Upcycled pine TV stand - Before and After

Ever since Neil and I were first gifted a pine TV stand when my dad arrived with a van load of belongings from his cow shed, I've been meaning to sand and whitewash it.  This was in the hope of making it look less like a hand me down and more like a priceless style icon (haha). But as procrastination hit new levels on Tuesday afternoon I decided to go for it, threw everything neatly placed upon it, onto the floor and carted it out to the garden for a re-vamp.

At first I thought it would take all afternoon to sand it down but then I got the paint out and thought after all the sanding, mixing up paint would be like the silver lining of furniture decoration!

So here we are ready to begin - TV stand in sight, Neil's Christmas present sander in hand.

And we were off, hand juddering away as we stripped what felt like 10 layers of varnish! (With sunglasses on to protect my eyes from the dust)

I think in total all of the sanding took about an hour on and off.  It was really difficult to do all the edges and the inside of the shelves.  Therefore on the protruding surfaces I sanded diligently, but I have to admit I didn't work so hard to do the internal bits (praying the paint would just cover anyway...)

 So once I was at this stage it was time to mix up the paint.  I have to admit that I am very lucky to have stumbled across exactly what I was looking for by chance, in an amazing shop on our honeymoon, The Brooklyn General Store.  They sell the gorgeous Old Fashioned Milk Paint and we decided to go for Oyster White and got enough  to use on both the tv cabinet and a pine sideboard we also want to recreate.  Here I am mixing it up. It says to add water and powder in equal parts but when I started to apply it I realised it was far too thick so just added some more water to get the washed effect I was after.

Once mixed it was really easy to apply and even covered the parts I hadn't sanded down very well. But it was clear that it was drying quicker and with a nicer finish to the bits I took more time on.  So, where I only needed one coat on the top and sides I needed two on the insides.

And here we are with the finished product, awaiting a slight retouch which I've just done today. (Needed to get it in place to surprise Neil when he got home from work so please ignore the messiness!)

And to top it all off, Gemma even fit in some sun bathing!