Author: Quandie

Recently I shared the story of a pair of mid-mod pieces I picked up at a garage sale.  I painted the taller piece in my favorite millennial pink shade of paint …

Here is the matching low boy …

I decided to go in a completely different direction with this piece.

I started by stripping the drawer fronts.  I thought the veneer on them was quite pretty.  Even though there were some damaged spots, I thought I could minimize them with some stain-able filler.

Knowing what I know now, I’m not sure I’d make this same choice again.  Not because of the veneer damage, I do think I successfully downplayed that damage.  But there were a lot of steps involved in refinishing these drawers.   It took three passes with the stripper to get all of the shiny varnish off, then gluing and filling damaged veneer spots with filler, then sanding, then two coats of Minwax Wood Finish Penetrating Stain in Special Walnut, then two coats of Minwax water based matte Polycrylic  with a light sanding with 400 grit in between.

In other words, it took a lot more work (and drying time in between) than just painting.  This is just something to keep in mind if you are refinishing furniture to sell.

The drawer fronts are pretty now though.  It remains to be seen whether or not I can sell this piece for a good enough price to make the effort worthwhile.

In addition to refinishing the drawers, I painted the body of the piece in Dixie Belle’s Gravel Road.  That part was fairly simple.  Things went wrong a bit when I tried to top coat it with the Polycrylic.  My initial thought was that having the same sheen on the paint (ie. matte) as on the drawers fronts would be a good move.  However, the poly ended up looking really streaky over the dark grey.  I’m not sure if my technique was faulty, or possibly the matte finish of the poly doesn’t work well over the dark grey color.  Regardless, to fix the problem I painted back over it with the Gravel Road.  Then I top coated it with a product I am much more familiar with, Dixie Belle’s clear Best Dang Wax.  I probably should have just done that in the first place.

This gave me a good opportunity to try out my new buffer.

Mr. Q ordered this from Amazon for me and he decided we should name it Buffy.  I have to say, it does make quick work of buffing a waxed finish.  It’s also quite light and rather quiet for a power tool.  I have no idea how well Buffy will hold up over time, and how many of those pads I’ll go through, but for now I am loving her.

I really liked the style of the original hardware that came with this piece, but the brassy gold color wasn’t really working for me.  So I got out the Prima Marketing Art Alchemy Metallique wax in Bronze Age.

This stuff did a fantastic job of warming up the color of the hardware and it works so much better with the stain color on the drawer fronts.

After many trials and tribulations, this piece is finally done.  I know this style isn’t to everyone’s taste.  Well, to be quite honest, it’s not to my taste either.  But there is a market out there for these pieces so sometimes it’s fun to step outside of my comfort zone and work on something like this.

I’ve got a couple more mid-mod pieces waiting in the workshop too.  But I also have some pieces that are more ‘me’, so be sure to stay tuned.

As always, thank you to Dixie Belle for providing the paint and the wax for this project, and to Prima Marketing for providing the Metallique wax.

Every once in a blue moon I work on a piece that is meant for me.  It doesn’t happen all that often because usually my own projects get pushed to the bottom of the list.  Plus, my house is pretty much full, so if I bring in something new then I have to get rid of something else … usually something that I still kind of love, so I don’t do it very often.

But recently I decided to swap out the small farmhouse table on my front three-season porch.  Let’s first look at the table that I had there before …

FYI, I custom mixed the milk paint on the base.  It’s a lovely color, but not one that you can buy already mixed.

Having a small table in this particular spot is super functional for me.  I generally get great lighting here, even on gloomy days.  So this is where I take many of my close up photos of things, like this …

But it was bugging me that the top of this table was pretty stained, and it had black streaks in the wood.  I didn’t love seeing those flaws in my close ups.

Meanwhile, I had this 2nd small farmhouse table out in the photo cottage.

I tried to sell this table when I first painted it, which was way back in October 2015.  It never did sell, and somehow it was just abandoned out there.  While out there, a bird pooped on it.  Yep.  Gross, right?  Although I’ve been told that it’s good luck to have a bird crap on you, or does that not apply to tables?

I thought that the top was probably permanently stained from the dark bird droppings.  It became one of those out of sight, out of mind situations and the table just lingered out there.

But recently I decided enough was enough, I needed to deal with the table.  So I pulled it out and started by cleaning off those droppings.  Much to my surprise, they came right off and hadn’t left much of a stain at all.  So if you’re ever wondering just how durable a waxed wood surface is, well, there you go.  This table top had been waxed with Miss Mustard Seed wax almost four years ago and I was still able to clean that crap (literally) right off.

None the less, I decided that this would be a good time to sand the top down a little and add a fresh coat of wax.  This time I went with Fusion’s Liming Wax instead of the clear wax.  That really brightened it up.

I have to note here that this is one of my reasons for preferring a waxed (or hemp oiled) surface over a poly’d one.  It’s really quite an easy job to sand it quickly and apply a fresh coat of wax giving it a completely refreshed look.  I would say it took maybe about 20 minutes, and now it looks brand new.  Easy peasy.

