Category: furniture.

When I popped by the Farmhouse Inspired booth at Oronoco Gold Rush back in August, the owner Jody told me she was giving demos on a layering technique that she has been using lately.  She showed me a painted chair that she was using for the demo, and it was fab.  So, I tucked that little bit of info away in the back of my head.  It popped back up when I came across this blah little oak chair that I purchased at a garage sale while my sis was here.

 Basically, the twist on this layering technique is that you get the best of both worlds; chalk paint and milk paint.  You’ve probably seen the comparisons, the pros and cons of each product.  They both have their place in my heart.  Some projects are more suited for milk paint, and some for chalk paint.  But with this technique, you can take advantage of the best qualities of both!

You start with an undercoat of chalk paint.  Using the chalk paint eliminates the need for much, if any, prep work at all since it will stick without chipping or flaking.  This gives you a base color that can then show through your 2nd layer, which will be milk paint.

In this case, I skipped the prep.  No sanding, no cleaning, no nothin’.  I just painted on one coat of Annie Sloan’s Aubusson.

Oooooo, pretty!  Of course, this is without any sanding or waxing; so far you only see the chalky finish that comes with chalk paint.

Next I wanted to make sure I got lots of chippy-ness with my milk paint, so I used a hemp oil resist.  Basically all this means is that I added a layer of hemp oil in all the spots on the chair that I wanted to get chippy.

Then I mixed up some MMS milk paint in Eulalie’s Sky, and I left it slightly thicker than usual.  I painted on one thick coat.  Since I wanted extra chipping/crackling, I gave it a shot of heat with my blow dryer (this is not the same blow dryer I use on my hair, I swear).

You can see that it is starting to chip from the blow drying.

I then left the chair to fully dry overnight.  The next evening I got out the sand paper and sanded harder in areas that I thought would be more worn naturally, and a little more lightly everywhere else.  I was hoping for a lot more chipping, but I did get some fairly realistic looking chips.

I was able to sand lightly down to the undercoat in some areas, which gives a worn appearance.  I finished by vacuuming away the dust and adding a final coat of MMS furniture wax.  Here is the final result.

It’s pretty sweet.

You’ll probably see me experiment with this some more in the future.  I think Annie Sloan’s Duck Egg would make a lovely undercoat with some MMSMP in Linen on top.  I’ll keep you posted if I give that a try!

Last week my co-workers Sue & Cathy and I went garage saling over our lunch hour, and I picked up this dresser.

It was pretty beat up, as you can sort of see in the ‘before’ picture.  But on the plus side, it had all of the original hardware, the drawers all worked well, and I knew it would be much cuter painted.

I really thought about painting it in MMS Kitchen Scale, but in the back of my mind I just kept seeing it painted yellow.  Then I realized why.  It’s basically the same style as this famous piece by Miss Mustard herself.

In fact, take a close look, aside from the shape (tall v. wide), it is the same dresser.  I assume they are the gentlemen’s and ladies’ version of the same bedroom set.

In the end I decided, why fight it?  I can only see it painted yellow, so yellow it shall be.  I will call it an homage to the incredible style of Miss Mustard herself.

Let’s go ahead and point out how my version pales in comparison to Miss Mustard.  First, the pattern on the top drawers.  You can see that this pattern was there originally.  I don’t think it was an actual inlay, but just stained to look like an inlay.  Once painted, I could barely even see the outline.  I very much admire Marian’s ability to paint designs like this free-hand on her drawer fronts, but I do not have that skill.  So my upper drawers remained plain.

Miss Mustard also painted some of the bands around the front legs of her dresser white, and I did not think to do that.

As for the top, Miss Mustard stripped and stained the top of her dresser in Dark Walnut.  I just stripped and added a dark wax to mine.  I think her’s is better.  Although I will say that I think if someone is looking for a more rustic, aged look, mine fits that bill.

Now let’s get a close up look at the gorgeous chippy finish I ended up with on this dresser.

And that right there is why I love Miss Mustard Seed milk paint.  In a nutshell.  You simply won’t get this look with a chalk paint.  This dresser has the perfect amount of chippyness to look authentic without it being over the top.  I love it when that happens!  Standing next to this dresser in person, one would really be tempted to believe this is an authentic 75 year old finish.

Here are the boring painting details for those of you who want to know (everyone else can skip this part).  I stripped the top, sanded the body lightly, painted three coats of MMS milk paint in Mustard Seed Yellow on the body, and three coats of MMS milk paint in Linen on the details.  It took three coats to get full coverage on this piece, and I didn’t want a streaky look.  I waxed the body with MMS clear wax, and I waxed the top with two coats of my own custom blend dark wax.

This very charming yellow dresser will be available at the Carriage House Sale on Saturday.  Hope you can stop by!

