Month: October 2014

When hinges creak in doorless chambers, and strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls; Whenever candlelights flicker where the air is deathly still – that is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight!

Happy Halloween!  I thought this would be the perfect day to share my latest creation with all of you because it’s perfectly bewitching!

Are you scared yet?

Mr. Q and I picked up this waterfall dresser in the dark of night a couple of weekends ago.  The ‘before’ picture is deceptive.  All looks well on the outside, but dig a little deeper and beware of creepy crawly things on the inside.

Seriously, all Halloween references aside, this dresser looked gorgeous in the light from the headlights on our truck, which was all we had to go by.  Even if we’d had more light, I still don’t think we would have looked past what appeared to be a dresser in pristine condition.  Once we got it home and really started to dig in, I realized that this one needed more work than I thought.  The top drawer was very hard to open and close, and there was some veneer damage along the bottom of the sides.  But it was nothing that I couldn’t deal with.

However, the biggest problem was that the seller must have coated this dresser with something to make it look this pretty.  I could feel an oily residue on it.  I suspected that this would be a problem when using milk paint.  So, I sanded it thoroughly, and then just to be double safe, I washed it with a TSP substitute.  Then I totally ignored the little voice in my head that said “maybe you should switch to chalk paint!”, and I painted it with MMS milk paint in Typewriter.

And as the paint dried, that was when I started to get scared.  It was chipping.  A lot.

I wasn’t planning on super chippy, but super chippy is what I got.  Once I got over the intial ‘oh crap, what have I done’ moment, I realized that it actually looked pretty fab.  If you are an afficinado of the chippy look (and I am), this is really a cool dresser.

Let’s just discuss a couple of details before I unveil the dresser in all of its glory.  You may have noticed the little strips of inlaid veneer on the top and bottom drawers.  I thought they were pretty, so I masked them with tape while I painted.  I love how that worked out.

You can also see that I kept the original hardware.  It was just perfect for the dresser.

I also painted the interior behind the top doors black.

That interior space could be a nice way to hide a small TV in the bedroom, if one was so inclined.  It would have to be a small one though.  Aside from a TV, it makes a great space for spare folded blankets, or all of your sweaters.  This would be fun piece for a kitchen though too.  Plenty of storage with a more unique look than cupboards.

As usual, I really struggled with getting any sort of pictures that do justice to this dresser.  It’s just so hard to get good photos of black pieces.  And the contrast between the chippy areas and black paint is much more pronounced in photos than it is in person.  I spent the better part of an afternoon trying to improve my results.  I used a tripod.  I changed my aperture, I played around with my shutter speed.  In the end, this is as good as it got.

So, what do you think of my perfectly spooky make-over?  Who needs a bewitching black dresser?  Anyone?  Sorry, this one is sold.

I sent Mr. Q out to rural Wisconsin to pick up this dressing table a few weeks ago.  There was some confusion about the location and he ended up at an abandoned farm.  He said there were overgrown weeds and rusted out farm equipment everywhere, and since we’ve been watching a lot of Criminal Minds lately, he was kind of creeped out.  It looked like prime serial killer territory.  Fortunately, he figured out he was at the wrong end of the road and was able to find the right house and no harm came to him.

And then he came home with this.

This piece seems older than the hills.  I decided to go with it and try to add even more age to it.  I painted it in MMS milk paint in Trophy.  Then, I added a stenciled pattern to the drawer fronts.  The gorgeous silver drawer pulls that came with the vanity worked perfectly with the grey of the Trophy.

I added another stencil under the mirror, distressed heavily and finished with a coat of hemp oil.

And this would be about the moment where I realized that even though you can’t see that board at the back under the mirror while standing in front of this vanity, or while sitting in a chair in front of it … once you sit on the floor and start taking pictures shooting up it seems like a glaring omission!

So I went back and painted it, and then took some more pictures.  And voila!

A sweet little dressing table.  Or vanity.  What do you call them?  I must tell you, while surfing craigslist today I found one person calling theirs a ‘powdering desk’ and another called it a ‘sitting dresser’.  I generally call these vanities, but if you search ‘vanity’ on pinterest you’ll also get a bunch of bathroom vanities.  So, perhaps vanity, thy name is ‘dressing table’!  I don’t think I’ll go with ‘powdering desk’, although I do find it kind of quaint.

I staged the dressing table with a few of my favorites things.  Some vintage jewelry and buttons, and some crackly ironstone.

Some old family photos.

