Nouveau Trumeau Mirror

Gotta love Craigslist!  I picked up this mirror with matching bench this summer.

It was a 40 minute drive.  When I saw I liked the shape and condition but the finish was yucky.  Hand painted flowers that were raised (relief) and would require sanding to get rid of them.  Since it wasn’t a simple “paint and done” project, I offered the seller a bit less than she was asking and that kind of put her in a snit.  She said I should have told her before.  Huh?  How could I tell her anything before I saw the piece?   In any case, I ended up getting for what I offered.  End of that.

I removed the medallion at the top part and sanded away.  (No pics – I was busy!)

All painted in ASCP Paris Grey with wood applique painted gold.  Then waxed.

 

The bench received the same love.

And….tada!

Let There Be Light!

I love lamps!  I picked up a pair at a yard sale a few weeks ago.  The finish was dated but the “bones” were good.  They are nice and heavy but the finish was dated.

Nothing a little paint can’t fix.

Sprayed with grey paint. 

Then for a little more interest, I did somewhat of a whitewash with gesso.  It toned down the paint and added a little depth.

The original shades were definitely not a match for the lamps so I bought shades and added a beaded trim.

Installed in the shop!

Whispers of Color

Although I love color, I use a lot of white paint.  (Not because I don’t love color.  Because I do!)  White just seems to sell quicker.  But who can resist the “oops” paint section at the hardware store? 

I picked up this “whisper” color and went to work as soon I got home.  Just a touch of minty blue/green.  In fact, when I was painting in the dark garage it appeared to be a shade of white…until I took it outside and added the white handles. 

Since it was rather plain, I also added the appliques to spiff it up a bit.

The mirror and dresser were not a set but I think they are a good match.

It won’t be long before I look at these pictures longingly…..wishing the snow would go away!  For now, I’ll enjoy these days that Mother Nature has blessed us with.

 

Linking up with Making Broken Beautiful

Ahoy Navy!

I love white but it can become booooooring to do one piece after another in white.  Granted I do have several ‘go to’ whites (Woohoo!  How wild am I?)  but sometimes I just need to change things up.  So I cracked open some ASCP in Napoleonic Blue.  Gorgeous color!

No “before”, only a “during”.  A golden oak commode.  And I do mean golden.  Nothing a little sanding and stain + paint can’t fix!

Dark Walnut Howard’s “Restore a Finish” for the top.   Clear and dark wax over the paint.  Gold acrylic for the pulls.  Et voila! 

Deco Love

 

I love the soft curves of Art Deco style furniture.  When I saw this piece, I had to have it!  For me!  I thought it would be perfect a sideboard in my kitchen/dining area.

 

It could have been used ‘as is’ but there were veneer issues so I decided to deal with them and then repaint it.

 

It turned out it was too big for my kitchen and so off to the shop it went.  Boohoo!  Such a beauty.

A Beastly Piece – The Toile Hutch

Sometimes I wonder what possess me to pick up pieces like this..

It was missing glass, full of worm holes, and lots of nooks and crannies to cover up that black paint.  Translation…a ton of work!

After many hours, this is the end result.

Itty Bitty Footstool

I haven’t posted in ions…not because I haven’t done any projects but more that life got in the way.  I find if I don’t keep up on the posts, backtracking can be a humongous task.  So I’ll start with the here and now and see if I can catch up.

This little icky’ish stool came into my life about 2 weeks ago.  I try to deal with small projects as quickly as I can.  So I did.

Popped the tacks and stripped the vinyl.  The foam underneath was pristine because the vinyl had protected it so I reused it and  painted the frame.

The corners were a little awkward so I used some Mother of Pearl buttons to fill in the blank spaces.

Not a work of art but better than it was!

Rrrrrrred!

I love red!  It’s one of, if not my very favorite color.  So when I picked up this sad little beauty it just screamed red.

