Category: furniture.

I don’t often buy pieces of furniture that are already painted.  There are a few reasons for that.  First of all, you may not know what kind of paint you are painting over.  Is it oil based?  If the previous paint is oil based you will not get good adhesion over it with a water based paint.  Second, you don’t know how well the previous painter prepped the piece before painting.  If their coat of paint is not stable, your’s won’t be stable either.  Third, if the existing paint job is full of drips and brush marks you will need to fix those before you paint (by sanding them down).  Fourth, if you are going to distress your piece by sanding it you risk having the existing color of the piece show through on the edges, so if you don’t like the color you are out of luck.  Lastly, while stripping the existing paint might be an option for some, I am not a fan.  It’s a messy, time consuming job.

None of these things are obstacles that can’t be overcome, but it takes time to deal with them and why bother when I can just keep looking and find an unpainted piece to work on?

But as always, there are exceptions to every rule.  This dresser is one of them.  I broke my own rule simply because this piece was dirt cheap.

Since this piece is already painted, I thought I would take a moment to critique the previous paint job and explain what I think isn’t working for this dresser

No. 1 – The terracotta paint color.  This is just kind of a hideous color.  I’m sorry if any of you out there are lovers of terracotta, but I’m definitely not.  I’ll put this color right up there with faux tiger oak, I just don’t like it.

No. 2 – The oversized, over-shiny, bulging brass drawer pulls.  Ugh.  Could these be any more unattractive?  They really aren’t suited for the style of this dresser.

No. 3 – The two-toned look.  Normally I enjoy a good two-toned piece and I’ve certainly done a few in my day (here, here, here and here are some good examples).  In the case of this dresser though, the two-toned color scheme seems to be emphasizing the fact that the upper drawer is different than the rest.  In my opinion it just throws off the balance of the entire piece and makes it look strangely top heavy.

No. 4 – The bad distress job on the drawer fronts.  These drawers look like they were just hit randomly with the sandpaper.  They don’t look naturally distressed over time.  I know that some people are OK with this look, but it just doesn’t do it for me.

The trick here is going to be whether or not I can improve upon this piece.

I started by removing the hardware and sanding the piece.  I sanded it a bit more heavily than I would normally just to be sure I was going to get good adhesion over that existing paint.  I also wiped the piece down with some TSP Substitute.  Next, I filled some of the holes left by the original hardware.  I had some new pulls in mind and although they also require two holes each, they are spaced just a little wider than the existing holes.

I started painting with a base coat of Fusion’s Inglenook.

Ah, better already I think.  Inglenook is such a lovely color I was tempted to just stop here, but I didn’t actually have enough Inglenook for a second coat.  Plus, I was going to add these drawer pulls …

Aren’t they sweet?  They are from Hobby Lobby and their full price is $8.99 each.  Kind of high if you need 8 of them.  So of course I waited for the half-price sale and then paid $4.50 each instead.  Even then it was $36 just for the pulls.  However, since I’d gotten such a great deal on the dresser itself I felt like I could splurge a bit on the hardware.

Anyway, these pulls are just a little bit more green than the Inglenook, so in came Fusion’s Brook which is almost a perfect match for the pulls.  These two colors are really very similar.  The Brook, much like the pulls, is just a little darker and a tad more green.

You’re probably wondering why I didn’t just paint the first coat in Brook too.  Well, it’s simple, I didn’t have enough of that color for two coats either.  And since I’m a total cheapskate (and I already splurged on those drawer pulls!), rather than buy more paint I just made do with a basecoat of Inglenook followed by a second coat of Brook.  It was a simple solution and a great way to use up two jars with not a lot of paint left in either one.

You might have noticed that I said I needed 8 drawer pulls, but this dresser originally came with 10.  There was a mismatched pair on the top drawer.  The top drawer itself is mismatched with the rest of the drawers.

As I was working on this piece I realized that it looked far better without any knobs on that top drawer.  You can still easily open and close it from the sides of the drawer.  So I filled the holes from the previous knobs and just left the drawer without hardware.  Now it’s sort of a ‘hidden’ drawer.  It looks like it’s just part of the trim that wraps around to the sides as well.  It’s a great place to hide the family jewels!

As you can also see in that photo, I just barely distressed the edges of this dresser.  I didn’t want to reveal too much of that terracotta color that is underneath.

I used a lot of vintage greens in my props for the photos including some old wallpaper and that awesome green bird cage.

So there you have it.  A pretty blue-green cottage style dresser.

I think I improved upon the existing paint scheme, what do you think?

 

Remember the thrift store library chairs?

My friend Meggan who was shopping with me when I purchased them suggested I paint them black, and several of you agreed.  Mark this day down on your calendars, because it’s not often that I follow good advice.  I ask for opinions all the time, but then usually go and do my own thing, often to my detriment (and I bet this annoys my friends to no end).  But not this time.

This time I gave it some thought and decided black would be perfect on these chairs.  I started by sanding the chairs a bit and then wiping them down with TSP Substitute.

