Easier said than done

Most of the DIY projects start with an idea. Idea of what you want. Next comes the question, how am I going to get it? Then usually you start planning, figuring out materials. Perhaps you have thought about it for a while and then bump to the right ingredient to make it happen. Then you tune it up or fit it to your initial idea. Simple as that.

Well, it rarely is that simple, as we all know.

I had been looking for  a nice table or perhaps a drawer to fit next to my work station. If I ever manage to get a new printer, it would sit in or on that said drawer. One day I found that little drawer from a flea market. I liked the shape but it was the wrong colour. Then came the usual thought, I can always paint it...

I wish things would just magically change colour when I whip my magic wand. I say that now, since it took two days to sand. I sanded it more thoroughly than I've sanded anything before.

This is how I left it after day 1. 

The project sat there in use for months when I finally decided that I need a machine to do the work for me, since I wanted the drawer to be bit translucent white. I knew I needed to get all that brown away for the white to really work and I did not want to do it by hand. What I did not take into consideration was that the drawer apparently used to be brown, then it had been sanded and poorly painted brown with this glossy lacquer.

Then came the painting. I made the huge mistake of trying out a paint I have never used before and didn't know anyone who had used it. I went with the cheap paint. Firstly, the guide say it was for unprocessed wood or sanded surfaces. I was confident it would work out. Six hours between layers and 3 layers should give me a result I was after. And why I went on with a brush, I do not know. The first layer took 4 days to dry. Second luckily only a day. After the third layer I am still not happy with it. I am worried I have ruined it.

But I can always sand it and repaint it, right??