Category: furniture.

Here it is!  My recent craigslist find.  OK, so I couldn’t help myself.  I had to do just one more Kitchen Scale buffet.  I chose to use this color again for several reasons.  First, I had many inquiries on my craigslist ad for the last one and it sold really quickly, so clearly it’s a popular color.  Second, it’s just so darn easy to work with.  And third, I just knew this buffet would also be stunning in this color.

So, here it is.  Vintage buffet no. 3

So very lovely.

Once again, this one had just the right amount of chippyness.  You can see the detail in this picture of the leg.  Also, I think this picture is a better representation of the actual color.

I chose to not paint the inside (as usual) because it’s just so putzy.  I know there are furniture restorers out there that do gorgeous things with the insides of their pieces, like adding a fabric lining and so on, but that isn’t me.  Plus, this isn’t an item that will sit around with its doors open for all the world to see.

This one is for sale on craigslist, you can see the ad here.  Update:  this one did not sell on craigslist, so I brought it up to the Round Barn.  I think it will do better there!  It’s so pretty in person, surely someone will fall in love with it.

Don’t worry, I promise not to use Kitchen Scale on the next one.  Even I am growing a little bored with it.

This guy is up next.  I have an idea percolating in the back of my mind, inspired by my painted books.  Check back to see what I do with him!

I love craigslist.  It boggles my mind that someone came up with this fantastic idea, and that it is FREE!  Really, let’s take a moment to stop and reflect upon that.  Thanks Craig, or whoever you are.  I really appreciate it.

The other day I was surfing the ‘list’, and I came across an ad for a buffet and this was their picture.

Yep … that’s the picture that they thought would encourage someone to want to buy it.

My first thought was “yikes! trash house!”, but my second thought was “gosh, that might be really pretty!”  So, I contacted the seller.  The first good sign was that her name was Linda … anyone named Linda can’t be bad.  The second good sign was that the buffet was still available.  After speaking with Linda, I got the full story.  Her brother was hired to clean out a friend’s abandoned house, and this buffet was buried amongst the rubble.  She posted the ad, but I would be dealing with her brother.

Off we went to the big city (that’s Minneapolis, for future reference) to take a look.  I confess, I was a little nervous.  I had visions of trying to clear a path through piles of trash to get to the buffet, maybe a couple of rats running to and fro.  Horrible smells permeating the air.  That kind of thing.   But in the end, Linda’s brother was a super nice guy.  Very friendly, and obviously not afraid of a little hard work, since he had already removed two dumpsters of trash from the house, and really had it looking pretty cleaned up.  He apologized for the musty smell of the house before we even went in, but I have to say, it wasn’t that bad.  I’ve definitely smelled worse!  Turned out, his niece was one of my husband’s former yoga instructors.  Small world, huh?

Anyway, we descended into the basement and there she was.  It was love at first sight.  I didn’t even try to bargain for a reduced price, or hide my delight.  I handed over the cash and said “I’ll take it!”

She isn’t super ornate or elaborate, not a lot of frilly details, but filled with sinewy curves that are just elegant.  And look at those legs!  Naturally I will be painting this … in fact, I am going to start as soon as I stop typing.  Check back soon for the after pics!

I was heading home from work one day early last spring with the top down on my car (ahhh, I can only dream of this now), and what did I spy out of the corner of my eye??  A garage sale with some beat up looking furniture poking out of the garage.  I screeched to a halt and whipped a u-turn to check them out.

At first I really just wanted the dresser, even though these were being sold as a ‘set’ (you all know by now how I feel about matching sets).  The sellers were a lovely brother/sister duo, and oddly enough, the dresser was his and the desk was hers, but they were selling them together … go figure.  Just as I was about to conclude a tough negotiation for just the dresser, I realized I was being an idiot and just bought them both!  I may have bought them together, but I didn’t have to keep them together!

You can tell by my brown grass that this is truly early spring … forgive me for that.  And you can see that both of these were in pretty tough shape.

I worked on the dresser first, since he was so charming.  He had some issues with  his veneer, so I patched him up with some putty.  Ken worked on the upper doors so they would function smoothly.  Then I painted him white using my own faux chalk paint recipe of 2 parts paint, 1 part hot water and 1 part Plaster of Paris.  Then I added the French words in black and finished with a coat of paste wax.  The drawer pulls were spray painted in Oil Rubbed Bronze, and the two little door knobs were replaced with some very cute ones that I had on hand.

