Category: furniture.

Yep, I’ve got the blues.  The vintage blues!

I have become a big fan of rich, saturated blue hues like Miss Mustard Seed’s Artissimo, Flow Blue and French Enamel.  And I used all three of them on this dresser!

But let’s start at the beginning.  A couple of weeks ago on a beautiful summer evening, Mr. Q, my sister and I hopped into the truck and took a little road trip to Somerset, Wisconsin to pick up this dresser.

It was about dusk as we headed back home and we were dodging deer right and left on the road.  Luckily though, no deer were injured in the making of this blog post.

We got the dresser safely home and once I got a good look at it in the daylight, I realized it was really orange.  Gack!  It was definitely time for a change.

I stripped the top, sanded it down, added some Varathane Dark Walnut gel stain, and then waxed it with Cece Caldwell’s Aging Cream.  This is rapidly becoming my “go-to” process for tops.  I love the color of the Dark Walnut and the finish I get with wax.  I’ve tried the Wipe On Poly, but I’m still a wax girl at heart.  There is something very organic about the look of wax that I prefer over a harder finish.

Once that was taken care of, I painted the body of the dresser in MMS Artissimo, a very dark blue.  I then used Vaseline to help make sure this undercoat showed through in some strategic spots.  Next I mixed Flow Blue and French Enamel together, about 2 to 1, and painted one coat of that over the Artissimo.

These photos are looking very bright on my computer.  This dresser is a rich shade of blue, but not super bright.

The hardware on this dresser was a bear.  If you refer back to the ‘before’ photo, you can see that it came with mismatched wood knobs (the bottom two were painted pale pink!).  Boring.  I originally planned to replace them with glass knobs, but I was in a hurry and couldn’t find the right size for this piece.  I purchased 3 different sets of potential knobs for this dresser and disliked all of them once I got them on.  At one point, I thought these funky white key hole knobs from Hobby Lobby would work, but I only had two of them.  When I went back to get two more, I bought the wrong kind.  Plus, the white really stood out too much next to the blue anyway.

In the end, nnK convinced me to pull out my stash of vintage hardware to find something that worked with the cute bird knobs that I used on the top drawers.  I had four matching drawer pulls that were perfect.

Now what am I going to do with the 26 knobs I purchased that I didn’t use?  Oh, I’m sure they’ll find a home eventually.

Before we go any further, have you noticed anything in my photos so far?  Like my amazing vintage blue and white toy truck?

I picked it up at my favorite occasional sale, which happens to be my own sale.  Ha!  No really, that’s only because I get first dibs on everything that my sale co-host brings to the sale, and that included this super darling toy truck this year.  I snatched that up before it was half way out of the box.

Mr. Q brought this dresser, along with a few other pieces up to Reclaiming Beautiful in Stillwater where it is for sale.  If you are local, be sure to stop up there if you’re interested in purchasing it!  They are open all weekend!

Remember the little chairs I picked up while garage saling last week?

Well, as it turned out, they are the perfect solution for using up some left over milk paint.  As most of you know, milk paint comes as a powder and you mix it up as you need it.  Once mixed, it only has a shelf life of about a week.  Although I’m pretty good at judging how much paint to make, there are usually a few tablespoons left over.

So after a recent dresser make-over (soon to be revealed), I pulled out one of these chairs to use up the extra paint.

I simply sanded down the existing blue paint, then painted a couple coats of MMS’ Artissimo on the chair.

The Artissimo worked perfectly with the lighter original blue color of the chair peeking through.

Once painted, I sanded the chair again and then added Miss Mustard Seed furniture wax.

I staged it with some fabulous vintage blue books and a Cornishware pitcher.

 Did you notice how perfect these little chairs are for hanging on the wall and using as a shelf?

In the end that might be the fate of all three.  I’m still working on that idea a bit.  Stay tuned.

Yikes!  We’ve got a bleeder!  Hand over the sealer, stat!

