feeling blue?

Published on by Quandie

Feeling blue?  I know I am.  Color-wise anyway!

feeling blue title

Who remembers these little chairs that I picked up at a lunch time garage sale last summer?

lunchtime finds

I’ll admit I wasn’t too keen on purchasing them, but my co-workers Sue & Cathy were with me and they talked me into them.

They were in pretty rough shape.  I painted the one that didn’t need any repairs right away in Miss Mustard Seed’s Artissimo, maybe you remember it?

blue chair on the wall 2

Then I hit a bit of a wall because the other two chairs were pretty wobbly.  One of my good customers has expressed an interest in having these and she has a passle of darling little children.  I didn’t want the chairs to fall apart underneath them!  I knew I had to shore them up, but I kept putting it off.  Then the other day I pulled them out thinking they would make the perfect winter project.  Easy enough to work on in the house.  As it turned out, they needed more repairs than I realized.  One was even missing a crossbar at the bottom.  These kind of repairs are ‘Ken territory’.  So I called him up and asked if he had time to work on them.

Here’s what I love about Ken.  I sent these home with him and he didn’t just do a band-aid kind of repair job.  Oh no.  He completely took them apart and then glued them back together bit by bit.  He also replaced the missing cross bar …

feeling blue repairs 1

And he repaired a leg that had a chunk broken off at the bottom.

feeling blue repairs 2

I really hadn’t even noticed this problem, but Ken saw it and fixed it because when he does a job he does it right.  Do you think that is beginning to be a lost art?

Thank to Ken, the chairs are now structurally sound.  All I had to do was add the ‘pretty’.

feeling blue 1

My plan from the start was to paint each one in a different shade of blue from Miss Mustard Seed’s milk paint line.  In addition to the Artissimo, I also painted one in Flow Blue …

feeling blue flow blue

and one in French Enamel …

feeling blue french enamel

 I knew that I was going to see bits of the original blue of these chairs peeking through my new paint, so I thought varying shades of blue would work well.

feeling blue flow blue seat

feeling blue phone

Seeing these chairs all together gives you a good idea of the differences between these Miss Mustard blues.

from left:  French Enamel, Artissimo, Flow Blue

So Nikkii, if you’re reading, the chairs are ready!  And if Nikkii has changed her mind, I’ll let the rest of you know if these are then available.  But I’m betting she’s going to want them because they are just so darn cute.

feeling blue truck

30 thoughts on “feeling blue?”

  1. Love them and yes of course I want them! Blue is my favorite color and I just think it’s fab that you did all 3 in a different shade-OH the possibilities!!!

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  2. I do gots the electrified, satisfied, Quandified Blues. Amen. Love the little chairs, try to buy them when I find them! And thanks for showing the 3 shades, it really does help figure out which Miss Mustard Seed paint to purchase next.

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  4. Have you heard of a place called Odds and Ends in Shoreview? It’s a great place to pick up old furniture at a decent price. Every week they send out an email with pictures of their new stuff. Right now they’re having a 40 percent off sale. It’s kind of a fun place to browse for one of a kind furniture and household items.

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    1. I have not heard of that place. Sounds intriguing … maybe my sis would be willing to swing by there on Saturday after our Zumba class which is in Vadnais Heights. I’ll keep you posted if I check it out.

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  5. Cute chairs, beautiful shades of blue… Did I ever mention that I love your vintage BLUE toy truck? Because I do…sigh…I really do… 😉

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    1. The first time I used the truck in a photo I mentioned that I purchased it at my own occasional sale. My sale partner, Sue, was selling it. It never even made it onto the shelf, I just snatched it right out of her box of stuff when she brought it over. I’d been keeping my eye out for an aqua colored one, but this shade of blue is a close second!

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  6. Love your color variations on these chairs; it makes them much more interesting. Living near Ken is a gift….someone who not only sees the need for repairs but who knows how to do it well. A lost art! Mary is right, Odds and Ends is an interesting place to swing through periodically. I think most of their merchandise is unsold when they host estate sales, and there is usually a wide and interesting variety to browse through.

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      1. You are such a clever girl that’s a terrific idea. But I knew they would sell. Looking forward to the next “Quandized” feature. I loved Laura’s comment
        she got some word wizardry going on there.

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    1. Hi Angela! Welcome! I visited your lovely country last fall on a Danube river cruise. I was in Passau, Regensburg and Nurnberg … all very beautiful. As for the chairs, I did not use Bonding Agent. I almost never use it. My personal opinion is that if you don’t want any chipping, then just use a different kind of paint (chalk paint, etc). The beauty of milk paint lies in its chippy goodness, am I right? When painting over existing paint, you can sometimes get too much resistance though, resulting in a chippy mess. So to avoid that I sanded these chairs vigorously with an electric sander before painting to make sure the paint stuck somewhat. I also did not use a resist method. As a result, I really didn’t get a lot of chipping. After the paint was dry, I sanded again to get the distressed look I wanted. I sanded carefully to just allow the previous shade of blue to show through in spots where normal ‘wear and tear’ would appear naturally.

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      1. Yes, chippy goodness is the best! That´s what I like most and I´m tending to use BA less and less! But there are sooo many possibilities with milk paint – it´s almost impossible to try all of them. 🙂

        I live in the West of Germany near the Ruhrgebiet!

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  10. I love all the different shades of blue. Now I know why we are going to that new store after Zumba this weekend.

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  11. Nice to see the different shades of blue. Ken is amazing! That chair leg looks wonderful. Very good woodworker indeed!
    Blessings

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  12. Ken sounds like an urban legend …. too wonderful to be true …. we all need a Ken! Well, then I guess we’d also need your painting skills! The chairs are adorable and it was nice to see the three shades together. Take care, Cynthia

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