q is for quandie

Last summer I brought this desk home from a garage sale.

I loved the chunky knobs, and at just $5, the price was definitely right.

After my handyman Ken made some repairs to it, I painted it with Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth and added a grain sack style stripe in their Yankee Blue.  You can see all of those details in my original post about the desk.

Unfortunately, here it is January and I still have this desk in inventory.  For whatever reason, I have not had any luck selling this piece.  Well, then again, I have to admit I’ve been a little slack about promoting it.  I took my remaining Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist ads down before I went on my trip back in early November, and I never re-posted this one.  So that could have something to do with it.

Never the less, I decided it was time for a do-over.

I started out by sanding down the grain sack stripes and painting over them with more of the Dixie Belle Drop Cloth.  Then I pulled out one of the new Prima Marketing re.design transfers called Passion Flower.

Isn’t that just gorgeous?  All of those vibrant colors!  This boho style is a bit outside of my normal comfort zone, but I’m hoping it will add that little bit of something special to this desk and help it find a new home.

Now before you get all excited and rush out to try and find this one somewhere, this is a sneak peek at one of the brand new designs coming out soon from Prima.  So it’s not available quite yet.  I’ll try to remember to give you guys an update when it becomes available.  But for now, this is just a tease.

I definitely wanted to use the entire transfer on this desk with the oval ‘free spirit’ portion on the top.

But I wasn’t quite sure at first how to make the other section of the transfer work with this desk.  Then I realized that it would look pretty fab if I just wrapped it around one corner giving the desk a more asymmetrical look.

If you’re wondering about the logistics of actually applying the transfer, here’s how I did it.  I started by removing the knobs from the drawers.  Then with the drawers back in place I figured out the placement I wanted and taped the transfer in place over the front of the desk.  I used a razor blade to trim the transfer around each of the drawer fronts, then pulled each one out individually and applied that section of the transfer.  Next, with the drawers still out, I applied the sections of the transfer that went between the drawers.

Once that was completed, I lined up the transfer around the side of the desk and applied that part.

It took a little patience to do this, and my results are not 100% perfect.  I don’t think anyone would notice unless they were seriously scrutinizing the details though.

Applying the transfer on the top was much simpler.

Once that was done, I added two coats of The Real Milk Paint Co’s Finishing Cream in Dead Flat to the top of the desk.  Since this is a desk, and it’s white, I thought it wise to have a very durable and washable surface on the top.  The rest of the desk was already finished with Dixie Belle’s Clear Matte Spray Wax so I freshened that up with another coat of the spray wax.

At first I was completely at a loss as to how to stage this piece for photos.  I think we can all agree that my usual look is more vintage, farmhouse, neutral, or sometimes even more mid-century.  I don’t have very many boho style props … or more accurately, I don’t have any boho style props.

But as I was studying the desk with its new transfer, it reminded me quite a bit of a little gift my sister and niece brought over for me while I was sick.

Yep, it’s a grown up coloring book.  It was the perfect thing for me.  It allowed me to be creative without having to think about it too hard, nor did it require too much physical effort.  I colored quite a few of the pages while I was laid up on the sofa watching Outlander.

I added a couple of my favorite blue pitchers, a pretty plant and an old swing set seat turned into a magnet board and that was all it took to style this desk.

The Dixie Belle Yankee Blue that I originally used inside the drawers still works beautifully with the transfer …

as does the Yankee Blue chair …

Now, all that remains is to see if this version of the desk sells better than the last!

Hopefully there is a free spirit out there somewhere who needs a desk!

Fingers crossed!

Thank you to Dixie Belle for supplying the paint and spray wax for this project, Prima Marketing for supplying the transfer and The Real Milk Paint Co for supplying the Finishing Cream.

If you’re wondering where to purchase the Prima Marketing transfers check out their ‘where to buy’ page.

If you’re wondering where to buy the Dixie Belle Drop Cloth or Yankee Blue paint and Easy Peasy Spray Wax, you can shop with them directly online or find a retailer near you.

You can also order The Real Milk Paint Co’s Finishing Cream online here.

And finally, if you happen to be local (Twin Cities, MN) and in need of a free spirited desk, check out my ‘available for local sale’ page for more details.

A while back Cari from Prima Marketing posted these adorable crates on the re.design with Prima Facebook group page.  She gave them a new life using the Sweet Apricot and the Everyday Farmhouse transfers.

