A Junker’s Sunday


Beat-up yard-sale dresser and cane bench–before

Buying junk is a lark–usually. But if you’re buying junk for re-sale, ya gotta ‘purty’ it up. After my Saturday junk-o-rama with the girls, I got up at the ungawdly hour of 7 a.m. to try to beat the heat with my painting projects. By 8 a.m. I was at Home Depot, and by 9, I’d prepped my treasures and started painting. Job 1 was this cute little Eastlake dresser I bought at a yard sale Saturday. Had to wash it down and get rid of decades of dog hair and cobwebs, same thing for the cute little cane-top bench atop the dresser. After spray-priming both pieces, I got busy painting. A beach glass enamel for the dresser, and a Krylon spray paint for the bench–color is called Pistachio. After that, I tackled the battered wicker trunk I bought at my neighbor’s yard sale on Friday. I gave it a spritz of spray primer, and then dabbed on watered-down white latex paint with a sponge applicator. After that, I decided to jazz it a little bit, and stencilled it with some stencil letters I picked up at the Depot. I’m delighted with the way this turned out! Then, while the larger pieces were drying, I spray painted the two sailboat what-not shelves I picked up at a junk shop in Hartwell, Georgia last week while I was holed up at a friend’s borrowed lake house, working on revisions of Summer Rental. Hey, you can’t work all day, every day! Funny, the shelves were in two different parts of the shop, painted two different fugly colors. I gave ’em a coat of Krylon True Blue, and now I think they’re set for a beach house or a little boy’s bedroom.


Pair of sailboat what-not shelves–as found in Hartwelll, Ga.
Decoupaged pages from a South Carolina atlas

Finally, I decided to pimp the dresser a little more, by decoupaging the inside of the drawers with pages torn from an old South Carolina road atlas. For this, I just watered down some Elmer’s white glue, and slicked it on both sides of the map pieces. I was so happy with the way the whole project turned out, I decided to autograph it like I do my books. Sweet, huh? Let me tell you, Mr. Mary Kay was pretty impressed when he got home from his morning of sweaty golf. Me? I’m covered, smothered, spattered and flattered–and ready to hit the shower and the hay. ‘Cuz niece Sarah says we gotta walk again in the morning. Lawd!


The finished line-up. Tired but happy!

6 thoughts on “A Junker’s Sunday”

  1. Love the Eastlake little chest of drawers we are looking for something just like that to go in the bathroom? Do you ship?

  2. Picked the sailboats up in Hartwell, eh?! That's where I live! Would have loved to bump into you in the junk shop!!

  3. Painting as soon as you get it? You're so ambitious! I like to let my stuff that needs repainting age in my shed for a year. Or so. .

  4. I have some painting to do also but oh so hot. I have picked Pistachio for a planter and I'm glad to see it on your bench…I like the color even more now. I will show mine once I get it painted…

Comments are closed.