Next I debated which paint to use.  Milk paint, chalk paint or Fusion’s acrylic paint?

I love the look of hemp oiled black milk paint.  I definitely wanted a distressed look for the chairs, so milk paint would have been perfect for that.  I even had plenty of black milk paint on hand (both Miss Mustard Seed’s Typewriter and Homestead House’s Coal Black).  But the existing finish still had a bit of shine left to it so I knew it might possibly resist the paint a little too much.  I could have solved that problem with a little extra pre-sanding  but the chairs have all of those legs, slats and stretchers.  So.  Many.  Surfaces.  I just didn’t want to sand them all.   Plus then there is the added work of applying a topcoat to the milk paint as well.  Chalk paint was out for the same reason, and also because I didn’t happen to have any black chalk paint.  So in the end I decided to go with Fusion’s Coal Black.  Two coats of paint and done (well, not exactly as it turns out, but almost).

Before I started painting I remembered some advice given by Sue at My Painted Door for making it easier to distress Fusion paint and decided to give it a try (read her post about distressing Fusion paint here for more details).  This must have been an advice-following day for me!

So, as Sue recommended, I added a little Homestead House Salad Bowl Finish (a.k.a. Miss Mustard Seed beeswax) to all of the areas of the chairs where the paint would naturally be worn away.  Then I painted them with two coats of the Coal Black.

Here is how they look before being distressed.

I imagine some of you prefer this look (especially you Betty!).  But I think distressing is what brings out the life in a piece.  So I sanded the areas that had beeswax applied to them by hand with some 220 grit sandpaper and voila!

And yes, it was much easier to distress the Fusion paint this way.

Applying beeswax first in areas that you want to distress before painting with Fusion acrylic paint will make them much easier to distress.  Even after the paint as cured for a few days.  Although I haven’t tried it, I would assume this is true of other acrylic paints as well such as General Finishes Milk Paint (which is really an acrylic paint, not a true milk paint).  Also, this is basically the same technique that I use to get perfect chipping when using milk paint.  However, the acrylic paint doesn’t chip.  It just becomes easier to sand away.

Normally I don’t add a topcoat to my Fusion paint because it has a built in top coat and is very durable and washable on its own. However, in this case the bare wood in the distressed areas looked a bit fresh.  Plus once you have sanded through to the bare wood, those areas are not protected.  So I got out my Fusion black wax and added just a bit of it to the distressed areas to darken up and protect the freshly exposed wood.

Although you are only seeing one chair in my photos, I do have a matched pair.

However I think I’ll price them separately since some people might need just one chair, for a desk for example.

If you are in need of a distressed black library chair (or two), be sure to check my ‘available for local sale’ page for more info.

Recently my friend Terri has been sending me messages about furniture for sale on Facebook Marketplace.  I’d never purchased something via Facebook before, but one of the pieces she forwarded really appealed to me and it was a good price so I followed up on it.

I found it a little clunky going through Facebook to make arrangements for the purchase.  I ended up wasting about 2 hours because initially the seller said he was available at 4:00, but then when 4:00 rolled around I was still waiting to get his address and not getting a response to my IM on Facebook.  So there sat Mr. Q and I with our boots on, ready to head out.  Finally around 6 p.m. the seller messaged me with his address and we headed out.  From there on out it was smooth sailing.  The seller’s home was easy to find and only about 20 minutes away.  He had the dresser out in the garage ready to go.  I looked it over, handed him the cash and then he and Mr. Q loaded it into our van.  Easy peasy.  And of course, this kind of thing can also happen with Craigslist.  I just seem to have better luck communicating via text rather than via Facebook messaging.

Anyway, here it is.

Perhaps you are wondering at this point what gotten into me.  This is not at all my typical style.  But I was in a mood and I knew that with some paint and some new hardware I could bring out some amazing mid-century mod style with this piece.

As soon as I saw it I was picturing it in a crisp fresh green.  Specifically Fusion’s Park Bench.  Perhaps it had something to do with the shortage of green things to look at this time of year in Minnesota!

But then I hesitated.

That’s a lot of COLOR.  It’s a larger piece of furniture, could it really handle it?  I definitely won’t be keeping it, so I had to wonder if I would be able to find a buyer for a large-ish, very green, mid-century dresser.

But the universe kept shouting ‘green’ at me.  Starting with that Northwest Orient luggage tag.  How many of you remember the days of Northwest Orient?

Then I was watching a colorized version of an old episode of the Dick Van Dyke show.  I have to say, I only made it about halfway through the show before I had to give up on it but that’s a whole different story.  I just had to change the channel when Dick told Laura he wouldn’t allow her to dye her hair.  Um, excuse me?  Allow?  As if.  Some mid-century things should definitely not come back in style.  But what I couldn’t help but notice was the fab green chair in the background of Dick & Laura’s living room.

Clearly this shade of green was a popular mid-century color.

Next I was thinking that this piece would work beautifully in a nursery so I checked on pinterest to see if people were doing this color in nurseries these days.  And why yes, they certainly are.

And doesn’t it work beautifully?

