q is for quandie

As much as I love the gorgeous pieces I’ve done lately using those beautiful Prima Marketing floral transfers, or the really cool buffet that I shared last Friday stenciled with the re.design decor wax, sometimes I like to just keep it simple.  So that’s what I decided to do with today’s piece.

I picked this one up a week ago at the Lynnhurst/Fulton garage sales.

It was ridiculously bargain priced, but it also was in pretty rough shape.  I didn’t get a good ‘before’ shot that shows how badly warped the top was so you’ll just have to trust me on that.  But my handyman Ken had to literally cut it into strips and then glue them back together again to attempt to flatten it out.  He made several other repairs that I neglected to get photos of too.

Once Ken was done with the repairs, it was my turn to make it pretty again.

I started by painting the inside in Fusion’s Coal Black and the outside in Dixie Belle’s Caviar.  You might be wondering why I didn’t go entirely with one or the other, and the honest answer is that I didn’t have enough of either one to paint the entire piece!

So I opted for the Coal Black on the inside because it will be fully washable once cured which is really nice on a shelf.  Plus it’s rather putzy to wax the inside of a cupboard.  The Fusion paint doesn’t need a topcoat, so I avoided that task.  I went with the Caviar on the outside because I just slightly prefer the look of distressed and waxed chalk paint over the look of Fusion.  The Fusion paint has just a little bit more shine (although it is still considered matte) than the waxed Dixie Belle paint.  And by the way, I waxed over the Caviar using Fusion’s Black Wax.  I absolutely love all of the waxes from that company whether it’s Miss Mustard Seed, Fusion or Homestead House.  It’s soft and creamy smooth, so it goes on easily.  Plus it’s perfectly safe and doesn’t contain any aromatic hydrocarbons (if you don’t know about those, check out my wax post).

I added a simple little ‘1918’ stencil above the door.  You know me and my numbers, I’ve got a thing for them.

You may also have noticed that I chose to remove the fretwork from behind the glass.  I really feel like I could have gone either way with that.  Some people love that look, and others prefer a more simple look.  Since I was going for simple with this one, I took it off.

Then finally, the pièce de résistance, I used some of the Prima Marketing re.design knob transfers on the knobs!

This design is from the Cursive Letters set.

Let me explain how this style with the black background works.  These are black rub-on’s.  The portion that shows as white in the picture above is clear, these are not white rub-on’s.  So if my knobs were painted solid black, the design wouldn’t really show up much.

Instead I painted my knobs black on the ‘stem’ of the knob, but a creamy white on the face.  Then I applied the transfer.  Once that was in place, I sanded around the edges of the knob to remove any excess white paint and to give them a distressed look.  I followed up with a topcoat of Fusion black wax.

It may appear like the entire knob was painted black and then the transfer was applied over the black, so I just wanted to make that clear (pardon the pun).

I love how the knobs add just a little touch of the unexpected to this cupboard.

I feel like this piece is a great example showing how you don’t necessarily have to do something fancy or use complicated techniques to salvage an old piece of furniture.  Sometimes all it takes is a little paint  …  and maybe some cool knob transfers … and your piece will turn out simply beautiful.

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

If you’re wondering where to buy the Fusion paint in Coal Black or their black wax, check out their ‘where to buy‘ page.

If you’re wondering where to buy the Dixie Belle Cavair paint, you can shop with them directly online or find a retailer near you.

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

Sometimes I take on a piece that I think is going to be a fairly simple makeover and it just ends up taking forever.  Today’s piece is one of those.

First off, we drove to a galaxy far, far away (to the opposite side of the Twin Cities) to pick this one up.  I’m really not sure what possessed me.  Normally I won’t go that far for a piece of furniture.  And it wasn’t particularly bargain priced either.

I guess something about it just spoke to me.  I also thought it would be a quick paint job, but that ended up not being the case.

My initial plan was to strip and wax the top, but then I discovered that it’s full of really deep scratches.  So deep they seem to go right through the veneer in some spots.

So that scraps that idea.

Next, one of the pulls was missing and one was broken.  Sigh.  You know what that means.  All new hardware.  Then as the icing on that cake, when I removed the rest of them I found that they had all left big gouged out rings around the holes.  Those had to be filled before I could move on because the new knobs I selected wouldn’t cover up those rings entirely.