I absolutely fell in love with the aqua color on the top crate, as well as her use of the transfers.  I have to say I would never have thought to pair that particular paint color with that apricot transfer, but they look amazing together, don’t they?

When my picker, Sue, found these kid-size folding chairs at the thrift store for me, I just had to see if Cari’s combination worked on them too.

First things first, I had to choose a paint color from my stash that was similar to that pretty aqua that Cari used.  Initially I thought that Fusion’s Laurentien would be the perfect color, and I did have some of that color on hand.  However, I really wanted a chippy milk paint finish on these chairs.

I considered using Miss Mustard Seed’s Eulalie’s Sky, but that color is a tad more blue.  I also thought about using Sweet Pickens’ Patina, but that one is a bit brighter than I wanted.  Then I remembered, Homestead House makes a milk paint version of Laurentien.  And not only that, but I just happened to have some in my milk paint stash!

Much like baby bear’s bed in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, it was just right.

Speaking of bears, painting these chairs was a bit of a bear.  All of those slats and legs and cross braces, oh my.  Every time I looked at the chair from another angle I found spots that I had missed.

But it was definitely worth the effort.

Once I had them painted, I sanded them to distress the edges and remove any chippy paint.  I also wiped them down with a clean, dry cloth to remove any excess dust before applying the transfers.

Here are what the Sweet Apricot transfers look like out of the tube.

There are 9 different designs in this set.

I decided to follow Cari’s lead once again and trim away the transfer around the piece of fruit.  Initially I tried using my larger pair of scissors, but I found it was much easier to use my Cutter Bees.

I used to use these little scissors all the time when scrapbooking.  They are perfect for getting around small details.

Once I had the transfer trimmed, I removed the backing paper and placed the fruit where I wanted it on the seat of the chair and pressed it down.  Before removing the top sheet of the transfer, I sliced it about halfway between each of the slats using a razor blade.  That way I was able to sort of wrap the transfer around the edge of each slat.

Next I chose some pieces from the Everyday Farmhouse transfer set to add wording to the back of each chair and the cross piece on the legs.

Once I had the transfers adhered, I added a protective topcoat of Miss Mustard Seeds’ clear furniture wax.

I love that these chairs fold up completely flat, which makes them perfect for hanging on the wall as decoration if one doesn’t happen to have a practical use for kid sized chairs.

They would be awesome hung in the kitchen, and you could always pull them down in a pinch if you need the extra seating for diminutive guests.

FYI – the table in that photo is one I painted a while back in a custom mix of milk paint that I called Green Alligator.  You can visit the original post for more details on that.

Since I had a little milk paint left over after finishing the chairs, I also painted this galvanized bucket.

Using milk paint on galvanized metal can be hit or miss.  If the metal is smooth and shiny, or has an oily residue on it, you will likely get chipping.  Possibly even lots of chipping.  However, if the metal feels rougher and doesn’t have a shiny coating then milk paint will adhere quite well.  As you can see, this bucket was somewhere in between.  It was rough and dull but I think there was some sort of residue where it chipped.  But no worries, I love this look!  Once the paint was dry I sanded well to remove most of the chips.  Then I wiped it down with a dry, clean cloth and added the transfer (also from the Everyday Farmhouse set).  I finished it all off with a coat of The Real Milk Paint Co’s Finishing Cream in Low Sheen.  This topcoat will help protect the rest of the paint from further chipping.

Many thanks to Homestead House, Miss Mustard Seed, The Real Milk Paint Co and Prima Marketing for providing the products I used on these chairs.  And a special thank you to Cari for providing the inspiration for these frickin’ adorable little chairs.

If you’re wondering where to purchase the Prima Marketing re.design transfers, check out their ‘where to buy’ page.

If you’re wondering where to buy Miss Mustard Seed’s products, here is where you can ‘buy online.’

If you’re wondering where to buy Homestead House Milk Paint, you can order it online here.

You can also order The Real Milk Paint Co’s Finishing Cream online here.

And finally, if you happen to be local (Twin Cities, MN) and in need of a pair of adorable little chairs, check out my ‘available for local sale’ page to see if these are still available.  I will most likely bring them in to Reclaiming Beautiful if nobody snatches them up right away.