I’ll definitely be marketing this piece for a nursery, but it could also work well as a liquor cabinet/bar.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  Let’s go back to the beginning.  Since I went so far off track, here’s the ‘before’ photo as a refresher.

This piece was in almost perfect condition.  The drawers glide beautifully, the piece is solid and well made.  The only problem was a missing drawer pull (see the middle drawer).  As I’m fond of saying, if you’re missing one you might as well be missing them all.  It would be very tricky to find a replacement part for that one pull.  I could have tried to find three new pulls for the drawers that worked well with the hardware on the top doors.  But I didn’t much care for the look of those anyway, so I opted to go with new hardware overall.  That meant filling the holes left by the old pulls on the drawers.

It’s not difficult at all to fill and disguise previous hardware holes if you’re planning to paint your piece.  I don’t think you’d know that there used to be holes here, would you?

Here is how I do it.  Start by placing a piece of tape over the back of the hole on the inside of the drawer.  Next, fill the hole with Elmer’s ProBond Wood Filler (or whatever brand of wood filler you like, as long as it is paintable).  Make sure the entire hole is full of filler, then smooth off the excess and let it dry.  Most fillers claim that they don’t shrink, but I have yet to work with a brand that doesn’t dry a little bit concave (maybe technically they don’t shrink, but they do settle into the hole).

So here’s today’s q-tip:  Once dry, sand your wood filler and then go back with some lightweight spackle and fill again.  I find that the spackle is smoother and does a better job of filling in that last little bit of concave space that was left after the wood filler dried.

Once dry, I sand smooth again and then I’m ready to paint.

After my usual prep (light sanding following by cleaning with TSP Substitute) I painted the piece with two coats of Fusion’s Park Bench.  I purchased two pints of the Park Bench just in case one wasn’t quite enough.  There is nothing more frustrating than running out of paint near the end of your project.  But I didn’t even use one full pint.  I probably used about 3/4 of it.  So on the plus side, I have lots of Park Bench left for another project down the road!

Since this is a mid-century piece I opted not to distress it by sanding the edges.  However, I felt like the result looked somewhat one-dimensional so I decided to add some dimension in another way.  By adding black wax.

You do not have to top coat Fusion acrylic paint for durability or water protection.  However, you definitely can wax over it for aesthetic reasons like this one.

I find that wax behaves a little bit differently over acrylic paint than it does over a more porous paint like chalk paint or milk paint.  It doesn’t soak in quite as much, which can be an especially good thing when you are working with black wax over a lighter color.  You are better able to wipe away the excess without leaving a ‘stain’ of sorts behind.  With this piece I really just wanted to add more definition to the trim around the edges of the drawers and door fronts.  I used a wax brush to apply the wax just to those areas working it into the creases.  Then I used a clean rag to wipe away the excess from the raised areas, leaving some wax behind just in the creases.

It was just enough to give the dresser a bit more dimension by accentuating that trim.

I replaced all of the original hardware with these gold knobs from Hobby Lobby.

I wish Hobby Lobby had more mid-mod style knobs.  They do have some, but not a huge selection.  This particular style also comes in silver, but I thought the gold paired with the green had more of a mid-century feel.

Are you wondering what the whole piece looks like?  I’ve been teasing you a bit with all of these glimpses.  Enough already, here it is …

This is my attempt at staging it for a nursery without having any real nursery type props other than some pretty vintage baby dresses and a fabulous vintage green kid’s book.

I also felt like most of my vintage, cottage-y, farmhouse-y style props weren’t quite right for the more mid-mod look of this piece.

I did much better staging it as a bar.

I found this old record album at the thrift store for $1.49.  Perfect for providing some mid-century art to the wall.  I’ll probably just re-donate it after using it in my photos.  Not only did it have the perfect shade of green, but the title is perfect for staging a piece of furniture meant for the very young at heart!

I found the round tray that I’m using in the photos at Target.

It’s part of the Hearth & Hand with Magnolia line.  While I was standing in that aisle of my local Target I ran into my friend Donna (also a loyal reader of my blog, thanks for that Donna!) and we had a whole conversation about how the final season of Fixer Upper has really transitioned toward more of a mid-century modern style rather than their previous farmhouse style.  Have you noticed that?  It’s definitely noticeable in their Hearth & Hand line.

As you can see, I did not paint the inside of the upper cabinet portion of the piece.  It’s in perfect shape, so I felt that leaving it alone was the right choice.  At first I wasn’t sure why this top section is divided vertically like it is.  But looking at it again I realize that each section is the perfect width for folded shirts.  Also, those dividers are removable, so if you did want the use the entire space without dividers you could.  And coincidentally this section is also the perfect height for most liquor bottles or baby clothes, or maybe diapers?

How convenient.

Now the real trick is going to be seeing if this dresser will sell.  Wish me luck on that!

 

I purchased this washstand last fall at one of the last neighborhood garage sales of the season.

Aw look, things were still green!  The trees still had leaves!  Why does that feel like it was so long ago now?