It took me a bit longer to get to the desk.  At first I just wasn’t inspired by it, but then I decided perhaps it would be the perfect canvas for my French poem stencil.

I painted the body of the desk grey and the drawer fronts white, also using my faux chalk paint recipe.  Then I stenciled the drawers in grey with the words of a french poem.  The drawer pulls were painted in Oil Rubbed Bronze on this one too.  Isn’t she pretty?

This was about the time that I was learning to never try and take photos of furniture near a giant red carriage house when the light is bouncing off it.  Everything looks vaguely pink.  Lesson learned.

So there you have it, a classic brother/sister do-over.

In the past I did all of my furniture restyling in the carriage house.  I have lots of work space out there, and I can work on multiple pieces at once.  Unfortunately, that space is not heated, so I always just took a hiatus in the winter.  This winter I decided to attempt to work in the house.  That required a couple of changes.  First, I decided to work with the Miss Mustard Seed milk paint because it is non-toxic and all natural.  Next, I switched from using paste wax (which is quite smelly!) to the Miss Mustard Seed hemp oil for the final finish.  The hemp oil smells just slightly weedy (no pun intended).  I can work on just one piece at a time and I try to keep the mess to a minimum (I do not do this in the carriage house!), but I can make it work.

Here is proof.

For those of you not local, we are having a ridiculous cold snap here in Minnesota.  We’re talking sub-zero highs.  Highs people!  Not lows.  OK, so when life gives you sub-zero temps, make lemonade … or paint furniture … or something like that.

So, on Friday evening the hubby and I hauled this guy into the house for his makeover.  This piece came to me via nnK (that’s code for my neighbor Karen) whose co-worker’s uncle was getting rid of it and she thought of me.  Thanks nnK!

From the pictures I saw, I assumed this was one of those sort of early 70’s Spanish style pieces.  However, when we picked it up the owner explained that his mother purchased this back in the 50’s, and he was pretty sure it was not new then.

It is not as ‘chunky’ as those 70’s pieces and it is very well constructed, so I think the uncle was on the up and up and this piece is older than I thought.  But, I definitely did not dig the look of the wood grain on this guy.  Ewww.  It was a no-brainer to paint him.  And since I’d had so much luck with the MMS Kitchen Scale on my own oak buffet, I decided to use it on this one too.

I probably could have left it at just one coat of paint, but put on a 2nd more watered down coat for good measure.  Here is what the paint looks like before distressing and oiling.  The milk paint has a rather chalky finish, and the color is quite a bit lighter.

After the paint dried, I hand sanded.  Sometimes I use a scraper to promote chippiness, but on this one I just sanded.  I did get a fair amount of chipping on the top, but very little on the sides.

 Then I just gave him a good rub down with hemp oil (boy, that sounds like it should be much more enjoyable than it was).

Et voila!

There are some charming details inside too.  One of the top drawers has a clever and well constructed removable divider.  The bottom section still has its vintage contact paper liner.  It was in such good shape, and so full of vintage-y goodness that I left it as is.

So, there you have it.  What one can accomplish in one freakishly cold January weekend.

Update:  This buffet is SOLD!  to someone named Karen (funny coincidence, not the same Karen that it came from).  And she came to pick it up during what is being called a “shockingly cold polar vortex” (you gotta love that!)  because that, my friends, is what Minnesotans do.  Tough it out, carry on.  What?  Windchill is 38 below zero?  No biggie, let’s go load up some furniture!

Thanks Karen!

No, not those Jonas brothers.  If you expected to find some handsome pop singers here, sorry for the disappointment, but I’m talking about these handsome Jonas brothers.

I purchased the Jonas stencil via Etsy from Euro Stencil Designs.  It was $38 plus shipping, and has been worth every penny.  I’ve used it on a bazillion things.  I even used it on this year’s Christmas wrapping.

I did three dressers with this stencil last summer, and they were super popular.  Probably nearly as popular as the band!

