Category: furniture.

I picked up this metal stool last year for a song.  It was painted with metallic silver paint.  Is there some sort of super cheap metallic silver paint out there?  I have a really cool old bead board cabinet in my basement that is also painted metallic silver.  It came with the house.  Why did someone paint it metallic silver?  One of these days I might do something cool with it … just as soon as I get around to it … but I digress.  

I thought this stool had that industrial chic vibe.  I brought it home and decided to start with sanding it.  There was a layer of green under the silver, and a layer of creamy white under that.  Once again I thought someone would snatch it up at my sale … I priced it at … wait for it … $5!  But still no takers.  Clearly no one wants a silver stool with emerald green accents, and I can’t blame them.

It was another perfect candidate for the Annie Sloan sample paint.  In case you are keeping track, I have painted one picture frame, one child sized metal folding chair and now one stool with my sample and there is still about 1/3 of it left.  Here is the stool painted with Provence, and waxed with MMS antique wax.

Isn’t it lovely?

I took a few photos, and was ready to call it done.  But then I thought to myself “hey, this would be pretty fab with a number on top!”  Duh.  So a quick zap with a stencil, and voila … stool no. 12.

Perfect for the kitchen, or maybe the bathroom.  Use it as the seat to your vanity/dressing table.  Use it next to your wicker chaise lounge as a handy spot for your mint julep.  So many possibilities!

Kermit said it first, and the chair I painted last weekend seemed to agree.  I started out thinking I would paint it with Miss Mustard Seed’s Luckett’s Green and call it good.  I envisioned it being fabulously chippy and that awesome shabby chic green that we all know and love.  Who doesn’t love a fabulous vintage green?

But, there was absolutely not even the slightest amount of chipping taking place.  The wood on this chair just sucked up that paint like there was no tomorrow, and it looked like this.

Yawn.

I knew I had to break out the fancy techniques for this chair to truly shine.  So, I used a hemp oil resist and added a couple coats of Miss Mustard Seed’s Ironstone over the green.

Ahhhh … much better.  Now this chair looks like it has some age behind it.  Just how I like it.   As if it has been sitting in a lovely courtyard garden in the English countryside for years and years.

I can just hear my mother saying “I can’t understand why anyone would want their furniture to look like this.”  She just doesn’t get it.  I’m not even sure that I do, all I know is that I love this look.
I finished it off with a coat of clear wax, and touches of antique wax here and there.

Do you love the green as much as I do?  It is currently my 2nd favorite color, falling just slightly behind aqua.  This little garden chair has me dreaming of spring and getting out in the garden, maybe that is part of the appeal.  Whatever it is, I think this little chair is the bomb.

I am still off enjoying Las Vegas, but don’t think I forgot about you guys!  I scheduled a post so you would have something to see on Friday.

Two weekends ago, I sent Mr. Q off for a writing desk.  It was a bargain, and even though it wasn’t special and it didn’t make my heart skip a beat or anything, I still thought it would be worth a quick trip to Minneapolis and a bit of paint.  It was listed as a ‘beautiful antique writing desk’ which may have been stretching things just a tad.

When Mr. Q got it home, I was a bit bummed when I realized there were some major flaws that definitely weren’t apparent in the craigslist ad.  Beware of this people!  Some photos are very artfully arranged to hide the true nature of an item (how does this still happen to me, clearly I should know better).

To begin with, the top was leather.  Oops.  How did I miss that?  Oh, now I remember.  In the ad pics the top was totally covered with crap.  Papers, books, etc.  Uh huh.  Don’t know if that was on purpose or not.

Even more disheartening, the bottom trim on one side was completely broken off leaving a jagged edge under the bottom drawer.

My heart sank as I contemplated these flaws.  However, I should not have underestimated the power of the Ken; handyman neighbor extraordinaire!  He came over for a consultation, came up with a plan, took measurements and headed back to his workshop.

Several days later, he appeared at my door with new trim pieces cut to match the center drawer for both sides of the desk.  Like magic!

As for the leather top, I decided to just try painting it.  I’ve had success painting suitcases, and books, so why not a leather topped desk?  After all, my friend Lori painted her cowboy boots with MMS milk paint!  I don’t know how well it will hold up to a lot of wear and tear, but my philosophy is that these things are meant to look distressed, so a little more here and there just adds to the look, right?

