Sand or strip?

Thanks, RobertRoe, but I already finished the stripping and sanding, so let's just hope there was no lead in that paint.

Rob, the primer that I have is Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 water-based. When I went to Home Depot, the guy said that if it was too thick, I could just thin it with some water, so I didn't bother to buy a new can. Has anyone had success thinning water based primer/paint with water?

I think that the Zinser products that I used, Bin, Bullseye 123,were both shellac based and werent supposed to be thinned,but in a pinch you could add a wee tad of denatured alcohol which you also use for cleanup. Zinser may market water based products so check what you have. The label is always a good place to start or even their website.Oops, just reread your post. Re the above info,never mind.

Thanks, Georgie. My can is definitely water-based, so I thinned it with a bit of water and it seems okay.

Here's a photo in mid-priming. As you can see, I never totally got down to clean wood. It's got a lot of grain, and whatever was on it stained quite deep.

This is not the best picture - should have taken it outside in daylight to get the true color and no graininess - but you get the basic idea. The color - Benjamin Moore November Skies - is more of a blue gray than it appears here.

I debated about distressing it - just rubbing off some of the edges - but I've spent enough time, I think. I also wondered if it's worth it to polyurethane it to keep the paint from peeling if things get stuck to it, but I've never done it before over paint and wasn't sure how it would look. This is a flat finish paint. Anyway, it's good enough for my purposes on the third floor

Bravo!

Thanks, krnl.

I moved it upstairs, and it looks a little too monotone, so if I get motivated, I may try to play with the finish a bit, but it fits well in the spot where I previously had an old school desk, which looked cute but wasn't as functional as a shelf where I can store books and other stuff.

It looked great! You can always add depth later if you feel the need. What about a tinted glaze? Rustoleum has newish paints for cabinetry that could be very interesting. Experiment on a piece of scrap wood first, though.

I couldn't stand the monotone flatness, so I added two layers of color on top of the blue gray on the outside (too lazy to do it on the inside), then sanded patches of it off, fine steel wool rubbed it, and waxed. It definitely feels better, if not perfect, and will do the job of holding books and stuff, which will cover most of the interior anyway.

nice!

Thanks, Peggy. I'm just glad to be done with it. At least it's clean and fresh and can now be put to good use.

Oh, and by "feels better", I mean in both the tactile and visual sense. I love the feel of a rubbed wax finish, and the warmer blend of colors make it feel less stark.