Category: furniture.

Happy Friday everybody!  I’m taking a little break from the day job today to get some furniture painted in the morning and then I’m heading over to my bff’s new apartment for a little pool time.  It’s supposed to be 86 and humid here today, it finally really feels like summer!

  I’m motivated to get painting again because after many months of minimal sales, this week I sold 4 pieces of furniture, both matchy-matchy pieces, the green dresser and the boho desk which had been sitting around for a while …

You know, sometimes I feel like certain pieces are destined to wait for the perfect owner and this desk was one of those pieces.  If you’ll remember, last July I painted it with a blue grain sack stripe down the middle.  It didn’t sell.  So then in January I re-finished it, this time using that gorgeous Prima Marketing Passion Flower transfer.

Still, I had no takers.

Until this past Tuesday that is, when a lovely gal drove all the way from Menomonie, Wisconsin to purchase it from me.  She absolutely loved it.  She considers herself a gypsy at heart, so obviously it was perfect for her.  Plus the desk will be situated in such a way that the corner with the transfer on it will be most visible.  Clearly this desk was just patiently waiting for her to come and claim it!  I love it when that happens!

Some of you were waiting to see how quickly the green dresser would sell, so I thought I’d update you on that too.  I posted it on Facebook Marketplace a week ago Wednesday.  A potential buyer contacted me right away that day and set up a time to see it on Friday, so I marked it ‘pending’.  She then rescheduled for Saturday afternoon.  Then, when she didn’t show up at the appointed time, I messaged her and she replied saying that she decided she really couldn’t afford it.  Argh!  I don’t love it when that happens!

At that point who knows how many other potential buyers I missed out on because they saw the ‘pending’ status and moved on.  But unfortunately this kind of thing is part of the package when selling your furniture using online marketplaces.  It can be frustrating, but you have to just roll with the punches.

Anyway, my point is that there was a 4 day delay in selling the dresser because I was ‘holding’ it for someone who didn’t bother to show up.  So you have to factor that in.  But the next buyer did show up at the appointed time and purchased the dresser on Tuesday.  So, it still sold in under 1 week even with the 4 days in ‘pending’ status.

I’m telling you guys, that Fusion Park Bench green on mid-century pieces is a magical combination for me.  If you’re keeping track, this is the 7th piece in that color that I’ve done.

Finally, as I’ve said before, the black pieces are also still amazing sellers for me.  Both of the matchy-matchy pieces have gone to good homes this week too!

In other news, last weekend my neighbor, nnK, said someone she knows follows my blog and was wondering if I’d like a free drop leaf table.   I hesitated at first because I thought it was going to be one of those Duncan Phyfe drop leaf dining room tables, like this …

I already have one of these in my carriage house that has been sitting there for years.  I don’t think there is a great market for them so I’ve never gotten around to painting it (maybe I should try painting it in Park Bench, lol).

But nnK explained that the table in question was closer in style to the farmhouse tables that I like to do, so then I was picturing something more like this (only imagine that the drop leaves are still in place) …

Still, I hesitated.  Mainly because I have painted four of these tables and so far I’ve only managed to sell one.  I’ve tried off and on to list them for sale, but they just don’t seem to go so I’ve ended up keeping the other three.  I use one as a desk in my Q Branch and I have one on my front porch.  The third is out in the photo cottage and I really should try listing that one for sale again.

But, the table was free, so I went for it.

When I went over to nnK’s to pick it up I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually quite a bit more narrow than the other drop leaf tables I’ve worked on.  With the leaves down it’s only 14″ deep.

So really, it would work quite well as a sofa table.  But I also thought that it would be the perfect table to put in front of a window to hold your house plants.  And based on the water damage on the top, I’m guessing that might be what it was used for in the past.

I debated removing the leaves like I normally do, but then I remembered one of the Prima Marketing transfers that I just happened to have on hand called Fresh Flowers.

I realized that this transfer would fit on the leaves perfectly.

I started by sanding the table top and cleaning it well.  Normally I strip the tops of pieces and leave them wood and paint the bases, but this time I switched it up and decided to paint the top and leave the base wood.

So I added a coat of Fusion’s Limestone to just the top.  As the paint dried, I could see that I had a ‘bleeder’ on my hands.  In other words, the existing stain on the table was bleeding though the paint.  In case you’ve never dealt with this, you should know that no amount of paint will ever ‘cover’ bleed-thru.  The stain will just continue to bleed through each layer of paint as you add it.

Instead you have to seal your piece with a stain blocking sealer of some kind before continuing to paint.  I normally like to use Dixie Belle’s BOSS for this, but I had some spray shellac on hand and I was working outdoors anyway, so I decided to just use that.  It also works well, but isn’t an option for me in the winter when I’m painting indoors.

So, I sprayed a quick two coats of shellac over the initial coat of Limestone.  Once that was dry, I added a 2nd coat of Limestone and it covered perfectly.  Next I sanded the edges of the table a bit to distress.

I applied the transfer to the drop leaf and it fit like a glove.

Initially I was planning to put the other half of the transfer on the opposite side, but then I realized that it would really be a bit of a waste.  Wherever this table eventually ends up, it’s highly unlikely that both sides of it would be visible.  One side will either be up against a wall, or up against the back of a sofa.  So why put a transfer on it if it will rarely be seen?   Instead I decided to save that other half for another project.

