Refinishing the China Cabinet

As if taking two weeks to repaint my kitchen wasn't enough, I also embarked on repainting my china cabinet.  What can I say?  I'm a glutton for punishment.  I had thought about refinishing it for years; and now, with the new paint on the walls, it's time.

I bought a kit to do this with, years ago. You start by painting an ivory base, distress, stain the distressed bits, seal.

I took a 4-day long weekend, beginning on Canada Day, July 1.  I figured, "Four days.  No probs."  You'd think I'd know better by now.
The probs, in a nutshell:

• I actually needed three coats, about one coat per kit.  I had only one kit.
• Saturday, July 3 was basically a write-off, between a visit from my aunt in the morning, running out of paint for the first time, and a 7-hour concert (The Blind Boys of Alabama at the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival, whoo!)
• Painting doors of any kind takes a really long time; painting paned doors takes a super duper long time.
• Distressing takes a lot of elbow grease.
• We finally had two straight days of good weather over the past weekend (July 10/11), so I spent most of my time working in the garden.

However, I persevered.  Am persevering.  Because it ain't done yet.  *sigh*

Started by removing all hardware and glass, sanding all surfaces, and separating buffet from hutch (and by the way, the hutch is still on my table, as of July 12).

The first kit sat around my house for a good 2 years or more.  Obviously the paint needed a little more than a stir.  Sometimes, my pack-rat-y-ness comes in handy, as here, where I use an old extra beater on my electric beater, to do the honours.

Three coats later, looking good!

And, starting the distressing:

It's only Monday, so with a lot of luck and elbow grease, I may have this sucker done by the end of the coming weekend. Knocking wood. Crossing fingers. Casting spells. Cursing under my breath.