After adding the wax I decided to try out my new toy, a car buffer.  Mr. Q purchased it for me to save me some elbow grease when doing large waxed surfaces.  It worked great, giving me just a little more sheen than I get when buffing by hand with very little effort at all.  Since I’ve only used it this one time so far, I’m really not ready to provide a recommendation or a proper review of it.  But I’ll keep using it and let you know how it goes.

I sort of captured the sheen of the wax in this next photo.

In the end, I loved the way the top looked so much that I decided I should keep this table and swap it for the other one on my porch.

Once I’d made that decision, I realized that the existing paint color, Miss Mustard Seed’s Shutter Grey, was not going to work on the porch.  But I could easily repaint the base in the color of my choice.  It didn’t take me long to decide on Miss Mustard Seed’s Linen.

I didn’t do any prep at all, other than cleaning it.  I knew that I would be rolling the dice when it came to chipping since I was painting over a waxed surface (I had waxed over the original milk paint as well as the top).  But the wax had been curing for almost 4 years, so I was betting it would be OK (a waxed surface is fully cured after 30 days).

Sure enough, I got just the right amount of chipping.  There are some spots where you can see the Shutter Grey color underneath, but there was no excessive chipping.

After I had the table sanded, I decided that again, since this was going to be for me, I was free to add my own personal style to it.  So I used just a small section from the old Prima Marketing Specimens transfer.

It was just enough to add a unique flavor to the table.

Finally, again, since this table was just for me and I could do as I liked, I did not add a topcoat to the painted part of the table.  Did you know that you don’t ‘have’ to use a topcoat with milk paint?  It will cure and harden over time to provide durability.  It won’t be super washable or water resistant though, so that’s something to keep in mind.  I’m OK with that though.  After all, I’ll probably want to re-paint it again in another four years anyway 😉

But for now, I absolutely LOVE how this one turned out.  As I was admiring the finished product, I said to Mr. Q, “I just love working for myself!”  Somehow it frees me up to make choices based solely on what will make me happy, not on what will sell, or be durable enough for the buyer, or how much something will cost and whether or not I can recoup that cost.

In this case I cut up a large transfer to use just a small piece of it on this table.  Sure, I’ll use the rest of it on something else, but I still probably wouldn’t have done this for a piece I was going to sell.

I don’t know, maybe I need to start treating more pieces as though I’m working for myself!

After taking these photos outside (because it was far too pretty of an evening not to do them outside), we moved the table into its new home on the front porch …

Yep, I have to admit, I really prefer this one over the previous one.

What do you think?

Thank you to Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint for providing the Linen paint, Prima Marketing for providing the Seeds transfer and Fusion for providing the Liming Wax.

First things first, congrats to Irene for winning the Prima Marketing Modeling Material and molds drawing.  Hope she has fun making up some molds!  Now, onward with today’s post …

A while back my hairdresser texted me to ask if I wanted a table that she was getting rid of.  The table reminded me quite a bit of the one that I use on my side of the bed as a night stand …

It’s the same general style, size and height.  These taller occasional tables are perfect next to a bed that has some height to it.   There isn’t any storage, but a little wicker box will do to hold lotion, tissues, etc.

So although I tend to shy away from smaller occasional tables these days, I knew from experience that this one could serve a practical purpose.  So I said yes.

Here is the ‘before’ …

Oh boy.  So dark it will need three coats of paint to go light, and all of those legs to paint!

More on that in a minute, but first, here’s a look at the ‘before’ condition of the top …

Pretty scratched up and discolored.  But I thought the wood grain pattern in the veneer itself was quite pretty.

So I started out by stripping the top.   Then I got a wild hair to try either white washing or lime waxing it to lighten it up, while still allowing the grain to show through.  But instead of either of those, when I reached into the supply cabinet I pulled out the Homestead House Stain and Finishing Oil in Driftwood which is a grey color.

After the first coat I really thought I’d made a mistake.  It was streaky and dull.  But the SFO (Stain and Finishing Oil) is meant to be applied in several light coats.  Each coat progressively adds a little more color, durability and sheen.  So I applied a second coat, which improved the look immensely.

But then I stopped after two coats because I liked the look, and I didn’t want to hide any more of that grain with a more opaque finish.  I could have added additional coats of the SFO in Natural at this point because it will add protection and sheen without adding color, but I didn’t have any of that on hand. So instead I added a topcoat of Miss Mustard Seed’s clear wax to give it a little more luster and protection.

Next up was painting the base of the table … but oh my, six legs!  That’s a lot of putzy painting with a brush.

I don’t own a paint sprayer.  Typically, spraying is just not for me.  I enjoy painting with a brush.  I know I would not enjoy the process of using a sprayer; taping things off, finding a way to contain the over spray, and most of all, cleaning the sprayer when you’re done.  Yep, that part is especially not for me.  I’ve been known to completely forget about the clean up step and throwing a paint brush away is bad enough.  Having to toss an expensive sprayer would really be a bummer.

But in the case of something like this piece, I’m not opposed to pulling out a can of spray paint to get the job done.

In this case I thought I’d try the Rust-Oleum Chalked ultra matte spray paint in Country Gray.