How adorable would this table be under a window, filled with plants?

By the way, I just used a little bit of Miss Mustard Seed’s hemp oil on the legs to freshen them up.   They were in great shape, have a nice dark stain on them and the wood is really quite pretty.

I specifically chose to use the Fusion paint on this table in case the future owner does use it to hold plants.  The Fusion is very durable and water resistant once cured even without an additional top coat.

That being said, I still think I would opt to protect it a bit by putting a pretty silver tray or some other plate under each plant.

This tray was another of my finds from last Saturday’s neighborhood garage sale.  It was only $2 and it looks so pretty under a clay pot.

Thank you to Fusion Mineral Paint for providing the paint for this project, Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint for providing the hemp oil and Prima Marketing for providing the transfer.

If you’re wondering where to purchase the Prima Marketing transfers, check out their ‘where to buy’ page.

If you’re wondering where to buy the Fusion paint, check out their ‘where to buy’ page.

If you’re wondering where to buy Miss Mustard Seed’s products, check out her ‘find a retailer‘ or ‘where to buy online‘ pages.

And finally, if you happen to be local (Twin Cities, MN) and in need of the perfect table to hold your plants, check out my ‘available for local sale’ page to see if this one is still available.

First things first, the winner from last Monday’s drawing was Paulette.  Congrats to Paulette, and thank you so much to everyone else for all of your wonderful comments!

For today’s post I’ve done something I don’t do very often, I’ve painted a matching set.  If you’ve followed me for a while you might know that I’m not a fan of matchy-matchy furniture.  I prefer a more ‘collected over time’ look.  But, in this case I decided to paint both of these two pieces in the same color, just in case some future buyer wants to keep them together.

These pieces were originally part of a 3 piece set that I purchased a while back.  I’ve already painted and sold the matching washstand.

The bed is the one that didn’t fit in our van and I had to go back for it with nnK’s dad’s truck.

It’s a little hard to judge the scale of this piece by that photo, but that headboard is 73″ tall!

The foot board needed a little work after I got it home.  It had been inexpertly repaired in the past and had some drippy glue spots and some oddly placed nails.  My handyman/neighbor Ken loves these projects, he treats them like puzzles.  He takes the entire piece apart and then puts it back together again with fresh glue.  He’s a firm believer that glue (when used properly) holds better than nails any day.

Once those repairs were complete, I sanded the piece lightly and then painted it with two coats of Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky.  Dixie Belle has two shades of black, Caviar and Midnight Sky.  I’ve used quite a bit of the Caviar, and I do love it.  It’s a deeper black than the Midnight Sky.  I used the Midnight Sky on my piano and was drawn to its slightly more subtle shade, so I decided to go with that on this set. Although honestly, you can’t go wrong with either color.

Once the paint was dry, I sanded the bed to distress and then added a top coat of Dixie Belle’s Best Dang black wax using one of Prima Marketing’s new wax/stencil brushes.

Let me tell you, that was a workout, talk about functional fitness!  That headboard is huge!

By the way, this is a full size (or double) bed.  However, it could be easily modified to fit a queen bed using an adapter (like this one from Rockler).

This bed would be an amazing statement piece.  I’d definitely keep it if we didn’t live in a 1 1/2 story house.  In case you didn’t know, the ‘1/2’ means that we have slanted walls in our upstairs rooms, which is why we had to cut down the headboard we used in our bedroom (and that is a full size headboard paired with a queen size mattress in our room) …

OK, enough about the bed, well, OK, here’s one more photo …

Let’s move on to the dresser.

That is not a truly legit ‘before’ photo of the dresser.  It actually came with a huge framed mirror attached that matches the headboard.  However, I find that dressers sell better without their mirrors, and mirrors turned into chalkboards sell really well too.  So I’ll be turning that mirror frame into a chalkboard down the road.  In the meantime, Ken had to do a few repairs on the top of the dresser where it was missing a couple of chunks of wood at the back.  The damage was hidden by the mirror, so once I removed it we had to do something to fix it.  I suspect that the weight of that mirror had done the damage.  Ken also added a new trim piece at the back to make up for the missing mirror.

Unfortunately, those fixes meant I had to paint the top.  Otherwise I definitely would have stripped and waxed it and just painted the body of the dresser.

I followed the same process to paint and wax the dresser that I did on the bed.

Then I cleaned up the original hardware and put it back on.

By the way, in case you were wondering, I did not find too much at the Kenny/Armitage neighborhood garage sale last weekend.  Just a couple of gems, including a set of old bugles.

Wouldn’t these be great for Christmas decorating?  Either added to a wreath or tucked into your tree?  I’ll probably hang on to these until the Christmas season and then take them to Reclaiming Beautiful to sell.

But in the meantime, I used one of them to stage my photos of this dresser.

The warm aged brass of the bugle worked perfectly with the dresser’s hardware.

I almost forgot!  These pieces came with the most fabulous original metal casters.

Even the bed has them, but I totally forgot to put them on before staging my photos.  Here are the casters for the bed, they are huge …

So, there you have it, a matchy-matchy set.