It was a pretty little piece, but someone had done a number on the drawer fronts.  I think that whoever refinished it sanded a bit too heavily.  Especially on that middle drawer.

What really appealed to me about this piece were the handles.

Aren’t they pretty?

I knew that painting the wood could help those stand out more.  If you look back to the ‘before’ photo they are barely even noticeable!  This piece was calling out for a chippy milk paint finish, so after sanding it a bit and wiping it down with TSP Substitute, I painted it with three coats of Miss Mustard Seed milk paint in Linen which is a warm, creamy white (all of the white shades usually require three coats for good coverage).

It chipped perfectly which is exactly what I expected since I used my secret method for perfect chipping.

I was initially planning to use my new IOD Decor Stamps on this piece, but as I was digging through my supplies I came across this smaller version (11″ x 14″) of the IOD Richardson Seed transfer and realized it would fit perfectly on the door.

Before I applied the transfer I sanded the door front well and vacuumed off any loose chips of paint.  Be sure to do this if you are going to work with a transfer over chippy paint.  Otherwise the paint will stick to the transfer sheet, rather than the transfer sticking to the door front.

By the way, if you are shopping for the Iron Orchid Designs transfers online I have found that prices can really vary.  I have seen this one as low as $12 and as high as $26.95, so be sure to shop around.

I think I achieved my goal of making the handles more of a focal point.  They really pop next to the creamy white paint.

I added a topcoat of the Real Milk Paint Co’s Dead Flat Finishing Cream to this piece.  One coat over the entire thing, and then a second coat over just the top.

What I have been noticing lately with pieces that I have kept that are painted in milk paint is that the ones that initially chip like this will likely continue to chip over time even if they are finished with wax or hemp oil.  Especially in areas where they get a lot of wear, like the tops.  So I am planning to start using a better sealing topcoat on those pieces, either the Dead Flat or Miss Mustard Seed’s Tough Coat Sealer.  And using two coats on the top will help make sure it is more durable over time.

Although if you love chippy (as I do) and are perfectly fine with additional wear on your pieces you can certainly forgo a more durable sealer and stick with wax or hemp oil.

When I purchased this piece I mentioned that I was going to leave the harp and mirror off and try to sell them separately.  They haven’t sold, so I still have the harp and mirror but I won’t be putting them back on.  I find that it’s much harder to sell a piece that has a mirror.  It just limits the versatility too much.  People just don’t seem to go for mirrors these days.

Without the mirror, pieces this size make perfect bedside tables.

If you happen to live nearby and need a chippy washstand, this one is available.  Be sure to check my ‘available for local sale’ page for more info.

I worked on a quite a few pieces of furniture during my recent blog hiatus.  I’m afraid this is a bit of a bad news/good news situation for you guys because it reminded me of how much more I can get done when I’m not spending quite so many hours editing photos and writing blog posts!  But not to worry.  I think I can find a balance between blogging and doing the actual furniture painting and that’s going to be my goal going forward so I hope you’ll stay tuned.  And of course the good news is that I’ll have lots of furniture makeovers to share with you for the next couple of weeks.

Today we’re starting with piece no. 1.

When I saw the ad for this dresser on Craigslist, I have to admit I immediately hated it.

OK, hate is a strong word.  But let’s just say I am not a fan of tiger oak.

I actually passed over the ad for this piece several times before I decided to look past the tiger oak-iness of the dresser.  I then realized that I liked the clean lines, the height, the original wood casters and the key holes.  It was a blank canvas really.

So Mr. Q and I went and picked it up.

I was just starting to prep it for its paint job when nnK (that’s new neighbor Karen, my neighbor across the street whose house is peeking out from behind the dresser in that before photo) stopped over.  She took a look at the finish and said “you realize that’s fake, right?”

Um, no.  I hadn’t really paid much attention since I wasn’t hoping for real tiger oak and in fact was trying really hard to ignore that finish and planned on painting right over it.

Sure enough, if you look closely where the finish has chipped off you can see that this is just a faux finish and underneath is a plain wood.

I’m not even sure what kind of wood it is.  But I should also have been clued in by the fact that the piece is not heavy enough to be oak.  Oak is definitely a heavier wood.

So yes, it’s a faux tiger finish.  For those of you who cringe when people paint over ‘real wood’, you can chill.  This one’s fake.

Aside from the really dried out finish, this dresser was in pretty decent shape.  All I had to do was sand it, wipe it down with TSP Substitute and start painting.  I think it took longer for me to pick a color than it did to paint it.  I debated using a grey, or even pink.  But in the end I chose Fusion’s Inglenook.

I really love this color, but I find it hard to get photos that really show the true color.  It’s a blue green that can look more blue in some light, and more green in others.  I’ve heard people describe it as a green, but I would be more inclined to call it blue.  The look of the color also depends upon the color of other items around it.  Put it next to a blue and it will look more green, and vice versa.

It’s definitely a color you should see in person and make your own judgement.