I debated painting it turquoise.  It’s been a while since I used a true turquoise, and this would have been amazing in that color.  But that leather had some red ink stains.  That could have been a bleed through nightmare, so I went with MMS Typewriter, which seemed apropos for a writing desk.

I added a french address to the front of the desk to give it a little more personality.  And look at those charming drawer pulls.  Love them.

All in all, it turned out to be a sweet little writing desk.  It’s sure to inspire anyone who sits at it to write their memoirs or perhaps just pay their bills.

Before I leave you, here are some handy tips I learned from this desk.

No. 1, if you are selling a desk on craigslist, be sure you pull the drawers out and check behind them for paperwork!  These sellers left a lot of personal information behind including pay stubs and medical bills.  Luckily I am not an unscrupulous identity thief.

No. 2, if you are painting with black paint, at night, in your living room that has wood floors … and you manage to splatter paint everywhere despite your numerous drop cloths … and you don’t see it until daylight hits it the next day, don’t despair.  A magic eraser cleans it right up from both the wall and the wood floor.  Good to know.

Sorry, there is no before picture of this little buffet.  Honestly, that is mainly because it was just simply so completely boring that there was no point.  Picture a typical oak finish, not a single embellishing feature and boring brass knobs.  No real damage to be repaired or anything like that, just not even exciting enough to call ugly.

But, boring no longer!

I had a moment with this one where I didn’t think I could combat the blahness of it.

I started by painting it grey with MMS Trophy milkpaint.  It’s a lovely shade, but it just didn’t do much for this one.  No chipping at all.  More blah.  But I was texting with Lori, and she said “hey, why don’t you try the hemp oil resist?”  Duh.  Why didn’t I think of that?  Well, truth be told, I had thought about layering color on this one, but it seemed like a lot of work and I was feeling lazy.

But, a hemp oil resist could be fantastic.  I knew she was right and it had to be done.  Clever girl.  So, after the base coat of grey was dry, I swiped some hemp oil in strategic locations and painted Ironstone over it and crossed my fingers.

And it was so worth it.  Just look at this chippy, crackled fabulousity (I made that word up, but yes, you can use it too)!

I added some knobs that I picked up during my Hobby Lobby knob nirvana buying frenzy.  Aren’t these amazing?  They look 50 years old.

I used what is becoming my favorite stencil on the doors.

You’ll notice that I staged this buffet with an amazing vintage hat box that I just picked up last week.  I stopped in at a local antique mall, just killing some time on my lunch break.  I wandered into a booth that was full of vintage hats, but way up high where you would hardly even notice them, were stacks of hat boxes.  The color on this one just sucked me right in.  A lovely pinky coral.

Kind of reminds me of Miss Mustard Seed’s new color Apron Strings.  I’ll admit, I haven’t been tempted to try this color yet because I just can’t imagine it on an entire piece of furniture.  But I’ve seen people using just touches of it, on the inside of a roll top desk, or just on the drawers.  I’m definitely tempted now that I have the amazing hat box to match.

So.  There she is.  Isn’t she lovely.  She will be making the trip to Junk Bonanza.  Hope lots of people show up in the mood to buy furniture!

Remember the fab mirrored dresser that was calling out for a stencil?  As a reminder, here it is.

First she had to get some repairs taken care of.  The middle drawer was resting on top of the bottom drawer.  The glider thingies had been completely worn down by time.  Luckily Ken is crafty about such things, and he just chiseled a flat surface and added on to the glider thingie (what do they call these things?).

Problem solved.

Next, I really dithered about the color for this one.  I was leaning towards yellow for the longest time.  I still want to paint something yellow eventually, but it didn’t feel quite right this time.  In the end, after seeing a gorgeous example of a dresser painted in MMS Eulalie’s Sky with a white wax finish on line, and then getting encouragement from Danielle at Finding Silver Pennies who had also used this combination on a lovely piece, I decided to go with it.

I am really glad I did.

As you can see, she has plenty of chippy deliciousness.

I stenciled with a French ‘sweet dreams my child’ message.

I highlighted some of the trim details by painting them the bright white of MMS Ironstone.