Thanks to Dixie Belle Paint Co for sponsoring this post with free product, and thank you to Prima Marketing for sharing their new wax/stencil brush with me.

If you are local and ready for a change in your master bedroom (I’m just talking new furniture here people), be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale’ page for more details on these pieces.

Remember this dresser that I painted last fall?

It simply wasn’t selling.

I’m not sure if it was the color, or the floral transfer, or the mirror, or simply a combination of all three.  But after six months of watching it gather dust in my dining room I was ready to give it a makeover.

I mentioned it in front of my niece one day and she said ‘nooooo … I love that one.’  Then she asked if I’d be willing to trade her for the dresser that I painted for her a couple of years ago instead.

I thought about it for about a second and then said ‘sure, why not?’  As much as my niece loved the Miss Mustard Seed’s Luckett’s Green paired with purple flowers, I didn’t think that combo would be a big seller in my market at large.  But I was going to be repainting a piece either way, so why not repaint this one?

So we traded.

The teal blue dresser went to my niece’s house, and the green one came home with me.  To prep this piece for a fresh paint job I sanded it fairly heavily to make sure I’d get good adhesion.  Then I cleaned it and painted it with two coats of Fusion’s Park Bench.

I’ve had great success selling mid-mod pieces painted in this color.  Although this dresser isn’t classically mid-century modern, I knew I could pump up the modern quotient a bit with new hardware.

These knobs are all from Hobby Lobby.  I’ve used them before on pieces painted in this gorgeous shade of green, so I knew they’d be perfect on this one too.

I staged this piece super simply with some postcards that I bought in Montenegro when we were there last November, my green Collier’s World Atlas and some vibrant impatiens.

Now don’t tell my niece, but I think I just may have gotten the better end of the bargain in this trade.

What do you think?

So, here’s the deal.  As I’ve mentioned many times, my blog is not monetized.  I prefer not having any ads to bog you guys down.  To fund the blog (ie. my hobby), I sell my furniture.  My main goal is to not lose money, and my secondary goal is to have enough left over to fund our travel habit too.

But that means, I have to actually be able to sell my furniture.

That can sometimes be the tricky part.

I frequently find myself torn between painting something in a unique, artistic way, perhaps using a new technique or product that I can share here on the blog, or painting something in a way that I know will sell.

The first option is always more fun.  Who doesn’t love getting creative and trying new things, especially pretty paint colors?

Or trying a new technique with a transfer?

I also think sharing a new color or technique here makes my blog more interesting and gives you guys a reason to keep following me.

The problem is that these pieces tend to take much longer to sell for me.  I’m in the mid-west.  In general people here tend to be a bit on the conservative side when it comes to decorating.  They don’t embrace loud florals, bright colors or lots of frou frou details.

Note that I specified ‘in general’.  I’m not saying that nobody here likes those things, just that the market for those things is smaller and thus they take longer to sell.  Maybe that’s true everywhere, I don’t know.  If you’re in another part of the country, or even the world, you tell me.  What sells in your market?

I have to admit, I was relieved when my latest milk painted washstand sold right away because no matter how much I loved it, I was worried the color was going to make it a tough sell.

Of course there are always exceptions to every rule.  The mid-mod pieces I’ve painted in Fusion’s Park Bench have all sold like hotcakes too.

However, typically it’s the pieces in neutral colors that sell quickly for me.  In other words, white …

Or black.

Both of which tend to sell almost instantly.

I also have pretty good luck with dark grey …

And navy …

So I’m always trying to finding some balance between getting a little more daring with my color choices or new techniques and falling back on tried and true styles and colors.

I had a real dry spell over the past six months when it comes to selling furniture.  Things are starting to pick up, but are still somewhat slow.  As a result, I’m feeling the need to go back to my time tested neutrals.  Hence the Laundry Co dresser painted in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth from a week or two ago.

Later this week I’ll be sharing another piece painted in the Park Bench green, and then the following week I’ve got some more Dixie Belle Midnight Sky black pieces.  I hope I won’t be boring you guys with repeats and neutrals, but I’m feeling the need to stick with what sells for a bit.  Here’s hoping you’ll stay tuned!

Recently my bff, Vonda, and her husband downsized.  They moved out of their huge four bedroom home into a two-bedroom place.  As a result, they had to downsize their belongings as well.  I’d always admired this vintage dresser, so when Vonda offered it to me I jumped on it.

I have to say, that is a terrible ‘before’ photo.  I don’t always follow my own outside photo taking rules when doing a ‘before’ photo, and this one is particularly bad.  You can barely tell that the dresser was green.  Well, mostly green with some drips of white here and there.  I thought the floral decals were pretty sweet though.  Funny enough, it wasn’t until I sanded them down a little that I realized the decals were covering up key holes as well as extra holes where there were once drawer pulls with two screws instead of knobs.  Now that I know that, when I look at the ‘before’ photo I think ‘duh, of course they were.’  Just look back at that photo, see what I mean?

Anyway, when I brought this piece home the top of the dresser had split at a seam and a couple of the drawers had seen better days.  My handyman Ken made quick work of repairing those problems.  He removed the top, glued it back together and then re-attached it with dowel pins which makes the entire piece much sturdier.