Next, as Mr. Q and I were moving this piece around to get that ‘before’ photo taken I realized that one of the back legs was a bit wonky.  So I had to ask my handyman Ken to take a look at that and do some repair work.  That required taking the back off the piece so that Ken could get to some nails that were holding the leg in place.  He removed the nails, then the leg, and then added fresh glue and new screws to hold the leg in place.  It’s much sturdier now.

Finally, my initial plan was to paint this piece either white or pale grey and then use a Prima Marketing transfer on the front.  However, I quickly realized that the mahogany stain on this piece was going to be difficult to cover with a pale paint color.

So at that point I re-evaluated.  It was time to consider using a dark color to save myself further headaches, and that meant no transfer.

Then I remembered a tutorial by Brandy from Brushed by Brandy  I believe you have to join the How to Paint Like a Pro Facebook page to watch that video though, so if you aren’t already a member I encourage you to become one.  Brandy used the new Prima Marketing re.design decor wax with a stencil.  Eureka!  If I hadn’t seen her video, I don’t think it would have ever occurred to me that I could stencil with these waxes.

And it just so happened that Prima Marketing had provided me with a bunch of their new waxes, as well as some of their amazing stencils.  So I had all of the necessary ingredients to try this technique.

So I started  with some test boards.  These were just scrap chunks of unfinished board.  I painted them with various Fusion paint colors and then stenciled them with the different wax colors.

From left to right the paint colors on the boards are Ash, Bedford and Midnight Blue.  I tried several wax colors over each paint color.  This was a great way to both practice stenciling with the wax, and also to see how I liked the various colors together.

I quickly realized that my two favorite combos were the Diamond Dust wax on the Bedford paint …

and the Galaxy wax on the Ash paint.

Obviously I’m a fan of the more subtle combinations, but there are many different looks that you can get using these waxes with a stencil.

Since I wanted to keep my paint color dark, I decided that the Ash would be my best bet, paired with the Galaxy wax (now are you getting my galaxy far, far away title?)  Some black knobs with a matte finish that I found at Hobby Lobby would be the perfect finishing touch.

After my usual prep of light sanding followed by cleaning with a damp rag, I painted the buffet with two coats of the Ash.

Once that was dry, I used the Imperial Damask stencil and the Galaxy Decor Wax (both from the Prima Marketing re.design line) to add the most subtle textural-looking design onto just the door and drawer fronts.

Isn’t that a cool look?  Although it looks fairly pronounced in that photo, it actually looks a little bit more subtle in real life.  In a dimly lit room you can barely even see the damask pattern.  And it also shows up better at certain angles more than others.

In case you are wondering, once it has dried/hardened the wax does not smear or rub off.

I couldn’t resist adding a gorgeous pop of color to the inside of the buffet with Dixie Belle’s Peony.

I just love this beautiful vibrant pink.  Using this color on the outside might scare off some of my more conservative mid-western buyers, but having it on the inside is a whole different story.  It’s just there to make you smile when you open those doors.

I debated adding some of the wax to the carved details on the buffet to highlight them, but in the end I just distressed them and left them alone.

This next photo gives you a better feel for how subtle the waxed stencil pattern is from straight on.

In the long run, I’m very happy with how this piece turned out!

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

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

If you’re wondering where to buy the Dixie Belle Peony paint that is inside the buffet, you can shop with them directly online or find a retailer near you.

The knobs came from my local Hobby Lobby but you can also find them online.

And finally, if you happen to be local (Twin Cities, MN) and in need of a gorgeous dresser, check out my ‘available for local sale’ page for more details on the buffet from a galaxy far, far away.

You probably remember this beautiful dresser that I shared a couple of weeks ago with its amazing … and huge … Prima Marketing Rose Celebration transfer.

Prima had sent me several of the new transfers in their re.design line and this was the first one I tried.  What I didn’t mention when I shared this was that I chose my ‘least favorite’ of all the transfers they sent to try first, just in case I got it wrong and wrecked it somehow (which obviously didn’t happen).

Now, before you take that wrong, that definitely doesn’t mean that I didn’t love this transfer.  What that really means is that the rest of them are even more fantastic.  If that one was my ‘least favorite’, just imagine what the rest of them are like!

