General Finishes Paint Demo at habitat for humanity restore caln
Last Friday, I partnered with my local Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Coatesville for a special General Finishes paint demonstration. I went shopping for two beautiful project pieces and then painted them live in the store a few days later. Here’s a recap of how everything went if you weren’t able to attend in person.

choosing my project pieces
Half of the fun of painting furniture for a living is going shopping for project pieces. Lucky for me, Habitat for Humanity ReStore Caln had lots to choose from. You can watch the details of my shopping trip and learn a little bit more about the organization in this video.
The gentleman’s chest that I found was absolutely beautiful. It had amazing gatored texture, original brass handles and skinny drawers behind the doors. The slender pine chest caught my eye immediately as well. Good thing I put a “SOLD” sign on it because there were quite a few people asking about it!

painting the gentleman’s chest
Because I was painting this piece for a demonstration, I did not want to worry about any sort of staining or bleed-through on the gentleman’s chest. I opted for my favorite navy – Coastal Blue by General Finishes.

The first coat covered very well, so I only needed to do a touch up second. (That’s very unusual for me!) I used Restor-A-Finish on the drawers inside and sealed it with High Performance Topcoat in Flat.


The handles shine now up against the rich Coastal Blue Milk Paint!


You can really appreciate that gatored texture in the photo above, can’t you?
slender pine dresser
The pine dresser was pretty just the way it wax. It just needed to be updated and modernized. Because there were so many knots across the surface that it would have been too difficult to paint. It would require a primer to seal in all of those potential bleeding spots.
So instead of painting it, I opted for a stain!


Using General Finishes Weathered Gray Water Based Wood Stain, I gave the piece a gray stain makeover.


Now isn’t that much better?


You can still appreciate the wood on the piece, but it looks much more “on trend” than the original yellowed pine.
And those ring pulls are gorgeous!


I sealed this piece with the same High Performance Topcoat that I used on the gentleman’s chest.
silent auction
Both of these pieces are available to bid on in Habitat for Humanity ReStore Caln’s silent auction. Bids will be accepted from April 26th through May 11th (Mother’s Day weekend). The minimum bid for the gentleman’s chest is $75 and bids can be made in $5 increments. The minimum for the pine dresser is $50.
If you’re interested, you may contact the ReStore directly and put in a bid. Their contact information can be found on their website.


You’ll have to let me know if you have the winning bid!


