The Carrillos and me

This post was originally written by Karen Carrillo and was published on our blog Freedom Reconstructed

Every now and again we should do things for ourselves! Or, our friends and families. 

My parents (Karen) needed a console for their living room and had a truly tough time finding something that matched or was the right size. We stumbled upon the beauty below and bing bang everyone was excited! My parents were thrilled to finally have a piece that fit and Jelena and I were excited to have a new project to work on together. It was narrow and long enough for the space and had the potential for greatness. 

Before shot 

Sorry guys, I forgot to take a decent before shot and these were the only ones I could scrounge up

 The original plan was to paint the whole thing turquoise but after my dad sanded off, with great gusto, the depressing finish it came with, a wonderful wooden base was revealed. My family is a huge lover of wood grains and it was going to be too painful for us to just cover it up again. So, we decided to stain it turquoise instead. Stain comes in a myriad of superbly brilliant colours and what better way to add colour to a space while preserving the natural quality and look of this precious wood?

super sanded with a turquoise stained top

I'm not usually afraid to try new things, but I was absolutely feeling the heat while I was about to stain this perfectly sanded raw wood for the first time. Staining is not for the faint of heart. In essence you cannot make a mistake, otherwise you'll be sanding and sanding for days and or having to cover up the botched job with opaque paint. Thankfully it took! I think it went well because it was an exceedingly humid day so the stain stayed wet longer and didn't leave any visible streaks. Phew!

Jelena working her tape-off magic

Jelena came to paint the base with a very soft white latex, which was actually two old paints mixed together (we never waste!). She began by tapping off all the edges and was done in one morning! Amazing!

super sanded and awaiting paint 

drying in the breeze

We spruced up and used two of the original knobs and found some jazzy combinations for the rest.
Pretty certain it's very happy in its new location, we are definitely happy with it!