this one as well! Sooooo happy! Stay tuned for the blog and time lapse tutorial on this beauty. In fact, sign up for my newsletter to the right to make sure you get it. You can also sign up here and grab your free copy of my ebook on how to choose paint colors.

Ok, now on to the finished piece! I first cleaned the piece with TSP and them took off all the hardware, doors and drawers. As I said, I was lucky. The piece was in mint condition and was made of solid wood. No fixing needed this time. Yay!

Now onto to the paint... I decided to use a blending technique using all grays on the outside. First, I painted a base coat of "Gray by the Bay" by Designer in You (DIY) paints. It's a great medium gray color. You'll love it! Next, I put on a second coat of the same color everywhere except the face of the doors. For that area, I mixed a little of the gray with some "White as Snow" to get a lighter gray color. I painted that in the middle and them went back and blended the edges with the darker gray. Once dry, I waxed the edges and wood details with their black wax. To protect the entire piece, I finished the entire piece in clear wax after the black wax had cured. Finally, I spray painted the hardware and metal lattice (in the windows) a super cool metallic silver. For the inside I used some left over teal paint I had which is super similar to DIY's "Queen of Hearts Royal Ocean".