Once painted, this dresser was completely transformed but it was still a bit plain.  I wanted to add a little bit more.  So I pulled out an Iron Orchid Designs Le Fleur transfer that Mr. Q ordered for me somewhere online (I’m sorry I didn’t keep track of where this one came from, but if you google it you’ll find it at several places for less than $20).

The details on this transfer are absolutely amazing.

I’ve heard people say that they can’t justify spending the money on an IOD transfer for just one use, and I think we’ve already established that I am usually pretty frugal about such things myself.  But for less than $20 and about 30 minutes of extra labor, this adds a ton of personality to an otherwise somewhat plain piece of furniture.  When I add one of these transfers to a piece I can usually get anywhere from $50 to $75 more for the finished piece than I would have without it.  In other words, it more than pays for itself.

As you can see, I switched out the original wooden knobs that came with the dresser for some large, sparkly, clear glass knobs from D. Lawless Hardware (these are the 1 1/2″ antique clear glass knobs).

I could have just painted the wooden knobs and I think that would have looked OK.  It certainly would have been a cheaper option, but I wanted to add a little sparkle without distracting too much from the transfer so I went with clear glass.

I was having a bit of fun hanging this pair of vintage paint rollers on the wall above the dresser.

There is a story behind these.  A couple of weeks ago when my friend Meggan, the thrift doctor, and I got together for some thrifting she brought me a gift.  One of these rollers.  I burst out laughing and said ‘you aren’t going to believe this, but I already have a paint roller just like this!’

They are an exact match.  What are the chances?

So, what do you think?  Did you prefer the faux tiger?  Or is Le Fleur more your style?

If you are local and in need of a pretty piece to store things in, this dresser is for sale.  Be sure to check my ‘available for local sale’ page for more details.

If there is one area in which I absolutely excel, it’s in learning things the hard way.  I also tend to give you guys lots of advice, and then not follow that good advice myself.  This past Saturday I worked on a project that was a prime example of both of these.

You see, I was so excited to start using my new IOD Decor Stamps on a piece furniture that I forgot one of my own best tips.  I didn’t test my technique on a practice board first.  Granted, I did test the stamps themselves first, but I used them over bare wood.  I should have also tested how the ink would interact with paint.  Instead I just jumped in at the deep end and then floundered a whole bunch!

But before we get there, let’s go back to the beginning.

Over a year ago my bff’s sister Laura called me and said that there was a vanity free at the curb in her neighborhood, did I want it?  She was willing to pull it into her garage until I could get there to pick it up.  Unfortunately I neglected to take a real ‘before’ picture of the vanity.  But here’s the picture that Laura texted to me.

It was in pretty rough shape and the middle section was barely holding the thing together, so I decided to dismantle it and, with Ken’s help, turn it into two nightstands instead.  I have a plan for the mirror as well, but that will be down the road.

By the way, if you are new to my blog and don’t already know this, Ken is my next door neighbor.  He can always come up with a clever way to fix stuff.  In many ways, I think he is one of a dying breed.  These days people tend to prefer to replace broken things rather than repair them.  Ken is from the generation that repaired everything.  And apparently he’s also a photo bomber!  See him back there?  And yes, that is his back yard, with my back yard in the foreground.  He was actually on his way over to take a look at the repairs needed on this pair of nightstands when I took the photo (and yes, this was last fall when the grass was still green and not covered in snow).

I had a precise vision in my head of how I wanted these nightstands to look when finished.  Imagine chippy, old, ethereal, delicate, feminine. Can’t see it?  Well, stick with me, let’s see if we can get there.

My first step was to remove the big round wooden knobs.  They weren’t terrible, but they didn’t work with my vision for the piece.  Next I sanded lightly, cleaned with TSP Substitute and then painted a base coat of Fusion’s Little Piggy which is a very pale pink.  I didn’t get a photo, but they did look really pretty in the pale pink.  If I’d had enough Little Piggy to do a second coat, I could have just gone with the pink.  Life would have been so much easier.  But I was out of Little Piggy after one coat, and hindsight is always 20/20.

Next I added a little Homestead House Salad Bowl Finish (a.k.a. Miss Mustard Seed Beeswax) along all of the edges of each nightstand to provide a resist to the two coats of milk paint that I applied next.  This is where mistake no. 2 comes into play.  I wanted a warm white and I had several mostly used bags of various whites so I mixed them all together to give me enough paint for both nightstands.  Again, this would have been OK, except for what happens later.

But for now the nightstands were painted and they looked amazing.  I sanded them to distress and that looked amazing too.  I got out my new IOD Decor Stamps (I used stamps from the Friffery set) and my Ranger Archival ink in a color called Watering Can.

I started small with a stamp on either side of the opening for the drawer.  They went on perfectly and looked gorgeous!  But 10 minutes later they looked decidedly less crisp.  My first thought was to check my glasses, didn’t I have my ‘cheaters’ on?  I did, and the stamp was definitely no longer as crisp.  So I waited another 10 minutes and looked again.

Oh boy, even worse.  That was not at all the look I was going for.  It didn’t take me long to figure out that the ink was bleeding into the milk paint.  I should have sealed my paint before applying the stamp, mistake no. 3.