I have to say, I have had my fair share of bleeders.  What I’m talking about, for those of you who don’t do furniture, is when the stain on a piece of furniture bleeds through the paint giving it a pink or orange tint.  It doesn’t matter how many coats of paint you put over it, it will continue to just bleed through.  When you have a bleeder, there are a couple of solutions.  One is to just use a really dark color of paint.  I have successfully painted bleeders with black and dark navy blue without sealing them.  Another solution is to go with spray paint.  I know, spray painted furniture is tacky, but spray paint will generally ‘seal’ a bleeder.  But if you are determined to go light, you have to seal the piece first somehow.

Usually I can pick out a bleeder from a mile away, and I tend to avoid them.  I just don’t want to mess with it.  But this one totally snuck up on me.  Seriously, does it look like it’s gonna be a bleeder to you?

OK, in hindsight, maybe it was a bit orange.  But I really just saw “blonde” when I looked at it.

The plan for this dresser was to go black and white.  I wanted a geometric, bold, black and white look.  I painted the black sections first.  No problem.

Then I painted the white.  I totally did not see this coming.

What started out as just a few little spots that were slightly peach turned into large areas of rusty orange overnight.  The next day I pulled out the MMS Tough Coat Sealer.  Miss Mustard has used it to seal such pieces successfully, so I thought I’d give it a try.  I went with two coats and 24 hours of drying in between each one just to be on the safe side.

Then I added back my white paint.  I tiptoed around the situation with more care than usual.  I let the first new coat of white dry a full 24 hours before adding another.  Just to be sure.

Ahhhhh, so much better.  It worked so well that I don’t think I’ll worry as much about avoiding bleeders in the future.

And here you have the finished piece.

I painted this one in chalk paint.  I happened to have an almost full can of CeCe Caldwell’s Beckley Coal and some Vintage White already on hand.  Plus, I knew I didn’t want the chippy-ness of milk paint on this piece.  So chalk paint it was.  Before I painted, I stripped off the very bottom middle piece of veneer that was chipped up (you can see the chunk missing in my ‘before’ photo).  I then sanded the entire piece lightly.  The black went on super easy in two coats, and you’ve already read what happened with the white!

The handles got touched up with some gold rub n’ buff.  They were in fairly gnarly condition.  The rub n’ buff worked really well to just perk them up.  I wiped it on with my finger, then let them dry/cure for about 4 days (while I dealt with the bleeder situation).  Then I just buffed them with a shop towel.

And yes, I kept them!  That seemed to be the general consensus among those who weighed in.

Good call people!

I have to say, I am really loving the black and the gold.  Egads!  I can hardly even believe I’m saying that!  I’m finding it so appealing that I’m thinking about ordering these light fixtures from Schoolhouse Electric for an upcoming master bedroom makeover.

What is happening to me?  In January 2014 I posted about the trend towards gold and how I really didn’t much care for it.  Now I want some in my own house!  Fickle, thy name is Quandie!

I staged the dresser with my new petite black vintage suitcase, some clock faces and a brass desk lamp.

Initially I was going to use strictly black and white pieces for staging, but as I played around with various props, I realized that the warmth of the suitcase handle, the brass and even the aged book page on the wall really played well with the gold handles.

I don’t know about you, but I definitely do not see the world in black and white, however, I think I can see putting a little black and white into my world.  Especially when it’s paired with some gold.  How about you?

Both my sister and nnK are now rolling their eyes and saying “yeah, right, like she cooks at all.”  True.  It’s more that I sit and drink a glass of wine while watching them cook.  I’m not much of a cook, but I still find the quote amusing.

And I thought it worked well with my sideboard turned wine cabinet.

Remember the sideboard?  I brought it home from Linden Hills.

The lower drawer appeared to be a replacement, so I decided why not just remove both drawers entirely?  I thought about doing another TV cabinet like this one that I did last year.

But then I decided it would be fun to change it up and make a wine cabinet instead.  Naturally my handyman Ken helped me out with the wine bottle racks, and like usual he seemed to finish them overnight.  Didn’t he do a great job?

You can get a dozen bottles of wine in this baby.  The glasses can go in the cupboards on the side; glasses for white on one side and red on the other.  What?!  You don’t have specific glasses for white and red?  For shame.  You’ll have to get them if you own this cabinet.

