Paint. You take the good with the bad

I have a few pieces of furniture to show that I've just finished. One I love, the other has me a bit frustrated.
First up id the coffee table. I like the look that they're showing off in the PB catalog. And I knew that with very little effort, I could copy their look. A very good friend gave me her antique coffee table. I loved the lines, but thought that the finish was a bit boring. I don't have a before picture on this one, but, just imagine that it was all the the top.  A little Antique White paint, some distressing, and antiquing with glaze, and this is what I had. I just replaced the old knobs. They're simple and classic. And I don't want to spend the money on anything fancy to replace them. You an see the end table in the background. The new finishes unify them. So, this is the one I liked.

Newly painted coffee table

2 daughters who wanted their picture taken

And this is the one I'm not so happy about. You can see in the before pictures that the vanity (I use it as a desk) really needed to be painted. the veneer was chipping off, and while I'm sure it was a beautiful piece of furniture at one time with a bird's eye maple finish, it was well loved and used and turned into an old hag. I wanted to give this old girl a new dress and some new jewelry to wear.

scratched up finish of desk/vanity

water marks, scratched up peeling veneer

 I decided upon black. the color is called Dark  Coalmine. I loved the color when I put it on my bathroom cabinet, and have bought a whole gallon of it to do my kitchen cabinets with. I was inspired by the furniture in the Ballard Designs catalog.

before on the right, after a coat of primer on the left

 I think the finish looks fine. Here's the problem. The drawers in the vanity/desk are a puzzle. You have to put the right drawer in the right space. Otherwise they won't go completely in. I got tired of playing musical drawers (that sounds like a fun kinky game, huh?) and decided to just use a hammer to force them in. We weren't using all of the drawers before anyway. But I'm not happy about them being permanently  stuck. The drawer pulls are from Wal-mart. Also not my favorite, but very budget friendly. These were 10 for about $12.  

Newly painted with stuck drawers

 -Paulette