Rast, Wind and Rain

A couple of months ago, I forwarded the blog link to Better After to a coworker neighbor.  Jennifer immediately became excited over the idea of IKEA's Rast.  The drawer chest would work very nicely as night stands.

I debated on copying Jennifer's night stand idea.  Would it be worth the money and time?  Would I need to sand and prime the unfinished pine?  How many coats of paint would it need?  Despite these questions, I decided to be somewhat creative and went forth.
 
As soon as I opened the flat box and ran my hand across a board, I knew this project would take a minimum of three days.  The unfinished pine definitely needed to be primed with several coats.  Each primer and paint coat takes at least an hour to dry in the North Florida humidity.  

I started priming with Kilz on a Friday evening in the carport.  The first coat went smoothly until the wind started blowing.  It was extremely discouraging and annoying to see oak tree leaves and pods landing on the freshly painted boards. Not only did I not have the patience for second and third primer coats, but now I was forced to sand the boards.  This is when I wish we had a enclosed garage.

I loudly complained about all the bending, kneeling, getting up and down.  BF was sympathetic and strapped his knee pads to my legs.  I don't know how you exercise fanatics do it.  Lunges and squats are murder to my legs.  I was sore for the next two days.  

I spent Saturday painting the drawers inside the kitchen.  Normally I wouldn't advocate for an inside painting project, but it was POURING down rain ALL day.  Mother Nature had her fun and sent tornado-like wind and rain through our neighborhood.

This is the second time I wished we had an enclosed garage.  There were chartreuse green, silvery gray and dark gray boards haphazardly placed all over the kitchen counter tops and stove.

On Sunday I asked BF to spray paint a third and fourth coat on the drawer chests' base.  BF skills in using a sprayer are much greater than my own.  You can see the streaks and unevenness with my work.  His results look very smooth.    

I'm still not sure if these night stands were worth the time and effort, but I'm extremely happy with the results.