He also re-glued both of the bottom drawers.

Once that was done, I sanded the piece well and then painted it with two coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, which is a warm, creamy white.  When the paint was dry, I sanded the edges to distress.  I wanted to allow some of that pale green to show through, as well as some of the light blue that was under the green.

There’s nothing like layers of color to lend a sense of age to a piece.  In this case, the layers … and the age … are genuine.

Next I added a coat of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat.  Once that was dry, I added Prima Marketing’s Laundry transfer.

Once that was in place I felt like the bottom half of the dresser looked really plain, so I pulled out a leftover bit from the Seeds transfer and added that to the bottom drawer.

Over time this dresser had gotten a little beat up, been a bit neglected and thus had lost some of its original charm, but I think I brought it back (what do you say bff?).

It would be a great piece for a laundry room (if you are blessed enough to have a size-able laundry room that is pretty, mine is a dingy corner in my cellar-like basement).

But it could just as easily work in a bedroom.

Or really anywhere!

If you’re wondering where to purchase the Prima Marketing Laundry transfer check out their ‘where to buy’ page.

If you’re wondering where to buy the Dixie Belle Drop Cloth or flat clear coat, you can shop with them directly online or find a retailer near you.

And finally, if you happen to be local (Twin Cities, MN) and in need of an adorable cottage style dresser, check out my ‘available for local sale’ page for more details.

I’ve been seeing a lot of articles recently about the mental health benefits of spending a little time communing with nature.  I don’t know about you, but I’m 100% on board with that idea.  I always feel more centered after a walk in the woods.

Mr. Q and I are lucky to have a beautiful wooded park just a few blocks away.  It is 200+ wooded acres and has a couple of miles of walking trails.  We try to get out there at least 4 or 5 days per week.  We made a special effort to stick with it this past winter and with the help of some good long underwear, an ankle length down coat and some great Sorel boots I made it through most of the winter (until I fell on the ice in February and we decided we should wait until the ice on the paths melted to return).

I have to say it is kind of magical to be out there when there is a full moon and some snow cover to reflect it.  Our park has some Great Horned Owls in residence and we would hear them calling to each other while we walked.  One evening we even saw one perched in a tree just over our heads.

I wish I could claim taking that photo, but no, I grabbed it from allaboutbirds.org.  Plus it was dark and we couldn’t really see him in much detail, but I’m sure he looked pretty much like that 😉

I will admit that it’s much easier to get out walking now that the days are getting longer, the snow is gone and I don’t have to wear four layers of clothing though!

At this point you might be wondering how I’m going to segue this into a post about painted furniture.

Well, the Fusion paint I used on today’s piece is in a color called Lichen and the Prima Marketing transfer is called Fern Woods.  So it definitely has a woodsy theme.

Here is the ‘before’ version of the table.

It’s just your basic 60’s end table.

It’s another piece that I picked up last summer at a garage sale on the cheap.  After I brought it out to work on it, I decided that the finish on it was really in pretty good shape and it might be fun to leave the tops alone and just paint the rest.

So I sanded the sides and legs lightly, cleaned them and then painted them with two coats of Lichen.

Then I pulled out the Fern Woods transfer.

You could use this transfer as one solid design, but instead I randomly cut out various leaves and applied them to the table wherever I thought they looked best.

I also swapped out the knob on the little drawer.  The original knob seemed a bit small to me.  I happened to have a wood knob that matched the table top perfectly.

I think the size works much better than that dinky original knob.

I couldn’t help nestling the table in my blooming Scilla to get some woodsy looking photos.  The Scilla is always the first thing up and blooming in my garden in the spring.  I have the white version shown above, and also the gorgeous deep blue version that you saw last week in my post about white washed clay pots.

Anyway, I think this is the perfect little side table for someone’s cabin.  It makes a great spot to stash your bird watching paraphernalia.

What do you think?

If you’re wondering where to purchase the Prima Marketing transfers, check out their ‘where to buy’ page.

If you’re wondering where to buy the Fusion paint, check out their ‘where to buy’ page.

And finally, if you happen to be local (Twin Cities, MN) and in need of a woodsy themed side table, check out my ‘available for local sale’ page to see if this one is still available.

The craziest thing happened last week when I went to pick up some furniture I was purchasing via Facebook Marketplace.

When Mr. Q and I arrived at the seller’s home I was mainly focused on taking a look at the pieces I was planning to buy.  The seller led us back to the bedroom and I looked over the set, which included a gorgeous spoon carved bed, washstand and dresser.  I checked the pieces over, handed the seller my cash, and then Mr. Q and I each grabbed an end of the headboard and headed back out to our van.

It wasn’t until we were almost out the door that I looked over, and what did I see?

Yep, that bench!  I swear my brain took a couple of seconds to register what I was looking at.  It was kind of surreal seeing a piece of my furniture in an expected place.  Then I thought, ‘no wonder this woman seems familiar!’  I’d sold her this bench last summer.

How crazy!  What are the chances?  Sometimes it really is just a small world.

I was happy to hear that she still loves the bench, she gets tons of compliments on it and all of her friends want to know where she got it.