I started with this one.  I painted him using homemade chalk paint.  Have you read about this?  It’s easy to make.  Just mix equal parts warm water and plaster of paris until smooth, then add about two to three times as much satin paint.  I don’t measure, but I have a good feel for the consistency I’m looking for.  I don’t know what it is about adding the plaster of paris to the paint, but somehow it just goes on smoothly, dries more quickly, sticks to the furniture better, and distresses more easily.  I usually finish the piece off with paste wax when I use this paint, as I did in this case.  The original hardware was all intact on this guy and I prefer to keep it when that is the case.

Next I painted this one using the same technique.  This one was missing some hardware though, so I switched it all out for some vintage black glass knobs.  I love the way the stencil fit perfectly inside the scrolls carved into the drawer fronts.

And finally, this one.  Same painting technique, and this time I saved some original hardware but had to add some black glass knobs as well.  I wish I’d had all the original drawers pulls as they are the prettiest silver, but no such luck.

The latest Jonas project is book painting.  I saw this on pinterest and thought I’d give it a try.  I think these are turning out fab.  I’ll be selling them at the Round Barn and possibly at my own occasional sale in June as well.

I regularly scope out CL (that would be craigslist) for deals on furniture.  I try to stick with stuff that is 1940’s or earlier, but occasionally I throw in a mid-century piece.  I also try to stick with stuff that is less than $100.  So, when I surf CL, I usually put in a max dollar amount, just to avoid seeing all of those ‘antiques’.  You know, the ones that you just know would be gorgeous painted, but are way out of your price range.

But somehow, last fall, I ended up spotting an ad for a bedroom set, $200 for all 3 pieces.  The pictures in the ad were terrible, and did not do this set justice at all.  I think this is the only reason that no one had snatched it up right away.  That, and the fact that they were in Cokato.  About an hour’s drive from civilization (my opinion only … if you are from Cokato, I’m sure it is a lovely town and much closer than I think).

So on a beautiful fall day, the hubby and I took a road trip to Cokato, and came home with this (pardon the terrible phone pic).

The sellers did not believe we could fit everything into our Ford Ranger, but they underestimated both our packing skills and our determination to not make a second trip to Cokato.

If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that I am opposed to ‘sets’ of furniture.  I fell victim to them in the past myself, but I’ve been slowly trying to eliminate them from my own house.  So, I decided right from the start that these pieces would not be painted as a ‘set’, but each piece done individually.

I started with the bed.  First, let me show you the CL ad pic that the seller posted.  It gives you only an inkling that it may be fabulous.

I painted it using a combination of 1 part Kitchen Scale to 3 parts Ironstone MMS milk paint.  Then I added a stencil to the foot board.

Turns out it is more than fabulous!  Just look at that gorgeous foot board (and you couldn’t even see it in the CL ad).  This bed ended up selling to someone who drove all the way down from Bemidji for it.  She runs a small theatre group that was putting on a production of Evita.  She needed a bed with a regal presence for the stage.  This one does the trick I think.

Next, I painted the dresser.  Here is the pic from the CL ad.

This piece is what sold me on the idea of driving to Cokato and buying this set.  I knew this would be fantastic painted.  Again, I mixed my own MMS milk paint using 1 part Typewriter and 3 parts Ironstone.

I’m not entirely happy with my photography skills on this one.  I need to quit attempting to take photos in front of the barn.  That red just reflects everywhere.  It gives this piece a pinkish glow that really is not part of the paint job.  This dresser went to the Round Barn and sold in less than a week.  I’m sure in part because it is so unique.

The final piece was the vanity.  Again, here is the CL ad photo.

If you are put off by the garland of silk roses, the pink roses lamp, and the snowman … well, you just have to look beyond that stuff!

It needed quite a bit of work.  The entire bottom framework had cracked in two.  Ken repaired it for me using dowels and glue.  That Ken is a furniture magician.  I then painted it with MMS Kitchen Scale.  The scrolly details are painted in MMS Ironstone.  This was the first piece I painted in Kitchen Scale, and I loved it so much that I later chose that color for my own oak buffet.

This guy was so much fun to paint.  The MMS milk paint went on so easily.  It chipped and distressed perfectly.  The one is still for sale (last time I checked).  You can find him at the Round Barn if you are so inclined.

It’s possible that I alone have kept the makers of Frog tape in business.  What can I say?  I like stripes.  And it is so easy to make them with some Frog tape, a tape measure, a pencil and some patience.

It all started with this dresser.