I debated changing out the hardware.  I know that clear glass knobs would have been perfect on this one.  But, the original hardware is gorgeous and I had all of it.  I had to put it back on.   I cleaned it up with a toothbrush and jewelry cleaner and added a coat of furniture wax to shine it up a little.  Because, gee, what else does a girl have to do on a Sunday morning?  LOL.  My life is just that exciting!  But, you just won’t find drawer pulls like this on new furniture.  Look at the lovely detail.

Yep, she is a beaut.

Lovely.  If I do say so myself.

 

I had not one, not two, but FOUR dressers slip through my fingers last week.  Ouch!  That is hard to take.  I didn’t move quickly enough on the first two and other buyers got there ahead of me.  But what was even more painful was the second two.  I had a pickup scheduled and everything, but then the seller texted and said she’d changed her mind about selling them and was giving them to a friend.  That one was really disappointing.  If my blog makes you think that this furniture gig is easy, let this post dissuade you of that notion.  Sometimes it’s just extremely frustrating.

But let’s move on, shall we?

I did end up buying this guy this week.

I’m calling him the Cambridge because Mr. Q and I drove all the way to Cambridge to pick him up.  On a freezing cold evening with wind chills around 20 below.  The elderly husband and wife selling this dresser were the nicest people.  I didn’t have the heart to negotiate the price, even though I discovered that the veneer was in really bad shape.  We lost several large chunks of it just trying to get it loaded.  I have to say, the seller was such a gentlemen that he insisted on helping Mr. Q carry the dresser to the truck.  I offered to take an end, but he was having no part of that.  I was worried he was going to have a heart attack right there in his driveway.  He had to rest half way to the truck, but still wouldn’t allow me to take over.  Who says chivalry is dead?

 It’s a unique piece for sure.  It reminded me of the Cokato pieces that I painted last year.  I’m going to have to devote some time to repairing the veneer where I can, and removing it where I can’t.  I also sent a drawer home with Ken to be rebuilt.  There are some very lovely drawer pulls on this one though, and they are all there!

To be honest, this one is going to be a lot more work than I bargained for.  I might have to just shove him to the back of the line for a while.  But hopefully I can salvage him and put him back out there for someone to love.

On the way home from work last Friday, I stopped off to stock up on wine at my local wine shop.  For those of you who are local, that would be Bright Wines in North St. Paul.  It’s the tiniest hole in the wall shop operated by just one guy, the owner, Dave, who sends out a weekly e-newsletter with lots of information about wine and a list of what he has in stock.  I usually highlight my list, pop in and hand the list to Dave, who then pulls all the wine for me and sends me on my way.  I’m currently enjoying a lovely syrah/grenache blend from the South of France called Grande Toque.  Yum.

But, I digress.  After the wine, I also stopped off at another North St. Paul favorite, La Garage.  The best way to describe it is a clean and tidy garage sale in a store, but with slightly higher prices.  I think that the owners get their inventory by buying estates, or something like that.  I like to stop in on occasion and see what they have.  On the day in question they had restocked their hard cover books, so I bought a slew of Danielle Steele novels for $1.  Not to read, of course, but to paint.

In addition to the books, I also picked up this fabulous chippy wooden stool.

It was calling my name and I just couldn’t leave it behind.

Lest you all begin to think that I am a wine drinking, romance novel reading hoarder, now is the time to mention that I have taken my friend Lori up on her offer to share her Junk Bonanza booth this spring.  All of this furniture I have been painting lately?  Yep, it’s for Junk Bonanza.  I’m also cranking out some painted books, and going through my stash of vintage goodies looking for things to sell.  This fabulous little stool will be added to the growing pile of items headed for Junk Bonanza, along with the Champ de Lavande hutch, the Hudson dresser, the French cane back chair … and hopefully more.

I won’t be parting with my favorite vintage phone any time soon though, so if you were hoping to snatch it up, you will be disappointed.  But if you are going to Junk Bonanza in April, I hope you’ll stop by and say hello!

I did end up choosing to paint the Hudson with MMS Artissimo.  And voila, here he is.

I absolutely adore him.  This was the perfect color, and I’m so glad I saw Danielle’s piece and was inspired to go with it.

I used MMS furniture wax as my top coat this time, and I did find that the color did not get as dark as it does with hemp oil.  Really, both finishes are nice with this paint color, but if you want the blue to be a little more obvious, then wax is the way to go.