The rest of the story is that after I got over my amazement at seeing one of my own pieces, Mr. Q and I finished hauling the headboard out to our van only to find that it wouldn’t fit.  It was just a couple of inches too big.  Argh.  So we hauled it back into the seller’s house and made arrangements to come back another day with a truck to get the headboard.  We were able to load up the washstand, dresser and foot board though.

All of this by way of saying that I never got an opportunity to take a ‘before’ photo of the complete set, but here is the first piece I worked on …

I love these washstand sized pieces, they are perfect to use as a bedside table, and the spoon carving on this one is totally charming.  See how each bunch of flowers has one stem that is broken?  That’s why I’m calling this the broken flower washstand.

I did my usual prep, a light sanding followed by a good cleaning.  As soon as I touched the sandpaper to this finish I could see that it was very old and dried out.  Sometimes when you start sanding an old finish like this it simply turns to dust at the lightest touch.

Although I immediately knew I wanted to use milk paint on this piece, I debated the color.  I really wanted to try a gorgeous custom mixed color that Jane Dawson recently shared on the Move Mountains with Miss Mustard Seed’s Milkpaint Facebook page.  Part of me felt like I should stick with a more neutral color that would help the piece sell faster though.

But I threw caution to the wind and used Jane’s recipe, 1/3 Boxwood to 2/3 Kitchen Scale.

As is often the case, the color looks entirely different on my piece than it did on Jane’s piece.  I think there are a few reasons for that.  For one thing, the beginning color of my piece was probably a bit different.  Second, I waxed my piece and Jane used a poly top coat on her piece.  Different topcoats can really change the color of milk paint.  And finally, as per the MMS website, there can be as much as a 15% variation in the color of milk paint from one batch to the next. If you are expecting to get exactly the same look every time with a particular color you might be surprised by this, so fair warning.

In the end, even though this wasn’t exactly the color I was going for, I think my piece turned out beautifully.  I got just the right amount of chipping.  Not too much, not too little.

I had mixed up 1/4 c of Boxwood, 1/2 c of Kitchen Scale and 3/4 c of water to make my paint. In case you’re wondering approximately how far 1.5 cups of mixed milk paint will go, I did two coats on this piece and had about 1/3 c of mixed paint left over.

I painted this bucket with some of the extra paint and then added a transfer from the Prima Marketing Everyday Farmhouse set.

There is a city near me that has a Trash to Treasure clean up each spring.  Residents put anything they want to get rid of at the curb and people can drive around and snatch things up.  This year it was slim pickings, but I did get both the bucket and the chair that it’s sitting on.

I love the sort of scalloped edge on the piece at the back of the washstand.

I always end up calling that piece a ‘back splash’ although I don’t know if that’s the right name for it.  I suppose since this was originally a washstand with a bowl and pitcher for washing on it, maybe back splash is the right name.

All three of the pieces in this set have the most fabulous metal casters.

I scrubbed the drawer pulls with soap and a toothbrush to clean them up a bit and then put them back on.

I didn’t polish them with metal cleaner because I wanted to retain that aged patina.

I lined drawers of the washstand with some really pretty wrapping paper that I picked up last year at a shop in St. Paul.

I forgot to mention that I finished this piece with Miss Mustard Seed’s clear furniture wax.  The thing about spoon carving is that it tends to create drips.  Paint or a more liquid topcoat like the MMS Tough Coat pools in the carved areas and then drips down after you’ve walked away.  Since I struggle with drips anyway, I decided wax was a better bet for me on this piece.

So.  There you have it.  The broken flower washstand painted in a color I think I’ll call Dawson Green.  Or should it be Dawson Blue?  What do you think?

Thank you to Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint for providing the paint and wax, and to Prima Marketing for providing the transfer for the bucket.

If you’re wondering where to purchase the Prima Marketing re.design Everyday Farmhouse transfers, check out their ‘where to buy’ page.

If you’re wondering where to buy Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint or wax, here is where you can ‘buy online.’

And finally, if you happen to be local (Twin Cities, MN) and in need of a unique bedside table, check out my ‘available for local sale’ page to see if this one is still available.

Don’t let the green grass in this ‘before’ photo fool you.  No, it has not suddenly become summer here.  Last weekend while I was writing this post we had a solid layer of white (well, sort of white, and sort of brown from that Texas dust that blew in) snow on the ground, although it has melted again now.  The snow may be gone again, but things are only just starting to look green.

But I purchased this pair of tables at a garage sale last summer and I took a quick ‘before’ photo of them when I got them home.

I then put them in the photo cottage last fall along with a few other smaller pieces thinking I’d get to them over the winter.  Then they got snowed in.  I had a 4′ snow drift in front of the cottage and neither Mr. Q or I had any intention of shoveling that out just to get to some furniture to paint.

I’ll be honest, I only purchased the tables because they were ridiculously cheap.  I think I paid $10 each, or maybe it was $10 total.  I don’t remember for sure.  I considered it a bit of a gamble though, because I wasn’t sure if I could change them up enough to make them marketable.

Initially I was going to go for a feminine look.  Paint them white and add a floral transfer to the tops.  But as I was going through my stash of transfers I came across Prima Marketing’s Industrial Mechanics transfer.