Last week was a rough one for me.  I won’t go into the details, but I was camped out on the sofa for nearly 5 days.  I had time to watch the entire Outlander series from the beginning through the current episode, and that is no small feat.  Luckily I had finished today’s project prior to getting ill so I had something to share with you guys today.  I’m still working on regaining my strength though, so I can’t promise I’ll be back to my regular posting schedule just yet but I’m sure you guys will cut me some slack.

I picked up this chair at a garage sale last summer … well, really last spring, as evidenced by the tulips blooming in the background of my ‘before’ photo.

It was in decent shape, just terribly outdated.  I apologize to grandmothers everywhere, but there isn’t much of a market for these needlepoint seats anymore.  But this chair had some lovely lines to it, and a rather unique look to the back, so I snatched it up.

I knew I could give it an entirely new look with some chippy milk paint.

Now I have a small confession to make.  I actually painted this chair last summer.  And then somehow it got shoved to the back of the workshop and I forgot about it, so I’m a little spotty on the details regarding exactly which products I used.

I know I painted it with a layer of blue paint first but I can’t remember for sure which blue, I think it was Miss Mustard Seed’s French Enamel.  Then I added Miss Mustard Seed’s Ironstone over that.  You can just see the blue peeking through in a few spots where I’ve distressed the carving at the top of the chair.

And as you can see, I got some great chipping!

I pulled this chair out of the workshop at least a month ago or so thinking that all it needed to finish it up was some new fabric for the seat.  My vision for this piece was to use a fabulous vintage European grain sack for that.  But I didn’t actually have one.  I shopped around a bit for one, but those things are not cheap.

Finally I realized I was being foolish.  I know how to create something nearly as fabulous at a fraction of the price.  Duh!

Just stencil some drop cloth material and ta da!

The stencil is from Maison de Stencils.  If you are looking for European grain sack style stencils, they have a fantastic selection.

And just like that, the chair was finished.

I don’t know what took me so long to finish it off!

For quite some time now I’ve been wanting to try the newest Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint color, Aviary.

Let’s see.  I think this color came out about a year or so ago, right?  Hmmmm.  Why am I always so hopelessly behind the times?  Well, better late than never I hope.

One of my strategies when working with a new paint color is to paint a practice board first so that I can get a feel for how the color looks with different top coats before moving on to a large piece of furniture.  But this time I decided it would be more fun to paint a little schoolhouse chair to test out this color.

As you can see, the finish on this chair was in pretty rough shape.  Parts of the finish were so dried out that I really didn’t think I would get any resistance at all (and thus no chipping).  I wanted to end up with a chippy, beat up, authentically old looking finish, so I didn’t do much prep work to the chair at all.  OK, let’s be honest, I did absolutely zero prep.  I may have wiped away a cob-web or two, but that was it.

Sometimes that can backfire on you, and had this been a larger piece of furniture it would have been a mistake.  But for this little chair, it was a calculated risk.  It’s a small piece, so it would be easy enough to fix if the paint didn’t adhere at all.  Sure enough,  I ended up getting quite a bit more chipping than I expected on the legs of the chair, but very little chipping on the seat.  So I simply sanded down the super chippy legs and painted them again.  Problem solved.  The sanding helped the next layer of paint stick.

Today’s q tip:  If you’re comfortable with taking a chance and rolling the dice, you can skip the prep on your project like I did.  But if you’d prefer to exercise a little more control over the amount of chipping you get with milk paint then do proper prep first.  Sand your piece lightly all over and clean well with TSP Substitute (or similar).  For more tips on painting with milk paint, check out my milk paint basics post.

The coverage with Aviary was really good.  Two coats of paint was plenty.

Once my paint was dry I sanded heavily for two reasons; first, I wanted to be sure I removed any chipping paint (more on that in a minute) and second, I wanted a very distressed look for this vintage chair.  I still had some chipping, but it was just the right amount this time.

Once sanded, I vacuumed the chair with my shop vac.  Then I used a clean, dry, nubby cloth to wipe the chair vigorously.  I wanted to be sure that I had all of the chipped paint and dust off before applying a transfer to the seat and back of the chair.

This project was a great way to use up the leftover pieces of the Prima Marketing French Ceramics transfers that I used on a dresser that I painted last year.

When using a transfer over chippy milk paint I have found two options that work well.  Sand the chippy paint really thoroughly and be sure to remove all chips and dust first; or seal the milk paint with Miss Mustard Seed’s Tough Coat Sealer (or another water based sealer) before applying the transfer.  If you don’t do either of these things, you may find that the transfer backing paper removes your chipping paint rather than releasing the transfer onto your piece.