Then I realized that I didn’t have enough paint left to cover up the bleeding stamps.  And since I had custom mixed the color, I knew I wouldn’t be able to recreate it perfectly.  Sigh, mistake no. 2 coming back to bite me.

That’s when I started drinking.

No, not really.  It was tempting, but it was still only about 10 a.m.

So instead I decided to back up a step and check my theory with a practice board.  If only I’d done that in the first place!

I found an old board and painted half in Fusion paint (left side) and the other half in milk paint (right side).  Once dry, I used The Real Milk Paint Co’s Dead Flat to seal the lower half of the milk paint side.  Once dry, I applied the stamp to each section.

As you can see, sealing milk paint first will make all the difference if you want to use an IOD Decor Stamp with ink on your piece.  Good to know for next time.

However, at this point I was back to square one.  I needed to repaint my pieces in their entirety because I didn’t have enough paint to just paint over the stamps.  It was time to re-think my entire plan and switch to Fusion paint.

I was able to get away with just one coat of Fusion’s Putty, a pale grey, over the white milk paint.  Once that dried, I added the smaller stamp on either side of the drawer opening.  If you look back at the ‘before’ photo, you’ll see that I pointed out that these spots must have originally had some sort of carved detail.  All that was left were the shadows showing where they used to be.  I really liked the idea of replacing those with the stamp.

Next I wanted to use a larger stamp on the doors.

As it turns out, it takes a bit of finesse to use that big 10″ x 12″ acrylic block.  You must make sure that your surface is perfectly flat and there are no other obstructions to keeping the entire 10″ x 12″ block flat.  You know, things like hinges for example!

On my first attempt at stamping the door, the door itself pushed inward as I pressed down on the block.  Ugh, mistake no. 4.  I quickly realized that I should have taken the doors off so that they could lie flat while I stamped them.  So I removed the doors, added another coat of Putty to them, and when that was dry I tried again.

This time around, when I went to press down on the acrylic block I realized that the hinges I’d left on the doors impeded the block.  Mistake no. 5.

So after repainting the door fronts for a 3rd … or was it 4th … time, I adjusted where I placed my stamp on the acrylic block so that I could avoid those hinges.  And this time, eureka!  It worked!

Phew!

So let’s recap all of the Q-tips I learned while working on these nightstands.

• Do not use Archival Ink over unsealed milk paint, it will bleed.
• Do use Archival Ink over Fusion paint.
• Be sure to allow the ink to dry before rubbing over it to avoid smearing.
• Don’t use a limited amount of a custom mixed color of milk paint when experimenting with new products.
• When using the large acrylic block, be sure you can keep it flat and not hit any obstructions, like hinges or raised trim.  Note:  you can use these stamps without the acrylic block to avoid this problem, but I haven’t tried that yet.  Maybe next time.
• Be sure the the item you are stamping can’t move (even the smallest amount) while being stamped, like a door or drawer that can move inwards.  Instead remove them from the piece and place them on a firm surface while stamping.
• Have extra paint on hand just in case.  It’s going to take some practice to get the hang of stamping on furniture, so be prepared to paint over the mistakes and try again.
• Don’t expect perfection!

After much trial and error, in the end I think my nightstands turned out lovely.  Did I achieve my vision of chippy, old, ethereal, delicate, feminine?  Well, not entirely.  Certainly not the chippy part, but maybe the rest?

What do you think?

And before I close, I wanted to point out one of the best features of the stamps.  Buy them once, use them a million times.  They can be used over and over and over.   I’m planning to get lots of use out of them, especially now that I’ve learned how the hard way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every time I see little kid sized wooden chairs I snatch them right up.  They are so fun to paint, and they always turn out adorable.  You can see some of my previous chairs here and here.

So when I saw this pair at a garage sale in September, I bought them.

Then I tucked them away to become winter painting jobs.  I made a point of saving some of these smaller projects so I would have easy things to paint inside the house this year.

So last weekend when I had my sister and my friend Terri over to paint, I pulled out one of the chairs to paint myself.

I prepped the chair by washing it down with some TSP Substitute.  I was planning to paint it with milk paint and I would have been OK with some chipping, so I didn’t bother to do any other prep.  If you want to control the chipping, a good way to do that is to sand your piece well before painting, but I skipped that on this one.

Then I mixed up some Homestead House milk paint in Maritime Blue.  I used this color once before on a galvanized watering can and I knew it was a lovely shade of blue.

I painted two coats of paint on the chair.

Next I added a stencil to the seat using a warm white acrylic craft paint.  Once dry I sanded the chair fairly heavily to give it that well worn appearance since I didn’t get much in the way of chipping at all (despite my lack of sanding).

For a top coat over the milk paint I decided to pull out a jar of Fusion’s new wax.

The Fusion people sent me a few different jars of the wax to try out (including that jar of Rose Gold wax that is being included in my giveaway).  In addition to this clear Furniture Wax, I also have the black, the copper and the espresso.  I’m looking forward to trying each of them over the next several months and letting you know what I think.