This transfer comes on three sheets.  I had used just part of one of them on a metal roller skate case …

So I had two full sheets plus part of a 3rd left.  Each full sheet fit the top of a table pretty well.  They didn’t go all the way to the edge, but I thought I could make that work by painting the tables a dark color.

I wasn’t sure how the transfer would look over dark paint though, so I was glad I had that scrap of the 3rd sheet to use in an experiment.

I pulled out some Dixie Belle paint in Gravel Road which is a deep, rich grey.  Then I grabbed an old board out of the workshop and painted it.  Once dry I added a section of transfer, sanded it lightly to distress and then finished it with The Real Milk Paint Co’s Finishing Cream.

I wanted to make sure that the transfer would look good over the Gravel Road, and also that it would look good with a durable, washable topcoat over it since they would be on a table top.  The sample board turned out great, so I knew I was good to go with this more masculine look for the tables.

I followed my usual m.o.   Light sanding, followed by cleaning and then painting.  I used two watered down coats of the Gravel Road.  Next I sanded the tops lightly with 220 grit just to smooth them out a little.  I vacuumed away the dust and wiped them with a dry microfiber cloth to be sure they were mostly dust free.  Then I applied the transfer.  Both went on easily and once they were down I even burnished them lightly with the same microfiber cloth to make sure I removed any air bubbles.

So far, so good.  Everything looked great.

But then I decided to sand the transfers lightly to distress the edges a little, again with the 220 grit paper.  Sure enough, I pulled up a chunk of one of the transfers.  See it there on the right toward the lower corner?

Dang!

This is the second time this has happened to me with one of the full image transfers (a full image transfer is one where the transfer is one solid sheet).  Both times I was applying the transfer over unsealed chalk style paint.  I have not had this happen when using a full image transfer over Fusion Mineral Paint.  I touched on this briefly in Monday’s post about the different kinds of paint that I use.  I recently heard someone recommend sealing chalk paint with a water based topcoat before adding a transfer to improve adhesion (just be sure not to use wax, you can’t add a transfer over a freshly waxed surface).

The more I thought about it, the more that made sense to me.  The Fusion paint has a built in top coat.  If you’ve ever worked with these paints, you’ll know that when freshly dry the Fusion feels a bit more tacky.  Not tacky in a bad way, but it has more gripping power than freshly sanded chalk paint, which feels sort of chalky and dry.

I haven’t tried this yet myself, but I wanted to pass on this tip in case any of you have had similar problems using a full image transfer over chalk paint.

Luckily the background paint under my transfer was very close to the background color of the transfer, so my boo boo isn’t a glaring problem.  In addition, the overall distressed looks of the tables helps it blend in as well.

I think these transfers would look amazing over black, but I like them over the dark grey.

This would be a fun look for bedside tables in a boy’s room.

I set the tables up in my living room to stage some photos of them.

But it didn’t take long for me to realize that they were the perfect size to pair with my sectional.

Plus the Gravel Road worked perfectly with my new wall color.  So now I’m thinking I might just keep them.

It’s funny since I purchased them long before I had this sectional, and I certainly never thought I would be keeping them.  But for $10, why not?

Thanks to Dixie Belle Paint Co and Prima Marketing for sponsoring this post with free product.

Every once in a while someone asks me that question.  I imagine that they expect a simple one or two sentence answer.  But no, there isn’t a simple one product fits all answer.  There are so many things to consider such as what sort of surface are you painting?  How much money do you want to spend?  What look do you want to achieve?  How durable does it need to be?  How much experience do you have?  Is environmental safety important to you?  How about protecting yourself and your family from harmful toxins?  All of these factors and more go into choosing which paint or other finishes to use, and the answer is not going to be the same for every project or every painter.

If you’ve read my blog for long, you’ll have noticed that I am not totally loyal to just one brand or type of paint.  I love to use milk paint, but I also use chalk paint all the time.  I often use Fusion’s acrylic paint too.  And sometimes I even use spray paint, but shhhh, let’s let that one be our little secret.  In the spirit of full disclosure, several different brands provide me with free product including Fusion Mineral Paint, Dixie Belle Paint Co, Miss Mustard Seeds Milk Paint, Homestead House Milk Paint and the Real Milk Paint Co.  However, I make no promises to any of these paint brands other than that I will try their product and I will blog about my experience and opinions.  Good or bad.  None of them pay me to promote their product, and I also don’t make any money from sales of any of these products.

I like it that way.  I don’t want to feel obligated to promote a product just because they pay me.  And more importantly, I don’t want to be limited to using just one paint line.

So, let’s compare, shall we?

Milk paint.  There are multiple milk paint lines out there, Miss Mustard Seeds, Homestead House, The Real Milk Paint Co and Sweet Pickins just to name a few.  When I say ‘milk paint’ I am referring to the casein (the protein found in milk) based milk paint that comes in powder form and you mix it with water yourself.  Milk paint is safe for both you and the environment.  It is a non-toxic, zero VOC product.

When I use it:  I use milk paint when I want to get a chippy, vintage farmhouse style finish.  It gives that ‘aged in a barn for 80 years’ sort of look.  In my opinion, a good chippy milk paint finish looks more authentic than a distressed chalk paint or acrylic paint job.  This is my personal favorite ‘look’ for furniture.  I have 17 pieces of furniture in my own home that are painted with milk paint, so it’s safe to say that I really love this stuff.

