Microwave Cart to Office Storage

So, I placed some bids at an auction.  You just tell them how much you are willing to pay, then they bid for you.  This is great for me because it frees up a few hours, and I'm not tempted to bid on random things in the moment! 

I needed some storage for printers/paper as the current situation was no good.  Paper on the floor, printer in the middle of the living room.  It was not pretty!

I got a microwave cart for just $10.  The problem, it was laminate and brown. 

I was determined to transform it into a white beauty.  Here's how I did it.  First up, since it was so shiny, I roughed it up a bit with sand paper then wiped off the dust.

Next up was primer.  I used Glidden's Gripper primer, which is a latex primer.  If you want to be on the safe side when priming furniture, an oil based primer may work best.  However, I had to do this project inside since it has been so hot lately, (and when working with anything oil-based, you need to be in a ventilated area), so this worked, and no spotting as of now!

Here's what it looked like after one THIN coat of primer.

 

Here's the top:

Yep, pretty splotchy, but it was just the first coat. 

After the second thin coat of primer I got to this.

I decided that was good enough to start painting.  So, on went one thin coat of Benjamin Moore's Decorator's White paint in semigloss.  This stuff is a bit on the expensive side, but it goes on nicely and is a great crisp, clean white.  If you don't want to spend the money, you can just grab some of the rack semi-gloss white paint of your favorite brand.  Please, no Wal-mart brand paint, I had one too many bad experience with it.  Never again!  Anyways, here is the end product.

I got the storage bins at Gordman's for $17 total.  

They are great for keeping miscellaneous paper and cards at bay.

The lantern's flanking the boxes I got at Marshall's for $4.50 a piece.  I have plans to spray paint them, but alas, the heat is just not allowing it (I would have to get up at about 4:30am in order to finish a project before the temps rose past 90, which is the max recommended temp for spray painting).  So, they will have to wait.  I may also move these guys somewhere else (I think they'd look great hanging up flanking a mirror).

 Here is the recap:

1. Sand lightly (I used 150 fine sandpaper), wipe down with rag
2. Prime with Gripper Primer by Glidden (2 thin coats)
3. Paint with Benjamin Moore's Decorator's White paint (1-2 thin coats)
4. Enjoy