You’ll notice that I gave him all new knobs.  I have a confession to make.  I am a bit of a hardware snob.  I prefer to retain original hardware, and when that doesn’t work, I have always tried to use vintage replacements.  I have quite a stash of vintage knobs that I’ve picked up over the years.  But this guy has 12 knobs!  I just didn’t have a dozen knobs that would work.  And, coincidentally, we FINALLY got a Hobby Lobby in the Twin Cities!

I stopped in the other day and was quite certain I had died and gone to knob heaven.

I knew that Hobby Lobby had a good selection of inexpensive knobs.  Every time I visit my mom in Nevada, I bring home a suitcase full of knobs and other fun stuff from her local Hobby Lobby.  Now I have a local store!  And not only that, knobs were 50% off the day I went in.  It’s as if it was meant to be.  I stocked up.  Big time.

And I found the perfect knobs for the Hudson.  They look old, and they don’t distract from the fabulous detail on this dresser.  Look at these amazing legs, and the details around the bottom.

I’m so happy with this one that I just couldn’t stop taking pictures, and then I couldn’t decide which ones to use for my post.Final before & after.

Remember the french cane back chair I picked up a few weeks ago?

I originally purchased the chair thinking that I would attempt to reupholster it, but I’ll admit I chickened out.  No excuses really, just plain chicken.  Then I decided I would paint the upholstery.  I didn’t especially like the results.  In the end, I asked my friend Sue to sew a new cover for the cushion, and I just left the underneath upholstery painted.  I gave Sue a basic painter’s drop cloth to use on the cushion.  Once it was sewn, I stenciled it.  In hindsight, it would have been easier to stencil the fabric first, or at least before the cushion was in place.  It was difficult to get a good result because there was so much give under the fabric.  I’ll try to remember that for next time.

But, overall, I think the chair is darling.

I painted it with MMS milk paint in Linen.  It’s a lovely, creamy white.  I takes more coats to cover with the white paint than the other colors, this chair has 3 coats on it.  Some spots probably could have used 4, but I didn’t have the patience.

To be honest, these sort of projects are more work than they are worth if the goal is to sell it and make a profit.  Which is my plan.  If you just wanted to do it for yourself though, it’s very doable.  I think the chair went from outdated to chic for sure.

I sent my husband to Hudson, Wisconsin to pick up this fabulous dresser last Friday.  I wanted to make it another date night furniture pick up, but the seller was only available during the day.  Mr. Q is still in training when it comes to judging whether a piece of furniture is good, but he is learning quickly.  He thought I would love this one, and he was right.

It has its flaws, as they all do.  Some problems with separating veneer, one leg is pretty chewed up, and there was a missing piece of trim.  My cat Lucy was helping me with the inspection, and posed for this shot of the missing trim.  She really loves a good photo bomb.

As usual, I invited my neighbor Ken over for a consultation.  He said “gosh, that looks like screen trim”, at which point I once again marvel at the depth of his knowledge.  He runs home and comes back with a replacement piece, a little glue and some nails.  Once I paint it, you’ll never know it was missing.

I still have some mismatched ugly knobs and poorly repaired drawer pulls to deal with.  I’m pretty sure I will just replace them all with something else.

Meanwhile, I’m thinking about painting this guy with MMS Artissimo.  I’m drawing my inspiration from this gorgeous dresser that was painted by Danielle at Silver Pennies.

Isn’t he beautiful?!  The Jameson has a little more detail than mine, but I think they are very similar in feeling, tall and masculine (thanks for letting me share your dresser on my blog Danielle.)

I actually have a set of lion’s head drawer pulls like those used by Danielle somewhere around here, although mine are black.  If I have enough, perhaps they will work on the Hudson.

The trick will be getting my blue to end up like this, and not the darker color I usual get.  Danielle used wax instead of hemp oil, so this time I’m going to give that a try … that is, unless I change my mind and paint the Hudson in a different color all together.  Sometimes I do that .. it’s my prerogative.

You may be starting to think that I have been posting quite a line up of ‘befores’ and where are all the ‘afters’?!  I have 4 pieces in progress.  Glue is drying, paint is drying, cushions are being sewn, parts are being purchased … I hope that soon I will have a slew of ‘afters’ to share with you!