Prep required:  It really pays to do at least some minimal prep on all of your pieces, but it’s especially important when using milk paint.  By minimal prep I mean a light scuff sanding followed by cleaning with a degreaser such as TSP Substitute or Krud Kutter kitchen degreaser.  This prep will just take 15 to 20 minutes and is a great investment of your time.  Specifically with milk paint, proper prep will help control how much chipping you get.  Milk paint will chip when the surface you are painting ‘resists’ the paint.  A waxy/oily/shiny surface will resist the paint.  The amount of prep you do can give you some control over that.  Then again, if you’re OK with a massively chippy look, go ahead and roll the dice by skipping the prep (as I did with the chair shown above which is painted in Miss Mustard Seeds Aviary).

Topcoat options:  Technically you don’t have to put a topcoat over milk paint.  Several of my pieces painted in milk paint do not have one including my Specimens Cupboard.  I painted this piece two years ago and it still looks fantastic.

 I especially like the look of the lighter milk paint colors without a topcoat (although I prefer the look of the darker colors with a topcoat).  Over time the milk paint will harden making it fairly durable, however, milk paint without a topcoat is not water resistant or washable.  To achieve that you have to add a topcoat.  Recommended topcoats include hemp oil, wax or poly.  I love using The Real Milk Paint Co’s Dead Flat finishing cream over milk paint when I want a washable surface.

It barely changes the color of the milk paint, adds just the tiniest bit of sheen, is washable after 3 days and is easy to apply.

Cons:  Milk paint can be tricky to use.  It has a higher learning curve than other paints.  You have to mix it yourself and it takes a little practice to get the right consistency.  Making sure the pigments are well blended can also be dicey.  The color can be inconsistent, not only just from package to package, but even within one mixed cup of paint, especially with the green shades.  You have to pay attention and keep your paint well mixed as you are using it because some pigments are heavier than others and will settle to the bottom of your paint container.  Whether or not you get a chippy finish can also be difficult to control and/or predict.

Pros: When it works right, milk paint can’t be beat for providing an authentic looking chippy finish!  I also find this to be one of the easiest paints to apply from a purely physical stand point.  It’s thinner than other paints and it just takes less hand strength to actually paint it on.  I’m having a little trouble explaining this the way I want to, but there is a noticeable difference when you switch from painting something in chalk paint to painting with milk paint.  The brush feels lighter in your hand and you don’t have to work so hard to apply it.  Does that make sense?  In addition, the thin consistency of this paint pretty much eliminates brush strokes and allows you to add multiple layers of paint without adding unwanted texture.  I also enjoy creating my own custom colors with this paint.  True, you can do that with other paints too, but somehow it’s more fun adding various powders to water and watching it turn into paint.  Another plus to milk paint is that although the mixed paint has a limited shelf life, the powder itself has an indefinite shelf life if kept dry in an air tighter container (I keep my opened bags of milk paint in a Rubbermaid container).

Find Miss Mustard Seeds Milk Paint retailers here.

Chalk style paint.

I think we all know that the list of paint manufacturers who have jumped on the chalk paint bandwagon is long.  Actually I think I read somewhere that Annie Sloan has trademarked the term “chalk paint” so all of the others tend to call themselves things like “chalky paint” or “chalk mineral paint”, but I don’t know for sure if that is true.  I’ve been using the Dixie Belle brand of chalk mineral paint for a couple of years now and I really love it.  This brand of chalk paint is non-toxic and has zero VOC’s.

When I use it: I use chalk paint when I want a matte distressed finish, and I don’t want to worry about chipping or adhesion issues.  If I’m going to paint vinyl, such as a chair or a suitcase, I get the best results with chalk style paint.  Also, when painting something black my top choice is Dixie Belle’s Caviar or Midnight Sky with a wax top coat.  This combo just creates the most delicious looking finish with minimal brush strokes.  Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky was perfect for my baby grand piano.

Prep required: You know what?  I’m going to say the same thing for every kind of paint.  It really pays to do minimal prep on your pieces.  By minimal prep I mean that light scuff sanding following by cleaning with a degreaser.  Many brands of chalk paint (including Dixie Belle) say that no prep is required, but I beg to differ.  If you run into a particularly waxy or oily surface you will wish you had taken the time to do minimal prep.

Topcoat options:  The Dixie Belle chalk paint does not require a topcoat.  However, the finish will be very flat and chalky looking without a topcoat, so if you want even just a little bit of sheen you’ll need to topcoat it.  For that reason I sometimes avoid using chalk paint on large pieces and also on areas that are more difficult to wax (like the inside of a cupboard for example).

Cons:  Um.  Yeah.  I can’t really think of any except what I mentioned above about topcoats.  You’ll need that extra step (and expense) of a topcoat if you want some sheen to your piece.

Pros:  This stuff is kind of a no-brainer.  Once you know the basics, you really shouldn’t run into to many problems using chalk paint.  Therefore, this is a great choice for a beginner painter.  The color will generally be consistent.  It’s easy to distress.  You can even just use a damp paper towel to distress chalk paint.  It adheres well to almost any surface including metal and fabric.  It is self-leveling and if you water it down a little you won’t have any issues with brush strokes.

