This is the story of a sad little TV stand found on the side of the road with a big ol FREE sign on the front. We put on the brakes and loaded it into the bed of the truck. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into but I knew I couldn’t pass up free.

When I got the stand home, I saw that it had been DIY’d once before. An off white paint with this awful brown wax as an accent. Awful, because it made the stand look far dirtier than it was.
Upon further research, (Thank You Google) I found that the cabinet was actually a china hutch! Turns out the top half was chopped off.

I used it mostly as a tester piece. There were a few things I wanted to try- soda blasting, chalk spray paint, and mass wood filler.

Soda Blasting is similar to sandblasting by using compressed air to blast media particles against a surface to remove the top layer of paint, rust, varnish, etc. But soda blasting is far less abrasive and wouldn’t tear into the wood like sandblasting. The two realizations I had were: how time-consuming and messy soda blasting was. It took an entire day to blast only the decorative edges and the picture below only shows part of the mess. I set up a mini booth with some only tarps, which helped with clean up- roll it up and toss it- but I was covered from head to toe in the blasting material. If you have plenty of time and are committed to the work you can get amazing results! All the nooks and decorative edges were stripped of the paint and ready to be stained but I would not recommend for a large piece of furniture.

Since this TV stand was going into my living room I wanted to give it a complete overhaul. Dark stain, navy blue paint, and upgrade to gold hardware! The stain I used was Varathane Classic in Expresso. This is a favorite of mine, most of the wood accents in the house were stained with it. I also used some leftover mixed paint, Behr Chalk Decorative Paint in Noir & Timeless Blue. The only new product that I tried was the Behr Chalk Decorative Aerosol Paint in Noir. I really liked to easy of application, the quick dry time, and the smooth matte finish. It made a huge difference in the overall look of the stand with the inside painted black.

The doors took a bit more time to finish as I filled the decorative carving on the front in. They did not go with the modern touch I was going for and since the original china hutch was already chopped off there was no going back to original with this stand. After everything was dry I followed up with the Behr Decorative Finish Wax in Clear.

The lighting in my living room sucks but I’m working on it- there is only so much you can do in a rental! BUT… I love the way this sad little TV stand turned out in the end! It fits perfectly in the living room and matches my other projects in the house. Most importantly how can you pass up free!

Have you found any oddball furniture on the side of the road? Or curious how I liked the Behr Chalk Paint? Leave me a comment down below!