P.S.  One little housekeeping note here.  Do any of you blog in wordpress?  I have been really frustrated by how fuzzy my photos seem once I load them on the blog.  Recently I discovered that if you click on the photo and bring it up in another tab, you lose the fuzziness.  Maybe all of you already knew this?  Anyway, my tip to you if you want to see a picture in more detail with less fuzziness, just click on it (or right click, select ‘open in a new tab’).  And if any of you know why this happens, or if there is a way that I can correct it, please let me know!

I figure if Picasso can have a blue period, then so can I.  Right?

Of course, Picasso’s blue period works were somber and desolate.  Plus, he had trouble selling them in his lifetime, it was only later that they became popular.  Hopefully none of that will be true of my blue period!

Much like a lot of other furniture painters out there, I do seem to be drawn to blues of all kinds this year.  From the deep, rich indigo of Miss Mustard Seed’s Artissimo …

to the gorgeous paler blue green of Annie Sloan’s Duck Egg …

I was inexplicably drawn to these blue motel chairs at a garage sale.

My recent attraction to blue even inspired the ‘save the date’ card for my upcoming sale.

And now I seem to be enamored with Annie Sloan’s Aubusson.  First the little cupboard I salvaged, and now … the mirrored dresser that was part of the two-fer.

I have to say, I went around and around about what color to paint this dresser.  There were just so many possibilities.  MMSMP in Mustard Seed Yellow with white accents?  Trophy with a stencil on the front?  Another custom mixed Minty Green?  Black?

In the end I had to tell myself to snap out of it and remember it was only a dresser, and it wasn’t the last one on the planet.  Another dresser will come along to be painted, so for now, just pick a color for gosh sake!

And so, I picked Aubusson with the details highlighted in MMSMP in Linen.  I knew that I wanted the eye to be drawn to this gorgeous detail at the top of the mirror.

I actually started with outdoor photos for this one, but the blue seems far too bright in these.  It’s not that bright in person.

As you may notice in the before & after side by side, I changed out the hardware on the lower two drawers for some much prettier stuff that suited the dresser.  The knobs it came with were definitely not original to the piece.  And if you are wondering about that scroll-y trim around the bottom two drawers, the previous owners had removed all of it.  What you are seeing is the shadow from where it was.

This dresser will be available at the Carriage House sale!

I know others have a lot of success re-painting an already painted piece of furniture, but I really try to avoid it.  I don’t like stripping paint, I find it time consuming and messy.  I also don’t like painting over latex with milk paint.  It can be done, but it gets even more unpredictable than usual.  I’m also kind of picky about the color of an undercoat that is sure to show through whatever I put on top of it, at least on the distressed edges.  So, keeping all of those factors in mind, I usually pass on already painted pieces.

However, last winter after probably one too many cocktails in Las Vegas, I texted Mr. Q and sent him off to pick up a dresser/nightstand combo while I was off visiting my mom.  They were already painted white.  But I thought I could work with the white.

Here is what they looked like when I got them.

They came as a pair, so I was stuck with the chunky nightstand, even though it obviously doesn’t really match the dresser and it’s not something I would normally grab.  As for the dresser,  the hardware was all wrong, the existing white paint job was poorly done and, you can’t see it here, but there is a coat of garish green under the white.

Upon returning from Las Vegas I took a look at them, and then promptly stored them in nnK’s garage for several months and forgot all about them (sorry nnK).

I brought them back over to my place earlier this summer though, and still couldn’t find the motivation to work on them.  Finally, I told myself that I had to get these done before my sale.  Nothing like a deadline to get my mojo going.  I decided to work with the white by freshening it up with a coat of American Paint Company’s mineral/chalk paint in Navajo White.  The next step was to add a stripe to the drawer fronts using Annie Sloan’s Louis Blue.

I started with the night stand.  I used yellow Frog tape (the one for delicate surfaces), taped off some stripes on the drawer front, painted the blue, and pulled off the tape.  Ack!  The tape pulled the paint off right down the to wood.  I am guessing this is because the original paint used on this piece was probably latex.  And it didn’t stick.  In the end, I just touched up the paint, added some Louis Blue to the top, added a vintage glass knob and called it good.

It has a sort of beachy vibe, don’t you think?

Definitely not my best work ever, but hopefully someone out there will want a beachy keen nightstand.

Meanwhile, there was no way I was going to try using tape on the dresser, so I went back to the drawing board.  It then occurred to me that I should get out my stencils.  Duh.  Why didn’t I think of this sooner?

And voila!  The finished dresser.

Seriously, isn’t it amazing what a fresh coat of chalk paint, some stenciling, and some new hardware can do for a dresser?

Here is a peek at the inside.

I’m thinking maybe I should have numbered those interior drawers.

What do you think?  Should I add numbers?

