Vintage record player cabinet repurpose

This is how it started.....

It's an RCA record player cabinet from 1974 (the year I was born!). The record player is trash...so we ripped that sucker out! I knew immediately when I bought it what I was gonna use it for. But what color??? Neutrals always sell...so I thought cream....

I looked around on Pinterest (my fave go to spot for inspiration!). I knew I wanted distressed, but I wanted a multi-layered color distressed look, which is totally NOT my norm.

I began with my base coat, black, I wanted some black to show through in the distressing. I used plain old black acrylic paint by brushing it on with a small paint brush here and there, just kind of randomly.

I know, it totally looks wild lol

Then some red...

Yeah...too wild, I know...

But I had big dreams for it!

I couldn't find my Vaseline so I used a bit of soft wax for the areas I wanted to distress. And then decided green was next. I mixed up some chalk paint but I was going by a recipe I found on another blog that called for Plaster of Paris. If you know Plaster of Paris like I do you know it gets very hard. Heck, it's what they used to make casts of for broken bones! The good thing is that it sticks to almost anything, so it's really handy for pieces with a glossy finish. I used half chalk, half Plaster of Paris with this in mind. 

The chalk paint without plaster feels kind of "soft". I don't know how else to describe it... But remember I said they used to make casts out of Plaster of Paris, and those things were hard as rocks! What I should have done at this point is sand the areas of the red/black I wanted to show through....notice I emphasized SHOULD have done!! I painted a similar mixture of cream chalk/plaster on top of the green instead.

I forgot to get a shot of the cream before I distressed it at all, but it was pretty thick. Now if you remember, I wanted heavy distressing with all these colors coming through. OMG...that is UGLY though!!

The paint was super hard.... I couldn't distress by hand like I normally do AT ALL. I had to get the electric sander. 

Hindsight is 20/20!!! The past is always so much clearer than the here and now, isn't it?!?

I should have gone with my gut and went back over this with a shade of green.... But I didn't. (Surprise, surprise) I used my Miss Mustard Seed Shutter Grey. Which, if you remember my "Mr. Ebert's secretary desk, it was a beautiful color. That was a darker walnut stain, though. On top of this cream, the Shutter Grey looks very baby blue!! I must make a mental note of that, and you might want to as well!

I did find my Vaseline before applying my milk paint. So I put it on the areas I wanted to show through, painted the milk paint, two coats...(letting every coat I've applied thus far dry at least 30 mins between coats, of course) then got my electric sander and here you have it:

 

I do have to say that I actually love it. I put on a coat of clear wax, then a coat of tinted wax that I mixed up. I keep touching it every time I walk by! I can't keep my hands off it, it's so smooth lol.

I had a totally different vision for this piece! While I do love the way it turned out, I still wish I'd gone with my gut and went with the green for the final top color....if only I had that Luckett's green milk paint...

A girl can dream, can't she??

Be sure to check out my page on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/Thepickersbarn 

Please like and share it!