But for today, I used the clear wax on this chair and I loved it.  It is very lightweight and spreads much more easily than other waxes.  I would compare it to the difference between spreading your toast with butter that has been sitting out on the kitchen counter versus butter that came out of the fridge.  Not only is it easier to spread, but you tend to use a lot less of it.

It also has only the most mild of scents, not a chemical smell but just a pleasant waxy odor.

Much like the Homestead House and Miss Mustard Seed waxes, this new Fusion wax is also environmentally friendly and doesn’t require the use of a hazmat suit while applying.

Today’s q-tip:  remember that you do not have to add wax (or any other top coat) over Fusion paint.  It is durable and washable without the extra step of a top coat.  However, some people like to add wax for aesthetic reasons.  For example, adding a dark wax to give a more aged appearance or to highlight details.  The new Fusion waxes will work beautifully over Fusion paint for that purpose.  They will also work over milk paint as a top coat to add some additional durability and protection.

I have to say that I haven’t been waxing as many pieces as I used to because of the labor involved in applying and then buffing the wax, but this wax was so easy to apply.  You’re definitely going to see some more waxed pieces from me now.

Be sure to check out Fusion’s website to read more about their new waxes!

By the way, while I was writing up this post I had to google ‘cutie patootie’ to see if that was really the correct spelling.  Here is the Urban Dictionary’s definition …

someone or something so cute that the word cute itself has to morph into something cuter, thus cutie patootie was born

LOL, so, I’m not sure if this chair is cute enough to really qualify as ‘cutie patootie’, what do you think?

First things first, I drew five names at random from the comments left on Friday’s post and Susan, Cynthia, Wendy, Alison and Kim all won some samples of Miss Mustard Seed milk paint.  I sent emails to all five winners, I know I have multiple readers with those first names, so if you didn’t get an email, I’m sorry to say you didn’t win.

But, keep in mind that you can still order 3 samples from Carver Junk Co for $18 with free shipping (use the code MILKPAINT), so I hope some of you will order some samples and give it a try even if you didn’t win.

Now, on with today’s post!

A while back (when the grass was still green and there were leaves on the trees) I picked up another small washstand.

I’ve painted quite a few of these over the years.  They make awesome bedside tables.  Initially that was my plan for this one, so I didn’t even include the towel rack that came with it in my ‘before’ photo.

That turned out to be unfortunate because a picture is worth a thousand words, and it will be so much easier to explain this with a photo so I borrowed a picture of a similar piece from the world wide web.

Freakishly tiny photo, but it shows a towel bar at the back that is very similar to the one on my piece.

Usually I just discard these towel bars.  Much like mirrors on dressers, I feel like they hamper the versatility of the piece.  You wouldn’t really want that towel bar on your nightstand for example.

But then I had an idea for this piece.  I decided to make it into a coffee bar, and to turn the towel bar into a frame for a chalkboard.  I asked Ken to remove the round dowel that went across the top and replace it with a piece of bead board instead.

Then he cut a piece of hardboard for the chalkboard and I painted it with Rustoleum’s black chalkboard paint.

Initially I was just going to paint the entire piece, after all, here is what the top looked like when I brought it home.

It was in pretty rough shape.  But I love to pair a wood top with black paint, so I decided to try stripping it.  After all, if it didn’t work out I could always paint it later.

I stripped it, sanded it down and then waxed it with Miss Mustard Seed antiquing wax, and I’m so glad I did.  It’s not perfect, but I still love the way it turned out.

I painted the rest of the piece in two coats of Miss Mustard Seed’s Typewriter.  If you haven’t tried milk paint yet, I always recommend starting with the black.  It’s so, so easy to use.  It often covers in just one coat, and I probably could have gotten away with one here but I like my paint really opaque so I went with two.  I never have any trouble with the pigments dissolving with the black either.  Also, as you can see, it distresses beautifully leaving a gorgeous authentic looking aged finish.

And speaking of finish, I used Miss Mustard Seed hemp oil as my top coat over the black milk paint.  If you are new to milk paint, keep in mind that it’s the hemp oil that gives the black this rich, deep color.

I cleaned up the original hardware by just scrubbing it with some dish washing soap and then I put it back on.

To give it a little bit of an industrial vibe I added some chunky black wheels.  Somehow I thought it would be more functional to have a coffee bar that is easy to move around.  In hindsight, I’m not sure why I thought that.  For use at parties?  In case you want coffee in bed?  Well, they look cool and they do add a bit of height to the piece even if there isn’t really a need for them.

And in case you are wondering, yes, that is snow.  Just enough to be pretty in the morning, but mostly melted by the afternoon.

I drew the chalkboard using the method I shared in my tutorial last week.

This coffee bar is the perfect size for your Keurig and all of your coffee making supplies.

After all, coffee is always a good idea!

Please check my ‘available for local sale’ page for details if you are local and in need of a coffee bar!

I’ve mentioned once or twice before that Mr. Q and I like to go on Friday date nights.  Only our Friday date nights involve driving across town to pick up a piece of furniture.  We both really enjoy spending that time together.  But one evening last June I decided to invite my sister along for the ride.

