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Bench GATSBY – Part 3 – Water Based Clear Lacquer versus Oil Based Polyurethane Varnish

Hi, that was the day when I progressed to the decoration of my bench. I had purchased a set of furniture paints ‘GoodHome‘ from B&Q. I wasn’t quite convinced before I picked those but the fact which finally tipped the scales was the notes on the tins saying that the paints were made in Germany, the paints are self-priming and also the small tin sizes (125ml) that were available to buy. I thought it would be better to start with the lighter mauve finish therefore I masked all areas to be later painted black with masking tape. I applied three coats of the mauve GoodHome Magome Flat Matt paint initially and my first impression was that the opacity of the paint was very bad, however, the final finish turned out to be satisfactory, nice velvety matt effect.

Bench GATSBY – Part 2 – Sanding with Liquid Sander

As I mentioned in my previous post, I sanded my bench with a liquid sander. I purchased a bottle of Polycell Liquid Sanding from an online store. I can honestly say that I’m quite disappointed with the results. Here is how it worked. First thing I created a tool to rub the stuff into the white paintwork. I trimmed my old brush with scissors so that to get a better pressure when brushing.

Bench GATSBY – Part 1 – Introduction

My First Project

Where to start? Well, I work at Stockbridge, a neighbourhood in rainy Edinburgh, UK, which abounds in charity shops full of pre-owned furniture. Every time I pass by a piece of old furniture displayed in the shop’s window bay I think ‘that could be repainted in green or gold‘ or ‘that could be redesigned to something more interesting…‘ etc. One day I understood that I can actually do it myself. The idea is not new but who said that every hobby has to be unique?