I painted this with a mix of Cece Caldwell chalk paint in Beckley Coal and Miss Mustard Seed’s Typewriter.  I originally finished with hemp oil, which is what you see in all of these photos, and in fact I took the photos right after it was freshly oiled, so you are seeing a lot of shiny spots in these pictures.  However, the next day I found that the oil had really absorbed into some spots more than others.  Specifically the raw wood that was used for the wine rack, plus the sides, which I had stripped of some separating veneer.  You can see the problem in this photo.  The raw wood seems to have totally absorbed the oil leaving a very matte finish.

So I then went over those with some Miss Mustard Seed antiquing wax and they look much better.  Unfortunately it’s been rainy ever since, so I don’t have a photo to share.

This piece came with some really hideous ceramic knobs that had to go.  I pulled out a number of different options to replace them.  I tried some new knobs from Hobby Lobby, but they just looked out of place.  In the end, I decided on these vintage brass pulls that came off an old dresser.

I like that they pop a little next to the black and the shape of them mimics the design on the door.  Plus they have the right amount of age to match the rest of the piece.

Someone, I won’t name names, accused this poor buffet of having chunky thighs!  Wasn’t that mean?

They aren’t chunky, just zaftig.  I kind of love them.

This will be the last piece of furniture I finish before my sale next week.  I’ve had to dismantle my workshop in favor of setting up for the sale.  I haven’t decided on a price for this one yet, you’ll just have to show up at the sale to see what it is!

I’ve been using a lot of blue lately, both in my own home and in pieces I paint to sell.  I love blue, and blue is hot right now.  But there is still a warm place in my heart for green.

When Mr. Q brought home this charming pint sized armoire, I knew I wanted to put some vintage wallpaper on the door.

I didn’t have a piece that was large enough, so that is what prompted me to place an order from Hannah’s Treasures on Etsy recently.  I debated going with a more distinctly juvenile pattern, but in the end I thought I would do something just a little more versatile.  This armoire would be perfectly sweet for a baby girl’s nursery, but could also grow with her into her teens.

I added a two color paint job to match the wallpaper.  The entire armoire was first painted in MMS Luckett’s Green milk paint, and then all but the knobs got two coats of Linen.  This time I tried a Vaseline resist (adding a little Vaseline to spots you want to distress after painting the undercoat) and it worked fantastically well.

When this piece first came to me, it needed to have the back and the bottom replaced.  It had gotten some water damage at some point.  So Ken replaced both.  Now the inside is practically all new, so I didn’t paint it.

It has a sweet little slide out bar for hanging tiny clothes like these gorgeous handmade baby dresses.

My Carriage House sale co-host, Sue, has a stash of these beautiful dresses and they will be for sale at the Carriage House sale ($10 each).  The hand stitching on these is a work of art.  I think they would be lovely hung on a wall in a child’s room, like this pin from Cedar Hill Farmhouse.

I also staged the armoire with the last of the lilacs.  They go so fast.  I wish they lasted longer.

What do you think?  Didn’t it turn out perfectly sweet?

This armoire is for sale at $245.  If you are interested in it, or in the baby dresses, leave a comment or email me at oakdalecarriagehouse@gmail.com.

And in case you are wondering how I managed to crank out all of these pieces lately, I have to mention that I took a couple of days off at the day job last week.  I’ve got just a couple more to finish up before the Carriage House sale, which takes place on Thursday, June 11 from 5 pm to 7 pm and Friday, June 12 from 9 am to 2 pm.

Linking up with Finding Silver Pennies.

I’ve been seeing a lot of bohemian style out there lately, how about you?  Apartment Therapy has this to say about bohemian style:  A true Bohemian room should look like it’s been furnished over decades of globetrotting and a lifetime of creative scavenging and upcycling.  Follow the link to read their full article, but I’ll emphasis point no. 3, if you’re lucky enough to have actual furniture, it should be distressed.  Amen to that!

I was feeling decidedly bohemian when I decided to go with a distressed saturated blue on this desk.

But let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

Mr. Q and I picked this desk up a while back.  It was another craigslist buy.