You may have caught a glimpse of this tiny dresser that I used for staging …

Yes, my addiction to tiny furniture continues.  I plan to paint this one too … but maybe after the Carriage House sale!

Remember the whole ‘my computer died and I haven’t been able to retrieve my photos yet’ thing?  Yeah, well, I haven’t made that a priority.  With my sale coming up, I am mainly focusing on getting furniture done.  This is further exacerbated by the fact that fall is in the air here in Minnesota.  I know I only have another month or so before my summer workshop in the Carriage House is closed up for the winter.  I’ll have plenty of time after the snow flies to concentrate on indoor projects … like figuring out how to retrieve my photos from an external hard drive (snore.)  And cleaning.

Meanwhile though, that means I don’t have a ‘before’ picture of this project for you.  Let me try to paint a picture.  One afternoon my pal Cathy texted me and said “I have a piece of furniture for you, I’ll drop it off.”  She came by with a little washstand in her car and a tall tale about how she wrangled that thing into the back seat all by herself.  You see, she saw it at the curb with a “FREE” sign on it.  It was in a sad state of affairs.  It had the most hideous replacement hardware ever, one caster was missing, the veneer on the top drawer was totally buckled.

But, Cathy saw through all of that and she knew this little cupboard could be salvaged!  So she manhandled it into her car and brought it to me.  The furniture whisperer.

Where do I even start with this one?  First of all, the hardware that came with it went right into the trash.  This is practically unheard of for me, but seriously, this stuff was butt ugly.  Bad, bad, bad 70’s hardware.  I felt that it was my responsibility to protect humanity from ever having to lay eyes on such a hideous sight ever again.  Fortunately, I had these vintage glass pulls and knob on hand to use as replacements.  Ahhhhh, so much better.

Once the hardware was gone, I made the decision that the top drawer was beyond salvage.  Or at least not worth the trouble.  Instead, I had Ken put a shelf in that spot.  He also cut a hole at the back for electrical cords, thus making this piece functional as a TV stand.

I actually kind of loved the wood top on this one.  It was pretty beat up, and the veneer is buckling on top too.  But I kind of dig the aged, beat up look.  I had to strip the top because it had some paint drips and splats on it from it’s previous life.  Once stripped, I gave it a quick sand and a coat of dark wax.

Next came the paint.  I had picked up a quart of Annie Sloan’s Aubusson while my sister was here visiting.  I’ll be honest, when I first opened that can of paint I thought “what was I thinking?  why in the world did I buy this color?”  But I realized that I must have seen it on something in the store, and I must have loved it.  I decided to go for it.  Two coats of paint, followed by a coat of dark wax.

Sidebar.  When I say ‘dark wax’ I am referring to my own concocted mix of Johnson’s Paste Wax and Briwax in Dark Brown.  When I first purchased the Briwax, I didn’t realize how really, really dark it would be.  I toned it down by mixing it with clear paste wax.  I ended up loving this combo.  Plus it is a great way to stretch the more expensive Briwax with the really cheap Johnson’s (about $6 a can).  However, FYI, the Johnson’s is very stinky.  I never use it indoors.

Anyway, guess what?  I do love Aubusson.  It’s a nice, rich blue.

As a last final touch, I lined the bottom of the cupboard with some vintage wallpaper that matched perfectly.

 I think I will save this little cupboard for my upcoming Carriage House sale.  Hopefully someone there will want to give it a new home.

You gotta love a two for one.  In this case, two dressers, one trip.  I saw the first dresser on craigslist and when Mr. Q and I went to pick it up, the buyer just happened to say “you know, I do have another dresser that I want to get rid of.”  I love when people say that.  Usually it’s a good thing … and in this case it definitely was.

I honestly liked the 2nd dresser even better than the one I drove out for.  But I purchased both of them, naturally.

I started with dresser no. 1.  Mr. Q prepped it for me by removing the hardware, sanding it down and cleaning it.  Then I painted it with a custom mix of MMSMP 2 parts Trophy to 1 part Grain Sack.  Now, I could fib here and say I planned this color, but in reality this was the last bit of Trophy I had on hand with a little Grain Sack mixed in to make it stretch for the entire dresser.  In the end, I think it worked well for me.  The grey is gorgeous.

As I was digging through my stencils the other day, I came across this damask stencil.  I had forgotten all about it!  I just knew it would be perfect for an overall stencil on the drawer fronts of this dresser.  The pattern of the stencil almost mirrors the design on the backboard perfectly.

I used Martha Stewart craft paint in Lake Fog to do the stenciling.  It might just be my own opinion, but I think this sort of stencil looks best as an overall pattern filling in all of the space on the drawer fronts from edge to edge rather than just a centered pattern down the middle.  I feel the same way about the french poem stencil that I have.  In fact … I might just be bringing that one out of semi-retirement soon.

Once the stencil was complete and dry, I sanded everything lightly and finished with hemp oil.

