DIY Oops Turned Out Awesome!

I had been looking for a jewelry box for a while now, you would not believe how hard it is to find one in stores! One day, while waiting to meet someone to sell one of my Online Yard Sale items, I wandered into my local Kmart. They had a huge clearance on jewelry boxes and I found this black and silver one. It wasn't my style as far as colors, but I liked all the drawers and the cute little top compartment. Originally it was priced at $100, but it was on a shelf marked 75% off. Twenty five dollars later, it was mine.

When I got home, I decided to paint it brown. I taped off the felt and handles, sanded and cleaned the black veneer and started painting with some acrylic craft paint and a foam brush.  The paint wasn't sticking very well. I figured several light coats and I'd be good to go. It would be a solid brown color. Well.....it didn't quite work out that way. I did a few more coats of paint. Still streaky. Huh. But then I started looking at it. The way the black was showing in lines through the brown paint looked like woodgrain. Interesting. So I decided to go with it.

I painted all the visible surfaces with the foam brush, ensuring the "streaks" were all going the same way and were consistent. I untaped the felt and the handles and did a bit of touch up work. The silver handles weren't really working for me and the look I was going for, so out came the sandpaper to rough them up and then the black nail polish.

As the acrylic paint dried to a very matte finish, I used a satin finish spray clear coat to bring up the shine and protect the paintwork.

Who would have thought a mistake would have turned out so lovely?