And of course, Lula, my dress form.  You can read all about Lula here.

I got some great reflections of the photo cottage in some of my shots.

So, how about you?  Could you use a powdering desk of your own?

This one is available, leave me a comment if you are interested.  Sorry, this one is sold.

I had several small farmhouse style tables for sale at my fall Carriage House sale, and none of them sold!  So sad.  I was whining to my friend Sue about this, and she suggested I stage photos of them in all of their potential incarnations and then put them on craigslist.  After all, sometimes people just need a visual.

So, when last Sunday dawned semi-bright and sunny, I decided to put Sue’s idea into action.

I started with the Boxwood table being used as a desk.  You can imagine that vintage typewriter switched out for a lap top, can’t you?

But hey, how fab would it be as a potting bench as my reader Victoria suggested?

Another great use for a table this size?  Use it to add much needed additional counter space as a kitchen island.

Hey, we’re not done yet.  This table would also make a great bedside table.  If you have the space beside your bed, this is a great alternative to a traditional night stand.

And then of course, there is always the obvious use … as a dining table that is just the right size for two.

Once I had all of this done with my Boxwood table, I turned around and did it all over again with the white one.

And then, I took a nap.

Not really.  So … how about you?  Can you think of any possibilities I missed?  What would you do with one of these tables?

When I take photos of furniture for my blog, I tend to leave some space in the top of the frame on some for adding a title later.  For this next piece I did that as usual, but then when I sat down to edit the photos, I realized that I didn’t want to cover up the beautiful fall color in my trees.  So I crammed a little title in at the bottom instead.

These trees along the side of my driveway turn the most brilliant yellow in fall.  On a sunny day, my house is filled with a bright yellow light.  Fall color is at its peak right now in the Twin Cities, and it is absolutely gorgeous out there.  I was standing at the gas station filling my car yesterday, and I was just mesmerized by a stand of trees with red leaves across the street that were just beautiful.  The light was hitting them just so.  I wish I’d had my camera with me!

But this post isn’t really about autumn leaves, it’s about this sweet little chest of drawers.  It is your classic Duncan Phyfe-ish style dresser and it originally had that typical cherry stain that most of these pieces came in.

One of the drawers was missing its runner, so Ken built a new one for it.  What would I do without Ken?  He is so handy and he can just whip out these repairs.

Once that was done, I painted it in MMSMP in Kitchen Scale, a gorgeous jewel tone color that is perfect for autumn.  I did sand this piece pretty thoroughly to reduce chippy-ness.  It had such a shiny finish, I was worried the paint would just all chip off entirely.  However, the sanding alone produced pretty darn good adherence on the flat surfaces (I did not use the bonding agent).  As you can see, the top is pretty much a chip free zone, as are the sides and drawer fronts.

Originally I was going to change out the hardware for a simple knob.  However, there were 2 holes for these knobs and I didn’t have the patience to fill the extra ones properly.  To be honest, I did attempt to fill them kind of haphazardly and they looked so terrible after paint that I had to drill them all out again to put the original pulls back on.  C’est la vie.

 This petite chest of drawers is the perfect size to use as a bedside table.  It is 29.5″ tall, 29.5″ wide and 17″ deep.  You could stash all of your reading materials inside, and even have room to store some spare blankets.

This lovely little chest of drawers is priced at $155 (local only  please, sorry, but I don’t ship) and I will be posting it on craigslist later today.  First come, first served!  If you are interested, just leave me a comment and I will get back to you.  Sorry, this one is sold.

I didn’t do anything especially fancy or quandie-esque with this little dresser.  I felt like the color gave it enough impact without adding anything else.  However, I was working on a 2nd piece side by side with this one, and it got the full quandie treatment.  It’s not quite done yet, but I hope to have it on the blog by week’s end, so stay tuned.

A while back I picked up a stool that came complete with aged chippy paint.  I mostly loved the chippy, worn look, but I wasn’t super fond of the obvious paint drips and smudges that made it look like it belonged in someone’s workshop (like mine!  I’m definitely a messy painter).

I’m talking about that big white smudge on the side of the seat.  There were several white drips and smudges elsewhere as well.

I decided to take a page out of Miss Mustard Seed’s book for this one too.  A while back she posted about a hutch she bought.  She liked the original paint, but wanted to clean it up a bit.  She just chose a color similar to the original and used it to go over areas that needed it, while leaving other areas alone.  Sounded like the perfect idea for this stool.

So I mixed up some MMS milk paint in Trophy and simply painted over all of the white spots.

