Painting the Black Hutch

I've been busy. Very busy. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to complain about it. I love every part of my busy life but sometimes I get TIRED. I've been managing three different part time jobs the last few weeks on top of my usual mommy/wife work and the thing is I adore every one of these jobs and wish I had more time for each one!!

On Wednesdays I've been working at my church with our preschool program, Little Lambs. I love it and I wish I could be there every day! It's lots of fun and my daughter, Lainey, loves it there too :) After a full day of running around with a bunch of preschoolers I'm exhausted!

On the other 4 days of the week I babysit. I can't tell you enough how much I love babysitting. It's something God brought into my life without me looking for it and it has blessed me and my family in more ways than I can count.

In my spare time (naps and evenings and early mornings!) I paint. Wether it's for myself, to be sold, or for a client I love painting. The thought of starting a new project gets me all giddy and the satisfaction of finishing is amazing.

So like I said, I'm busy, but I wish I had MORE time for each and every one of those things!! I've never understood the saying "If only there were more hours in the day" like I understand it now ;)

So this would be why it took me 3 weeks to finish a client's hutch recently! 

It started out with blonde wood and some doors that had already been painted by the owner :)

The top came off which is good, this thing was a beast I tell you. I started by removing all of the hardware, hinges and roller ball stopper things. This was time consuming, but not as time consuming as putting it all back on and getting each door to close right!!

I primed the whole thing twice using a brush in tight spots and a small high density foam roller.

I also had to tape off the mirror and remove all of the glass from the sides and doors.

Everything went well and looked good until I got to protecting it. I used polycrylic this time because polyurethane kept yellowing on me every time I used it. I used a high quality brush and brushed it on only to discover it was leaving big ugly brush strokes all over. Anybody else ever had this problem with polycrylic? I am guessing that it was just really noticeable because it was over black paint. 

After lightly sanding and putting on another coat I realized this problem was not going to go away. So I panicked ;) I bought a paint sprayer and tried using it with polycrylic on a piece of scrap furniture. It didn't work. So I bought some polycrylic in spray paint can form. After applying 3 heavy coats it was working. Sigh of relief. 

It can be really stressful working on furniture for a client. I am a people pleaser by nature and the thought of anyone in the world not being 100% happy with me is terrifying. I realize this is not healthy, I'm working on it. ;)

Thank goodness Scott is always there to calm me down and problem solve with me. I couldn't have finished this project without him. Not to mention his being super understanding when I'd finish dinner and run back out to the garage to work some more! 

The client was happy with the hutch and it looked very nice in it's new home.

The dining room table isn't in the room yet but I had to get a picture with their new chandelier, isn't it awesome?! She hasn't even finished putting all the crystals on yet!

I've started on their bedroom set now and I bought a different paint sprayer to try out. After it's first run today I'm pretty thrilled with it, I'll give you a full review once I've used it a few more times!!





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