We were driving all the way up to Cambridge, Minnesota to pick up a hutch that I had found on Craigslist.  Cambridge is about an hour north of me.  Normally I wouldn’t go that far for something, but it was a great deal on a lovely china cupboard.  Plus, it was a beautiful summer Saturday evening that was perfect for a drive.  The sellers told me they lived on Spectacle Lake and it was a beautiful area, so I immediately knew that my sister would enjoy coming along to see the scenery.

When we arrived at the appointed address we discovered that it was an old 40’s lakeside resort that is no longer functioning as a resort.  The sellers told us that they’ve been living in one of the old cabins as caretakers of the property, but now the property is being sold, the old cabins will be torn down and replaced with McMansion lake homes.  I’m always a bit bummed out by stories like these.  Those old cabins with their knotty pine walls and screen doors that make a slapping sound when they close have so much charm.

 I really wish I’d brought my camera so I could share some photos!  But I didn’t, so I’ll just borrow one from pinterest to set the atmosphere.

After taking a little tour of the vintage cabin, we loaded up the hutch and before we drove away we asked for a dinner recommendation.  The sellers recommended a local place that had fresh fish and a decent patio, so we stopped off and had a delicious dinner before heading home with this in the back of our truck.

That was way back in July.  So what happened between July and November?

Well, I started out planning to paint this piece grey.  I have a customer who had mentioned that she wishes she’d bought the French hutch that I had at my sale last year, and said if I ever found another like it she’d love to have it.  So my plan was to do a similar treatment on this one.

But that plan required being able to remove the fretwork behind the glass.  And well … you know what they say about the best laid plans.

First of all, I didn’t notice until I took a closer look at this piece that the two narrow sides don’t open.  Not the top glass ‘doors’, nor the bottom ‘doors’.  I guess you wouldn’t really call them ‘doors’ at all, they are just stationary panels.  So I couldn’t get to that fretwork from the front.  OK, so next I removed the back of the cupboard.  I figured I could then remove the shelves and easily get to the fretwork from the back.  Um, nope.  The shelves are firmly glued in place.

Then I asked Ken to come over to consult.  He strongly recommended that I find a way to live with leaving the fretwork in place.

I still didn’t want to let my initial vision for the piece go, so I went ahead and painted one coat of grey.  Then two months went by.  I kept procrastinating and feeling guilty for not finishing the hutch, but I couldn’t bring myself to work on it.  Finally I realized what the underlying cause of my procrastination was.  The grey just wasn’t working with the brown wood of the fretwork, and that was keeping me from finishing the job.

So I pulled out my Annie Sloan chalk paint in Coco, a much better color choice with the wood fretwork.  I added a coat of Coco over the gray and realized it was just what I needed.  Once the paint was dry I started to sand the piece to distress the edges and quickly realized that the undercoat of grey was showing wherever I sanded in a way I also didn’t like.

Ugh.  I’d have to add another coat of Coco.  Frustration kicked in yet again and another couple of weeks went by.

With winter weather looming, and a trip to Disney World coming up, I knew I needed to get my act together and get this piece finished.  It’s really too big to work on in the house.  Plus I wanted to use up some Annie Sloan wax that I had on hand and I won’t use that product indoors.

So a few weeks ago when the forecast called for sunny and a high of 75 I took a day off at the day job to just get this hutch finished!

I have to tell you guys, the entire time I was waxing this piece I was cursing my decision to use the chalk paint.  It would have been so much easier to just use Fusion’s Algonquin.  It’s very similar to the Coco and I wouldn’t have had to wax it.

What was I thinking?  I’ll tell you what I was thinking, I wanted to just use up the Annie Sloan products that I had on hand rather than go buy some Algonquin.  Such a foolish choice.  It would have been worth every penny to just buy a pint of Algonquin.

Well, as they say, hindsight is 20/20.  But now the labor is behind me and this hutch really turned out lovely.

I made a lot of decisions while working on this one.  The first was to stencil the inside back with a French poem.  Since I had the back off anyway, I figured I might as well go for it.  It was a simple detail to add before putting the back on again.

I painted the panel with two coats of the Coco, then stenciled it with an acrylic craft paint.  Once dry, I waxed it with Annie Sloan wax and then put it back on.  I think it adds a great little subtle detail even though it will be mostly hidden behind the contents of the cabinet.

I also added some ‘grain sack’ liners behind the glass on either side of the hutch.  These are just some strips of fabric that I stenciled with “1918”.  They are just tacked into place, so the future owner of the hutch can opt to remove them if they prefer.

I swapped out all of the knobs on this one for vintage brass knobs that I thought suited it better.

So, a mere 4 months later, this piece is finally done!

 It’s such a pretty china cupboard, perfect for displaying a non-collection of ironstone or possibly your grandmother’s china.  Or for a little less traditional look, it could be filled up with books.

This hutch is available for sale locally while it lasts.  If interested, be sure to check my ‘available for local sale’ page for more details.