Find Dixie Belle paint retailers here.

Acrylic paint.

Fusion Mineral Paint and General Finishes Milk Paint (a misnomer) are both acrylic paints.  I’ve been using Fusion paint for years.  I’m super impressed with this company’s commitment to providing products that are safe for both the painter and the environment.  Their Tones for Tots line underwent rigorous testing to be sure it was suitable for use on children’s furniture.  Needless to say, this paint also has zero VOC’s and is non-toxic.

When I use it: First and foremost, I use Fusion when I’m feeling kind of lazy.  It is hands down the easiest of these products to use.  Here are the instructions; open jar, paint, let dry.  OK, that may be a little bit of an exaggeration.  You should do the same minimal prep that I recommend for every paint job when using Fusion paint, a light sanding and cleaning of your piece will do.  But from there it really is that simple. I tend to choose Fusion for large pieces that I don’t want to have to wax.  It’s perfect for the insides of cabinets, and I also like to use it on surfaces that need to be especially durable like the shelving in my living room. I also love to use Fusion on mid-century pieces that I am not going to distress.  Their Park Bench (the green shown below) is perfect for mid-mod pieces.

Cons:  The finish with Fusion is just a tad shinier than a waxed (or oiled) milk or chalk paint finish.  I hate to even use that word ‘shinier’ because it’s still not shiny by any stretch of the imagination.  It’s just not as matte as the other two.  So if you’re looking for a really matte finish, you might not like the sheen. Fusion is also a little more challenging to distress.  It can be done, but it takes a little more elbow grease.  Distressed acrylic paint looks a bit like distressed latex.  The paint sort of peels away rather than coming away as a powder like chalk or milk paint.  This really is a fine distinction though and won’t matter to most painters.

Pros: Fusion can definitely be the cheapest way to go, mainly because you don’t need to also purchase a topcoat.  Not requiring a topcoat also saves you some time/labor since you can skip that step.  Fusion is also fully washable once cured.  That makes it a great choice for items going to a home with small children.  Fusion also provides an ideal surface for transfers.  Of course, you can put transfers over chalk paint and milk paint too, but in my experience they adhere best over Fusion.  I have heard some transfer retailers recommend sealing a milk or chalk painted piece with a water based sealer first, then add the transfer in order to improve the adhesion of the transfer.  Fusion is water resistant, so it’s also a great choice for pieces that might be exposed to water on a regular basis like a bathroom vanity or a metal toolbox that you might use as a planter.

Find Fusion retailers here.

Spray paint.

All of my previous selections are environmentally sound, non-toxic, zero VOC products.  In general I stick with that type of product.  I do a lot of painting, so I try to be cognizant of what I’m exposing myself and Mr. Q to on a regular basis.  I also do a lot of indoor painting in the winter, so I need products that are safe and relatively odor free.  But I do have a confession to make.  Every once in a while I pull out the spray paint.  I will only spray outside though, so this is definitely not a winter friendly choice for me.  But if I’m going to paint wicker, cane, or something like a basket, I’ll spray paint it simply to save time and effort.

One of my favorite tricks is to spray paint the cane on a piece first and then go over that with the paint I’ll be using on the rest of the item so that it matches.  I used this approach with my cane dining room chairs.

So, yes, spray paint does have its place.

I hope this post gave you some good information on the different types of paint available.  Be sure to pin it for future reference!

But now I’m curious, what kind of paint will you be using on your next project and why?  Be sure to leave a comment!

 

Do any of you remember when I painted this chair?

It was back in October 2015.  I used it in my living room for a while, and then it moved to the Q branch.  I was actually going to sell it a while back, but my niece wanted me to keep it because it was the most comfortable option for added seating in the living room when needed (and she was always the one who ended up sitting in it).

But now that we have the sectional with plenty of comfortable seating for 4, I no longer need the chair.  So I decided to freshen it up with some new upholstery before selling it.

I pulled out some drop cloth material, a couple of stencils, and some Fusion paint in Putty and Algonquin.

I don’t have much paint left in either of those containers, but it doesn’t take much to stencil a faux grain sack look on fabric.

Prima Marketing sent me some of their brushes a while back and I assumed they were stencil brushes.  But, they actually call them wax brushes.  Ooops.  Well, FYI, they work great for stenciling too!

The one above with the round ball-like handle was perfect for adding the grain sack stripe to my fabric.  It made quick work of filling in that fat stripe down the middle.

This next brush worked great on the smaller details of the wording.

So, they may be meant for wax, but these brushes work great for stenciling too!

Once my paint was dry, which really only took about 20 minutes or so, I simply removed the old fabric and stapled the new stuff in place.

And now this chair is ready for a new home.

If you’re wondering where to purchase the Prima Marketing brushes, check out their ‘where to buy’ page.

If you’re wondering where to buy the Fusion paint, check out their ‘where to buy’ page.

And finally, if you happen to be local (Twin Cities, MN) and in need of a freshened up chair, check out my ‘available for local sale’ page to see if this one is still available.