I have a love hate relationship with furniture. I love what it can do to a home when you find the right style that best expresses your personality. I hate how costly it can be to find the right piece that does in fact display my personality. Even worse when it doesn’t last long enough that it was worth the cost.
I typically am not a fan of working with my hands. It’s just never been my thing. But the most cost effective method of getting the style of furniture that I want is to embrace DIY projects.
We easily collect furniture in our home that’s not our style but simply what we needed. This was the case for an Ikea toy kitchen we got second hand.
This toy kitchen stood out like a sore thumb in our living room. The kids would draw all over and put stickers on it. It recently looked like a toy that simply needed to be tossed out.
I’m constantly so embarrassed when we have guests come by and they see this ugly toy kitchen in the midst of our beautiful home.
We didn’t want to get rid of it. The kids love this toy kitchen. But we did want to make it look like a beautiful piece of furniture in our home. Perhaps a statement piece that stood out in the room, but not as an eye sore, but a thing of beauty.
When I saw before and after photos of reclaimed furniture using Mango Paint, I knew this was what our toy kitchen needed. A splash of color that was bold and fun. What I loved most about the colors from Mango Paint was that beautiful Matte finish these colors had.
I’m not very good at working with my hands so Mango Paint was perfect for a mom like me that needed paint that took little prep work to use. Reclaiming this Ikea toy kitchen was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Infact the process it self was relaxing.
My husband and I made a date night out of painting together. We only took 10 mins to sand the kitchen, as Mango Paint requires the remainder of some of the furniture’s previous finish. The paint had no smell and dried quickly!
I have asthma, so I’m very careful with strong smells. But with Mango Paint we didn’t even have to open the windows while we painted.
Putting the bees wax finishing from Mango Paint on was easy to do. And I love the smell of bees wax! My husband spray painted the handles of the toy kitchen black, (in the garage where I couldn’t smell it) as an added touch.
This toy kitchen is now our favorite part of the living room. My husband and I just sit back and stare at it while the kids play. And of course the kids are excited because they think it’s a whole new toy in our home.
Now that I’ve accomplished this DIY project, I’m ready to do more! I can’t believe it’s really this easy to upgrade our home. We now have a whole other project we’re ready to do. Because a little of that Mango Paint goes a long way, we have left over paint that’s more than enough to paint something else. Our wooden coffee table is looking a little boring and dated, so here we go again!
There’s so much about Mango Paint that makes it ideal for Mamas doing DIY projects with kids around. Here’s Melanie from Mango Paint to tell us more:
1. As a Mama, refurbishing furniture, (with the use of Mango Paint), can sound intimidating and a little stressful, but what are some tricks to make the process enjoyable and relaxing- especially for busy Mamas with kids running around?
Well as a busy mama myself I can tell you that using Mango Paint to reclaim a piece of furniture is actually really easy – and quite rewarding!
I started my business reclaiming furniture (Mango Reclaimed) when my first son was just a year and a half. 9 years later (and another son) and I still love painting furniture! One of the great things about Mango Paint is that minimal prep work is required before you start your project. ’Scuff, scuff, that’s enough’ is our motto, lol!
Give your project a good scuff overall with a medium sanding sponge and you can get to the fun stuff – painting! We like to recommend a small micro fibre roller and a good paint brush as your tools – the roller is key for making the work go quickly and achieving professional results with little effort.
Mango Paint is water based, odour free and very low VOC, so you can feel confident painting even with little kiddos around!
2. What are the benefits of refurbishing vintage furniture rather than buying a new set?
Well this is an easy one – they just don’t make furniture like they used to! There are so many great pieces of furniture from yesteryear that have great bones and good storage (ahem – let’s be honest – to hide the toys). Sometimes we have the furniture we need right in our homes – the form and function is right – they just need a fresh new look.
Mango Paint is designed for painting over furniture with a previous finish so no need to sand right down to the bare wood. Other benefits of reclaiming vintage furniture is that often as new mamas, we have pieces of furniture handed down to us, some with sentimental value. Rather than hide that furniture away in the garage or basement, why not paint it in a beautiful colour and have it be a statement in your home?!
3. Where can customers go to find help or inspiration for their next project?
Mango Paint is now available at retailers across North America and our retailers are experienced painters with a wealth of knowledge to help you out with your next project!
We are also regularly sharing Mango Painted projects on our social media channels (Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest). In fact if you have a Mango Paint project to share, be sure to use the hashtag #paintedwithmango as we are giving away monthly Mango Paint prize packages on Instagram and Facebook!
4. What are some unique and helpful qualities of Mango Paint?
We’ve been using Mango Paint in our Mango Reclaimed studio since 2013 – previously under a different name, we loved the product so much we bought the company! Having reclaimed over 4,000 pieces of furniture with Mango Paint, we can honestly say it’s the best paint line for reclaiming your furniture projects!
The fact that its easy to use, Canadian made & eco friendly and are just bonuses, lol. As a chalk based paint we love how easy it is to get professional results – including a super smooth finish. Our beeswax finishes are hand made in small batches in our Ontario studio and they work so beautifully right into the paint to create a gorgeous durable finish.
5. What are the values of Mango Paint and Mango Reclaimed?
We believe customer service is key. We truly value our Mango Paint retailers and customers and want them to have success with whatever project they are tackling. We love to help and encourage our customers with their painting projects and are so happy when customers share their progress and completed projects with us!
We strive to be inspiring and hope that we can bring joy to mamas (and others) lives by giving them the tools and confidence to accomplish projects they may not otherwise have tried.
6. Are there online classes offered to assist Mamas with their own DIY projects?
Every purchase of Mango Paint comes with handy little ‘how-to’ brochure that outlines all the steps for tackling your next project. We also have some great short and sweet tutorial videos available on our website: https://mangopaintinc.com/tutorial-videos/
Make your DIY experience a phenomenal one! Shop now at www.mangopaintinc.com
