Curb Alert Coffee Table Makeover, Purdy Paintbrush Review & Giveaway!

 

Lots going on here today. DYI, paint brush talk, wait for it.... Purdy Paintbrush giveaway!

First up a good n' thrifty DIY transformation. This coffee table that I got for free at a craigslist "curb alert" was a hot mess with several layers of scratched up drippy paint. The "thingy" that helps the drawer slide smoothly was broken and jerry-rigged with just a few nails.

Voila! The color is Beach House Brown by Dutch Boy. Five bucks and change for a sample sized container that has plenty left over after three coats.

Here's a sassy little pink drawer just because. Now that I have discovered the pick me up of a shot of color in a drawer, I don't think I'll ever have a naked drawer again. The pink is leftover paint from the pink kitchen.

I love it so much I am tempted to keep it, but I won't because it's for my dear Ms. S at school. Total cost- $5!

Next up- Purdy Paintbrush review and story along the way. So, a month or so ago I entered a drawing for a Purdy paintbrush on another DIY blog. I commented that I had spent much time picking out paint brush hairs from my project. I didn't win the contest, but to my surprise the Purdy people wrote to me and offered me a trial brush and roller set! Whoo hoo!

Meanwhile back at the ranch, I went garage saling one Saturday and found a Purdy paintbrush for sale. This was before I recieved trial kit in the mail. I was checking it out when the seller told me that it "was the kind the pros use." So we got to talking. The man's father was a professional painter much like my husband's grandfather and he was cleaning out his garage. After a while I just had to buy the paintbrush. It was a steal at $5. Since I don't have any walls to paint, I have decided to test the garage sale brush and offer the roller and brush pack as a giveaway. Read on for more details.

This past weekend- the coffee table project was my first chance to try out a Purdy brush. I prepared to prime the coffee table. I wish I could say that I sanded the whole thing lovingly. Or at all. But I barely did. I don't really trust old paint to be safe, so I just sand the worst of the drips and prime away. My usual dollar store paint brushes shed and shed and I pick and pick.The upside, they are disposable and cleanup is a breeze. Remember, I don't have a garage and have to clean up in the kitchen sink.

The Purdy brush shed exactly one hair on the first stroke and not another. Not one other hair shed through one coat of  primer and three coats of paint! That right there is worth the price! And I mean the real price not the garage sale price. (Although if you should be so lucky to find a Purdy brush at a garage sale snatch that brush and don't look back!)

I did have a major problem. I held off painting for several weeks while LA had a heat wave. Finally on Saturday the weather girl predicted a "cooling trend" of just 80 degrees. I got started early so it would be cooler, but by the time I was mid deep in primer- a the suns rays came laser straight to my balcony workshop and created what can only be described as a solar oven. I could not paint fast enough!

When I was done and went to wash my brush I was reminded of the other reviews of Purdy brushes and was looking for tons of paint to wash out. Nothing came. Nothing! My latex primer baked onto the bristles of my precious brush! Turns out it was a "quick dry formula" I'll say! I seriously wanted to cry. Thankfully, the Purdy packaging mentioned brushing the brush if you use oil paint so I decided the brush could handle a good scrub.

 I washed it in hot water, soaked it, and S-C-R-U-B-B-E-D it hard! I was like Lady Macbeth with that brush! Out, out damn paint! Slowly but surely the paint crumbled and came off.

Too bad I didn't just check Purdy's awesome "Help from the Paint Doctor" page. My very same situation is addressed and The Paint Doctor reccommends using a green scrub pad.

How many hairs were shed over this incident? Maybe ten. Maybe. I counted them as I noticed them coming out, but very few came out in the bursts of hard scrubbing I gave it.

 

Here is an after picture. You can see that some primer still remained. But as we say in Hollywood, "The show must go on."

I waited till dusk to paint the brown. Finally, it was truly a "cooling trend."

The Purdy paintbrush stood the test of the scrub brush and was completely shed free. I greatly enjoyed the absorbancy of this brush on the sunken drawer detail. Those bristles soaked up excess paint in the grooves so well.

 

This is what I like to see! Liquid paint washing out like a dream. Whew!

A few hours later I painted the pink drawer and again painting was shed free and clean up was easy.

I will never use oil paint as long as I am an apartment dweller. I already push the limits by painting and sawing and such on my 3' X 6' balcony. So, I can't tell you how the brush handles with those elements.However, for regular latex paint -painted in normal Earthly temperatures, clean up was a breeze.

Even though I am cheap super thrifty...in the end I am sold on Purdy paintbrushes.  They are made in the USA which feels really good. In fact they are made right here on the west coast in Oregon. Clearly from my review you can see they can take some real abuse. I  am far enough along on my DIY journet to see my tools as an investment. I am happy to have a brush on hand that can wash up and return to duty quickly. I can see this brush lasting a long time and maybe even saving money in the long run. At the very least it made painting much easier and more enjoyable- and isn't that what a hobby is all about?

So, here we are finally at the giveaway! Thanks for sticking around! Would you like to win a Purdy Paintbrush and Roller? Just leave a comment and I  will do a drawing on Sunday.