Jul 30

Jul 30 Spindle Santas

A New Turn On The Spindle Santa

I salvaged these spindles/dresser legs more than ten years ago with no thought at the time as to what I would do with them. I just knew that eventually I would think of a way to transform them into something special. I stashed them in the garage for the first eight years and then I found the finials. Eventually the finials made their way atop the legs and voila, a Santa. It's not like it's a new idea, but it took me ten years to put all the pieces together. I've actually thrown them away, in various stages, three times and pulled them out of the trash at the last moment. It wasn't until recently, when a friend introduced me to Amy Howard at Home, One Step Paint, that I finished them.

I painted and repainted them so many times that they were beyond hope. To recover them was going to take more effort than I wanted to expend. I could paint over them with gesso, but I'd end up having to apply more than one coat and then they would probably require sanding. Kilz makes a great primer that has amazing coverage, but its odor is really strong and you can't paint over it with water based paints immediately. I am not a patient person and I can get off track easily, which is why this project took ten years, so neither option came to fruition. Then, my girlfriend brought me Amy Howard at Home, One Step Paint and it touts, no dreaded prep, no stripping and no sanding. A dream come true! I thought, how could that be? But it was true. They even claim that it can be used on plastic and formica, so I wondered how it would hold up on a sea shell. It covered both the hideous spindles and the sea shell. (See the results of its one coat coverage below.)

Yes, that's the same spindle that's shown above. It covered in one coat as promised. I used their Antiquax Dark Wax to give them their antiqued finish and buffed them to give them a light luster.

I wish I would have had this product when I refinished a 1970's French Provincial chair a few years ago. I had to strip it which took several cans of paint stripper and several days, then a day of sanding and sealing, a day and a half to prime and paint, another day to antique, several more days to dry and then a day to wax. I really think now, after using Amy Howard at Home, One Step Paint, I could have achieved the same result in two days with One Step Paint. What an amazing savings it would have been in time and frustration!