I didn’t sand much at all after the touch up because I found that sanding allowed the white to show through again, and I didn’t want that.  So, once the paint was dry, I just went over the chair with some dark wax.

I love the way I was able to retain the authentic shabby-ness of this stool, but yet clean it up a bit.

The top is perfectly worn.

This stool sold to a fabulous young lady at my sale, and when I asked her what she was going to do with it she said ‘use it for a nightstand’.  Woo hoo!  The perfect answer!  It will make an awesome nightstand, don’t you think?

Meanwhile, stay tuned.  On Friday I plan to show you my dining room!

 Sidebar:  I’ll admit, I mainly popped this photo in here because I love the new “Comic Heroes” stuff on picmonkey, which is how I added the Stay Tuned box to my photo.  I love playing around with this stuff, and I was pretty excited to see that picmonkey finally added some new options.  But, I really am going to show you my dining room on Friday, so check back!

For those of you not local, there is a town across the border in Wisconsin called Dresser.  For me, it leads to a lot of confusion on craigslist when I am searching for a “dresser.”  But, in this case, I found a pair of dressers in Dresser and I sent Mr. Q to pick them up.

They are classic blondes.  A tall gentlemen’s chest …

And its companion …

I knew these would be gorgeous painted.  Yet, I struggled a bit at first with inspiration.  I wanted to play up the inset portions of the lower drawers.  I could have done this in my standby Annie Sloan Provence, but quite honestly, I am a little bored with that color right now.  I needed to change it up just a tad.

I was surfing pinterest when I came across this color.

Hello gorgeous!

This is Sherwin Williams’ Aloe (6464).  The 2013 color of the year from their Vintage Moxie collection.

Um, Vintage Moxie?  Where do I sign?  I’m in.  Clearly this pair of dressers was meant to have a little vintage moxie, and I am just the girl to give it to them.  This color is a gorgeous aqua that leans a bit more towards the green than the blue.  Very similar to the color on my vintage ice cream scale.

I purchased the paint from Sherwin Williams in their matte sheen and then doctored it up with my chalk paint recipe (add a little plaster of paris mixed with water) and painted these up.

I used white to accent the detail.

The hardware totally makes these pieces, don’t you think?  Thank goodness it was all there.

 Mid century modern isn’t for everyone, but even so, you gotta admit these are just gorgeous pieces.  They have style oozing from their pores. Very glam-tastic.

And I do believe I am in love with this color.  It’s delicious.

Both of these pieces are available, although the low one may be spoken for quickly (I have a customer looking for a piece like this).  The insides of the drawers are in pristine condition and they all function perfectly.  If you are local (I don’t ship) and are interested in prices and/or measurements, just drop me an email at oakdalecarriagehouse@gmail.com or leave me a comment.

Maybe the reason I like working with the tiny furniture so much is because you can paint an entire dresser in less than five minutes.  It’s really kind of fun working in miniature.  I suppose that is only part of it though, the other reason is that I still like to play with toys.  One of these days I will have to share my dollhouse with you.  Yep, I have one.  My dad made it.  But that is for another day.  For today, I am sharing the mini-dresser.  I gave you a sneak peak of it sitting on the top of this dresser …

See how tiny it is?  Here is a close up.

I bought this at a lunchtime garage sale for a whopping $1.  Really, who can pass that up?

I decided to paint it in a custom MMS milk paint mix.  I was going for Robins Egg blue using a recipe from Miss Mustard’s milk paint blog.  I feel like the color turned out a bit darker than I wanted.  Mr. Q tells me that this because I painted something so small, something about it tricking the eye.  On a bigger piece, this color would look lighter.  Apparently when it comes to color, size does matter!

It’s still a cutie though.  I added a little Tim Holtz rub-on to the top drawer.  Am I the only one here who loves Tim Holtz?  It goes back to my scrapbooking hobby.

For now I decided to keep this tiny dresser.  I think it will be sweet on a shelf in my crafting room.  Plus it will be great for organizing some bits and bobs.  Next time, I must return to painting the full sized stuff though.

One last note, since we’re talking about how size matters here, I did some research into why my pictures were getting fuzzy on the blog.  I found out that something about the way that WordPress automatically re-sizes photos to fit on a blog makes them fuzzy (I’m sure there are technical details here that I am missing), but basically if you re-size the photos yourself before loading them, the fuzziness is reduced.  So, I’m giving that a try.  Hopefully I’ll see some improvement!