This is one of those very rare times when the piece was taken out of the car and was being attacked in the driveway before it made it into the garage.  The translation of that would be that there were too many pieces in the garage so  I better ‘ git er done!”.
Sanded, repaired and almost ready for paint.

The finish on the top was so old that it came off pretty easily.  Perfect for staining.

The pulls & keyholes on the 2 lower drawers are original to the piece.   They were soaked and then sanded.  The top drawers got new hardware and I kind of liked the black pulls for contrast.

I love how the wood grain peeks through in the bright sunlight.

It hard to tell because of the sunlight but the top was stained a dark walnut.  I love the contrast against the red.

In just over a week this has made it’s way to the shop.  Next!

Linking to Furniture Feature Friday.

Deco Style

Some people love it.  Some people hate it.  I usually like deco style. 

I thought these were pretty so I took them home and gave them a little TLC.

Grey & white paint.  A little white spray paint on the handles then highlighted with silver wax.

Good to go!

What To Do When It’s Already White

 

I use white paint A LOT!  Not because it’s the only one that I like but because it can fit into so many color schemes.  That’s important when you sell furniture…mass appeal’ish.  I love doing Flow Blue and other gorgeous colors and I would like to do them more often but I always need white in my booth.   They’re just more likely to sell.

So why is it that when I finally get a piece that is white I feel inclined to paint it something other than white? 

Once I stripped the top,  I just wasn’t ‘feeling’ it.  So it sat in the garage over the winter until inspiration hit.

I thought Paris Grey & Louis Blue (ASCP) were in order.

Then Miss Mustard Seed’s White wax to tone it down.  I was loving the look and even decided to keep the original wood knobs.

A little German Silver wax and it was good to go!

Old Sugar Chest

While visiting a friend a few days ago she showed me some things she was working on and upcoming projects.   She showed me this wonderful old sugar chest and asked what I thought she should do to it?  Nothing!  Do NOT do a thing!

I offered to take it home and wash it up and put it in my shop.  “Really?” she said.  “Yes.  Let’s see what happens.” I said.  So I took it home and washed the sugar bin part.

The naturally worn patina is gorgeous!

It’s headed for the shop.

I May be Crazy!

I wasn’t even sure how to label this post.  It was a colossal amount of work.   I kinda, sorta knew what I was getting myself into when I bought it and if it hadn’t been so cheap I would run away in a heartbeat!  I thought at very least it would be an education in what NOT to do.

The appliques on the doors (which were my favorite part) had pretty much crumbled.  I glued the pieces that I had back on and then used Bondo (used for repairing auto bodies) to make the missing parts.  When that was dry (it dries very quickly) I used a blade to carve the parts to blend in.

(I don’t have any before pictures because I started working on it before Christmas last year and then it was put away for the holidays.  Then my computer died…pictures were lost….yada yada.  Plus, I needed to build my stamina to tackle this one!)

The top was a mess and rather than try to repair the veneer (been there, done that…not fun), I chose to take it all off revealing the most beautifully imperfect top.  A little dark stain called Kona (I think – it’s been a while) and the top was beautiful.

The veneer on the upper right recessed panel was bubbled so I sanded it as best I could and called it a day.  A couple of years ago I would have obsessed over it but not anymore….I‘ve learned that people embrace imperfection in beautiful old pieces.

Thankfully all of the old hardware was there and it just needed a bath. 

With that, it was off to the shop where it took up residence for a week and then sold!

The Frumpy One

I picked up this dresser a few weeks ago.  It was rather plain and frumpy but it was good and solid.  Kind of on the masculine side and the knobs were a complete mismatch.

Tres girly!

So with a little paint, some wood appliques and glass knobs….it was looking more feminine and shabby.  Maybe not for everyone but much more to my taste.

It’s in the shop but I am somewhat tempted to bring it back home.  It would work great in the kitchen with the shallow top drawer for silverware and the two deeper ones for linens, etc.  Hmmmmm…..