I had planned to keep the original hardware, which is actually quite lovely.  But once I saw the results of the stenciling I knew that I needed some hardware that didn’t visually compete.  These clear knobs do the job perfectly.  They are nearly invisible in fact.  I’ll save the other hardware for another dresser.

 In some of these close up photos, you can see that this was another crackled milk paint finish.  I am starting think my theory about humidity might be right.  It was quite humid when I painted this one.  Have any of you had any experience with MMSMP giving you more of a crackled finish when you paint in humid conditions?

This dresser is more petite than it looks in pictures by itself.  I paired it up with my cane back chair to give you an idea of the size.

This dresser would work well next to a tall bed as an alternative to a traditional nightstand.  Or wouldn’t it be lovely in a baby’s room?  There are so many options for a versatile dresser like this one.

So how about it?  Anyone out there need a lovely little stenciled dresser?  This one is for sale, if interested email me for the particulars.

Meanwhile, stay tuned to find out what I did with dresser no. 2!

It’s official.  I’m addicted to vintage wallpaper.  There is just something about it.  The colors.  The texture.  The very vintage-ness of it.

As soon as I saw this dresser on craigslist, I knew it would be perfect for wallpapering.  I had a bit of this Lily of the Valley wallpaper left, so I painted the dresser using MMSMP in Eulalie’s Sky, which I knew would work well with the background color of the wallpaper.

This dresser has the most charming hardware.

And some fab detail on the mirror base.

I staged the dresser with a vase full of Vanilla Strawberry hydrangea, an old family wedding photo, and my fab new clock.

I don’t know who the wedding couple is in this photo, but the farmhouse behind them belonged to my great grandparents in Arlington, South Dakota.

Anyway, this lovely dresser has already gone up to the Round Barn in Andover.  Pricetag:  $298.  Stop in and see it in person, and take some time to look around at all of the other fabulous things that Lori has in her shop.  I swear, every time I go in there I find some fun little thing to bring home with me.  This time it was Maple Pumpkin Butter.  Yum!  I also stocked up on Miss Mustard Seed milk paint in Trophy, Grain Sack, Apron Strings and Linen.  Stay tuned to see what I paint next!

Mr. Q picked up this fabulous little dresser just north of the Twin Cities the other day.  The gentleman that was selling it couldn’t believe he wanted to drive all the way up there for this ‘old thing’.  It was probably about a 50 minute drive.  Not that terrible.  Mr Q had to keep reassuring him that his wife likes ‘old’ things, ‘old’ is what we are looking for.

And this ‘old thing’ is gorgeous.  I loved the big fan detail on the drawer, the curlicue bits on the top drawers, and the hardware is fantastic.

When I first saw it on Craigslist, I wasn’t too sure about that mirror piece at the back.  I also thought I would paint it either yellow or aqua.  Wrong on both counts.  In person, I loved the vintage mirror at the back and I immediately knew I wanted to paint the dresser black and leave the decorative parts wood.  I had seen a similar treatment on pinterest, and I wanted to give it a try on this piece.  Plus, I had been checking out Miss Mustard Seed’s color focus pin boards on pinterest, and her Typewriter board had me sold.  If you haven’t seen these, you should check them out.

Every time I break out the MMSMP in Typewriter, I am reminded of how much I love it.  If you finish it with the hemp oil, you get the most fabulous deep, rich, black.  And it goes on so very easily.  This dresser was an absolute breeze to paint.  I did one coat on Thursday evening, and a 2nd quick coat on Friday evening.  Once dry I gave it a quick sand and finished with the hemp oil.  Easy peasy.

Well, I did do a bit of prep work first.  I filled some areas where the veneer had chipped using wood filler.  I also had to replace some drawer stops.  Little fixes that are a part of the process.  Then I thoroughly sanded and cleaned it before painting.  I did not want a lot of chipping.  As you can see, I ended up not getting any chipping.  I just got some nice distressed edges when I sanded again after painting.

As for the mirror, I had a little fun with that.  When I took it apart to paint the back I realized that some of the silvering was chipping off.  It reminded me of a fabulous mirror that I saw at the Round Barn that had a bunch of silvering missing and you could see some vintage newspaper behind those spots.  Gorgeous.  So, I decided to try to copy that look.

I used my trusty old Swedish bible and added it behind the mirror using a little spray adhesive to keep it in place.  It’s a small detail that makes all the difference on this dresser.  Adding that little touch of something unique that no one else has.

I love the idea of a pop of deep black in an otherwise mostly white room, don’t you?

I wish I could keep every dresser that I fall in love with, but that would classify me as a hoarder and we can’t have that.

So this gorgeous bit of black magic is for sale.  If you are interested in the particulars, leave me a comment and I will get back to you via email. Ooops, you missed it, this one is SOLD.

One final B & A.