It’s gorgeous, but up close it had some issues.  There is some trim missing on one of the drawers, and there are a few nicks and chips in the veneer.  There was even this big chunk of veneer missing on the side, and it appears as though someone attempted to sand the rough edges, doing a lot more damage in the process.

You get the idea, it is a lovely piece, but a good candidate for painting because of some damage.

The desk sat patiently waiting for inspiration to strike.  I had a couple of plans for it that got scrapped.  One involved leaving the drawer fronts in the original finish and just painting the body of the desk.  Another was to go black.  But then the idea of bright blue stuck.  To balance the bright blue color, I decided to leave the top unpainted.  I stripped it, then used Varathane’s Dark Walnut gel stain on it.  This desktop is a walnut veneer by the way.  I finished with a Wipe on Poly with a satin finish. The top is now really lovely.

Isn’t the original hardware on this one pretty?  I didn’t do anything to it, just put it right back on.

As for the paint job, this is the same technique I used on my own Rooster cupboard.  I painted a base coat of MMS milk paint in Artissimo.  Then I added two coats of MMS Flow Blue.  This one is finished with hemp oil though (I used dark wax on my cupboard).

You can see some hints of the darker Artissimo in spots.

One of the prettiest details on this desk is this little bit at the bottom.

And the legs are quite lovely as well.

So what do you think?  Bohemian, yea or nay?

 This desk is for sale for $225.  If interested, feel free to email me at oakdalecarriagehouse@gmail.com.

A while back my number one craigslist spotter, nnK, forwarded an ad to me for two ‘bureaus’.  We’re pretty sure that these didn’t get snatched up more quickly because they were only called ‘bureaus’.  The ad said nothing about ‘dressers’, or ‘chest of drawers’, or ‘credenza’, or ‘midcentury modern’.  If any of those keywords had been used, I’m sure these would have been long gone.  But I don’t think there are too many people out there searching for ‘bureaus’ these days.

As happy as I was to get the opportunity to make these mine, some serious sweat equity went into acquiring them.  We had to call in the big guns.  Mr. Q’s friend Gene that is.  He is the guy we call when there is going to be some heavy lifting.  In this case, these two bureaus were in the attic of a typical 1940’s style bungalow.  In other words, up a very narrow staircase with a turn at the top.  Yikes!  The seller had been sure to tell me that I had to bring my own manpower to get them out of there, so I did.  Mr. Q and his friend were real troopers getting these babies into the truck!

I only took a ‘before’ shot of one, but I have two and they are identical.  I’m fairly certain that the owner of these bought them new, tucked them up in the finished attic and has used them for storage for 50 years or so.  She mentioned that she had lived in the house since the 60’s.  They weren’t in terrible shape, but slightly beat up from years of use.  The finish was also very dried out.

I had actually been hanging onto this pair until my sister got here.  Why?  I decided to play dueling bureaus with her (insert music here)!  Since she is living with me for two months until her new apartment is ready, I decided to put her to work as my apprentice.  Her first assignment was to work side by side with me, with each of us making over one of these.  I let her pick her own colors, and I picked mine.  I decided we should work in Fusion paint because it is the easiest to use, and no topcoat is required!

To begin with, we stripped the flat raised fronts of our drawers.  Once stripped, we sanded them lightly and then used Varathane’s Dark Walnut gel stain on them.  Once dry, we each added two coats of  Minwax Wipe on Poly in satin.  Then, after sanding the rest of the piece lightly, Debbie painted hers in Liberty and I painted mine in Ash.

Here is the Ash.

 Doesn’t the wood just look so much richer in this darker stain?

And here is the Liberty.

Now, I have to tell you, my sister has never done this before!  She’s never stripped or painted furniture.  Ever.  And she did this.  All by herself.  Granted, I showed her the ropes and gave her some tips along the way.  Still, if she can do it, so can you!  So if you are someone who has been reading my blog for a while and thinking about trying some furniture refinishing on your own, dive in!  As Nike says, just do it!

Debbie is very proud of her first furniture makeover ever!  She is well on her way to finishing her next project, her $10 table and benches, so stay tuned to see those soon.