Also, do not try to apply a transfer over freshly applied wax.  It will become a sticky, gooey mess as the friction from rubbing on the transfer will heat up the wax and it all just goes downhill from there.  Been there, done that.  Remember transfer first, wax second.  However, you can apply a transfer to a waxed surface that has cured for 30 days or more.

Once I had my transfer in place, I sanded over it with 220 grit sandpaper.  I wanted a distressed look, so I wanted the transfer to look worn away in spots too.

Next I wiped the chair down with a clean cloth again and then applied Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Wax in the special edition lavender scent.

I applied it using a new wax brush that my friend Terri gave me for my birthday.  It came in a kit with three brushes, some brush soap and a few other little things like a pair of plastic gloves and one of those sanding blocks.

I haven’t tried the brush soap yet, but it smells divine.  I’d be tempted to use it as a regular hand soap it smells so good.  I think that smaller non-tapered brush might work well for stenciling.  And the pointy brush just came in handy for getting at a hard to reach spot on the bench I shared last Friday.

I used the largest brush at the bottom for waxing this chair though and to be honest I think the bristles are just a bit too long and too soft for really effective waxing.  I prefer my waxing brushes to be a little bit more stiff.  It was hard to work the wax into the surface with this brush.  It might be better suited to painting rather than waxing (and fyi, it is meant for either painting or waxing).

I haven’t had the milk paint out in a while, and now I’m reminded of why I love it so much.  It really does provide the most authentically aged looking chippy finish.

And isn’t the Aviary a lovely shade of grey-blue?  I’ll be keeping an eye out for the perfect dresser to put this color on next!

Thank you to Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint for providing the paint and wax, and to Prima Marketing for providing the transfer for this project.

If you’re wondering where to purchase the Prima Marketing re.design French Ceramics transfer, check out their ‘where to buy’ page.

If you’re wondering where to buy Miss Mustard Seed’s product, here is where you can ‘buy online.’

And finally, if you happen to be local (Twin Cities, MN) and in need of an adorable little chair, check out my ‘available for local sale’ page to see if this one is still available.

OK, I know I’m jumping the gun a bit with the garden theme of this piece.

I just couldn’t help myself though.  I’m already dreaming of spring, how about you?

I wasn’t especially looking for another bed frame to turn into a bench, but I came across this bed while garage saling on my lunch break last fall.  Luckily I was with my co-worker Jodie and she was driving a pick up truck so we were able to load it up.

There were no side rails included, so that made this one a great candidate for a bench.  If I’d wanted to sell it as a bed I would have had to replace the side rails.

In addition to adding a seat and the lower front trim piece to the bench, this time my handyman Ken also had to insert boards into some gaps in the headboard and foot board in order to make this piece work.

This is the third bench that Ken has made out of an old bed frame (here is the first and the second if you want to see them).

Once the bench was constructed, I painted the old wood with two coats of Fusion’s Bedford, while the new wood on the seat only required one coat.  Bedford is a medium warm grey.

I let the paint dry overnight, and then I added Prima Marketing’s Seeds transfer.

I didn’t quite use all of the transfer, although I did put some of it on the lower section of the bench too.

I also sanded the edges of the piece to distress the paint job.  With Fusion paint I recommend doing this within a few days of painting the piece.  Fusion is more difficult to distress once the paint has cured.

Although Fusion paint does not require a top coat for durability, the bare wood that I exposed by sanding could use a little protection.  So I added just a little bit of Miss Mustard Seed’s furniture wax to a cloth and wiped it over all of the distressed areas of the bench.  I didn’t add a lot of wax, just a bit.

I did the same over the transfer, just rubbed it lightly with a waxy cloth to give it a little extra protection.

I couldn’t resist staging the bench with plants and gardening supplies.  Sure, it’s January and everything outside my window is frozen solid.  But inside I can pretend it’s practically spring!

If you’re wondering where to purchase the Prima Marketing Seeds transfer, check out their ‘where to buy’ page.

If you’re wondering where to buy the Fusion paint in Bedford, check out their ‘where to buy’ page.

And finally, if you happen to be local (Twin Cities, MN) and in need of a fabulous bench, check out my ‘available for local sale’ page to see if this one is still available.