I taped off the top, and then sprayed three coats on the base of the table.

I pretty much used up the entire can on this one small table.  Spray paint is definitely not the most cost effective solution, but it can sometimes be the easiest.

I staged the photos with a chair and one of my stenciled faux grain sack pillows just to give it some scale.

I filled an old transferware tea pot with some coleus clippings and put it on top of a couple of books too.

One of my readers, Shelly, recommended the book on top, Country Brocante Style by Lucy Haywood.  So Mr. Q ordered it from amazon for me (gotta love that next day shipping).  Thanks for that recommendation Shelly, I love the book.  It fits my style to a t (or should I say a q?)

As for the table, I think it has a completely updated look now, don’t you?

Thanks to Homestead House for providing the Stain & Finishing Oil, and to Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint for providing the clear furniture wax.

If any of you locals need a fabulous new bedside table, be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

A few weeks ago my picker, Sue, sent me an ad for an estate sale that was just a few blocks from our office at the day job.  The ad included a photo of a gorgeous dresser that would have been beautiful painted.  I had some other things on my to-do list for my lunch break that day though, so I didn’t think I’d be able to get there.  And can I just add in, it’s super frustrating that so many estate sales are only open 9 am to 3 pm on weekdays, thus making it impossible for any of us 9 to 5-er’s to get there!

I didn’t pay too much attention to the location of the sale thinking that I didn’t have time for it anyway.  As it turned out, I did have an extra 15 minutes after running my errands, so I decided to swing by after all.  Except then I couldn’t find it!  It should have been easy, just look for a sign right?  And I mean an actual sign, not a sign from above.

I knew the general vicinity, just not the exact location.  Except there was a garage sale sign at the corner of every single street along the way!  So.  Many. Sales.  Which one was the right one?

After stopping at three sales, none of which were not the right sale, my fifteen minutes ran out and I never did find the sale I was looking for that day.

The next day was Saturday though, so I decided to try again and just see if the beautiful dresser was still there.  I recruited my neighbor, nnK, to keep me company.  When we got there, there were quite a few things in the driveway, but not the furniture I was looking for.  I assumed it was gone, so disappointing.  Then I noticed the sign that said “more furniture inside”.  Eureka!

Sure enough there it was, inside the house.  Unfortunately, it was part of a set.  The bed was also gorgeous and I would have loved to have it.  The third piece to the set was a dressing table.  I could have made that work.  Then I saw yet another sign.  This time it said “bedroom set – $500”.

After all of that, the dresser was ultimately way, way out of my price range.  True, there were three pieces, but that still would have made each piece $167.  I just can’t justify spending that much on pieces when I know I can find other pieces to work on for much less.  And in case you are wondering, yes, I do sometimes ask if a seller will take less for something, but in this case it would have needed to be much less and I was getting a definite ‘antiques are valuable’ vibe from these sellers.

I was about to just walk away from the sale empty handed when I noticed they had a couple of mid-century pieces for sale as well.  And guess what, they were only $35 each.  Clearly they did not consider them ‘antiques’.  This price was much more in line with what I like to pay for things.  So they came home with me instead, sort of like a consolation prize.

This past week I painted one of them.

It’s your typical Bassett mid-century tall boy, but what I really loved about it was the hardware.  Aren’t those awesome drawer pulls?

I decided to go with one of my favorite colors for mid-century pieces, Fusion’s English Rose or as I like to call it, Millennial Pink.

I did my usual prep, a light scuff sanding following by a good cleaning with TSP substitute.

It took three coats of paint to get good coverage.

I spruced up the hardware by cleaning it with dish washing soap, then once dry I added some of Prima Marketing’s Art Alchemy Metallique wax in Vintage Gold.

Normally I stage my mid-mod pieces with more period appropriate props (say that 10 times fast!), but this time I went vintage using this adorable baby dress.

I used to have several of these, they all came from Sue originally.  She tried to sell them at one of our occasional sales …

But they didn’t go.  So I purchased several of them myself.  They were all hand stitched and absolutely beautiful.

I’ve sold most of them over the years though and this is the only one I have left.  I hang onto it just for staging photos.  It’s hanging from a vintage hanger that I dressed up with one of the Prima Marketing knob transfers.

Can you just imagine the patience it takes to stitch that?

I tried to replicated that amazing original paint color on the hanger on the little chair that is also pictured.

This is a custom mix of milk paint that I couldn’t recreate if I tried.  I just kept throwing in a little of this and a little of that, using leftovers of both Miss Mustard Seed’s milk paint and Homestead House milk paint that I had on hand.

The chair is also dressed up a bit with some Prima Marketing transfers from their Delicate Fleur collection.  I’ll most likely take the chair to Reclaiming Beautiful to sell.

I tend to have good results selling these pink mid-century pieces on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist, so fingers crossed that this one sells quickly.

As always, thanks to Prima Marketing for providing the transfers and metallic wax.  I purchased the Fusion paint at Reclaiming Beautiful this time around though.

If you’re local and in need of a millennial pink mid-mod dresser, be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.