 I’d seen something similar on pinterest and thought I would give it a try.  The key to making this look work is to be sure that your stripes are all lined up.  Also, be sure to start in the center of the piece and work your way out to keep the edges even.

I tried it on a desk next.

Easy peasy.

I was going to paint the next one just like the first, but at the last minute switched the stripes to grey.

Then this one got stripes on just the top drawer.

And finally, how about some celery green stripes?

I love them all.  Most of these are sold.  The desk and this last green striped dresser are still for sale at the Round Barn in Andover, MN.  Just in case you feel the need to get yourself some stripes!

Last summer,  Jeanne and I hit the mother lode at a neighborhood garage sale in Minneapolis.  We came home with full truck.

It was one of those sales where the furniture was cheap and plentiful.  You gotta love those neighborhood sales!

I ended up with a dresser and two 1920’s built in bookcases (the tall dresser in the center was Jeanne’s find).

Yes, we fit all of this, plus more, into a Ford Ranger pickup.  We are masters at fitting everything in and avoiding a second trip back to the city to pick up our finds.

I originally thought I would paint the dresser on the far left with a Union Jack design, but as it turned out, I had purchased some of Miss Mustard Seed’s “Boxwood” milk paint, and I decided this dresser was perfect for it.

This dresser had such a shiny finish, I added a bonding agent to the paint.  After painting, I finished it off with a coat of SC Johnson’s paste wax.

Isn’t it gorgeous?!  The details just pop on this guy now.

Remember my faux European grain sack?  Well, I had a purpose in mind for it when I made it.

I saw something similar on pinterest and thought it was fantastic.  So when I found this hutch on craigslist, I knew I had to try this myself.  I’ll admit this piece was in much better shape than the pieces I usually work with.  I might have even felt a tiny little twinge of guilt over painting it.  However, I wanted to take it from ‘grandma’s hutch filled with her tea cup collection’ to amazing.  And I hope that is what I did.

I painted him with Miss Mustard Seed’s ‘grain sack’ overall.  The trim at the top, and the oval on the drawer are painted in Miss Mustard Seed’s ‘typewriter’.  I have noticed that many furniture refinishers swap out the hardware on their pieces for something new, but I prefer to keep the antique hardware whenever possible.  These drawer pulls were gorgeous and full of character, so I kept them.

With the grain sack ‘curtain’ this hutch becomes a fantastic storage piece that could be used for just about anything.

  Personally, I would keep it this way.  But, one could also remove the sack and use this as a display cabinet.

I think this hutch is a stunner.  I am SO tempted to keep him, except I have a very similar piece on my front porch already.  So, I will be delivering him to the Round Barn in Andover soon for some lucky buyer to discover.

I only recently started using Miss Mustard Seed paint.  I held out for a long time simply because it is kind of expensive.  Then last summer I bought a sample of it at the Oronoco Gold Rush.  As I feared would happen, I loved it.  Damn!  Now I drive all the way across the river to Hudson to buy it.

Oh … who am I kidding … I send my husband all the way across the river to buy it.  Thanks hon!

Working with this stuff has a bit of a steep learning curve though.  One problem has been especially prevalent with the green shades.  The thing is, you don’t get the same color every time.

It started with a dresser I painted in MMS’ Boxwood.  After painting it, I realized that one of the drawers needed to be completely sanded down and re-done (long story for another time).  I was pretty new to MMS paint then, and I just decided to use the leftover paint from the first go around.  I gave it a good stir and repainted the drawer … and ended up with a totally different shade of green.  Argh.  In the end, I had to repaint all of the drawers with a new mix of paint.

So really, I should have known better with the Luckett’s Green dresser.  But yet, I did it again.  One drawer needed repairs and was sent over to Ken for work.  I mixed up the paint and painted everything else.  This time I figured I could just mix up a new batch of paint for the last drawer.  If it didn’t sit around with the pigments separating, I figured it would be fine.  Surely it would be the same color, right?

Wrong.

Yep, there it is.  The bottom drawer.  Not the same at all.  I don’t know why this happens.  I use the same ratio of paint to water.  I am painting the same type of wood, with the same light sanding to start.

The lesson learned here.  Be patient.  Wait until you have all the pieces ready to go, and then paint them all at once.  In the end, it is worth it because you end up with this:

Live and learn baby, live and learn.