As soon as I finished that dresser I was on the hunt for another dresser to add a mammoth transfer to .

To be specific, this time it’s the Imperial Garden transfer (this one is 44″ wide x 30″ tall) and it looks like this.

If you look closely at the background you might guess why I fell in love with this transfer at first sight.  Do you see it?  It’s Venice!  See the gondola (lower left)?  And those classically Venetian buildings?  Since I’ll be spending my 55th birthday in Venice this year, this transfer felt special.

I wanted to find a dresser that would accommodate most, if not all, of the design.  If you’ll remember I had to trim about 6″ off of the sides of the transfer on that previous dresser.

So when nnK sent me the Facebook Marketplace ad for a dresser that someone she knew was selling, I jumped at it.  It looked right about the perfect size.

Mr. Q picked it up while I was at work one day last week, but as soon as I got home I took some measurements and discovered I was right.  It’s the perfect size!

The next step was to pick a paint color.  There were so many possibilities.  I could have gone with an off-white, of course.  But I also could have chosen a pale pink, either Dixie Belle’s Pink Champagne or Fusion’s Little Piggy (both of which I had on hand).  Either of those would have been gorgeous.  I also debated using Fusion’s Lichen, which is a pale green grey.  It was a perfect match for some of the greens in the leaves.

But I ended up choosing Fusion’s Inglenook.  I absolutely love the pale blue green color and I thought it would work beautifully with the colors in the transfer.

I also made the decision to leave the top ‘as is’.  I think this is a first for me.  But the dresser had been recently refinished and although the finish is a bit shinier than I would have chosen, it was in really good shape so I left it.

I figured that if I didn’t love the way it looked after finishing the rest of the dresser, I could always paint it later.

I also made the decision to remove the existing hardware and not put it back on.

These pulls might work for another piece down the road, but they would have fought with the design of the transfer.  So I filled the holes for the original hardware using Dixie Belle’s Mud before painting and I added glass knobs instead.

I followed my usual protocol of sanding lightly and cleaning with a damp rag, then I added two coats of Fusion’s Inglenook.  Once the paint was dry, I distressed the edges of the dresser by hand sanding them with 180 grit sandpaper.

Next I applied the transfer.  I used the same method I used last time (find that here).

Once the transfer was applied, I sanded over it very lightly by hand with 220 grit sandpaper to give it a more faded, vintage look.  That’s totally optional and just a matter of preference.  Some of you may prefer the look of the transfer without sanding it.

Adding the transfer completely transformed this dresser.

Although it was in nice shape before, it was kind of ho hum.  The previous owners did a nice job refinishing it, but I think they robbed it of its character.

But now it has plenty of personality again.

The little chair in the photos is from the Mac-Grove sales.  I started out painting it grey, but it ended up being a bleeder (ie. the red stain bled through the paint) so I zapped it with some spray on shellac and then ended up giving it a coat of the Inglenook while I was painting the dresser.

Then I used the left over remnants from another Prima Marketing transfer to dress it up a bit.

I love the petite size of the chair.

I also used a few of my hydrangeas to stage this piece.

They are looking pretty much amazing at the moment, so it was hard to resist getting them in a few photos!

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

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

If you’re wondering where to buy the Dixie Belle Mud that I used to fill the old drawer pull holes, you can shop with them directly online or find a retailer near you.

If you’d like to order the glass knobs I used on this piece, you can find them at D Lawless Hardware.

And finally, if you happen to be local (Twin Cities, MN) and in need of a gorgeous dresser, check out my ‘available for local sale’ page for more details on the Imperial Garden dresser!

 

I purchased this sweet little nightstand at one of the neighborhood garage sales earlier this summer.

I sort of threw it in at the last minute because the price was right and I thought it would make a great smaller project for winter when I have to go back to painting in my living room.

But then Prima Marketing sent me a few of the new transfers from their re.design line, including the Floral Home set.

And I realized that the one on the lower right would be perfect on this piece.

Shortly after that, Dixie Belle sent me some of their paint in a color called Pink Champagne.  It’s the most delicate pale, pale pink and I thought it might just be perfect behind that beautiful transfer.  So I simply couldn’t wait until winter to get started on this makeover.

Before I got started painting though I wanted to remove that carved rose detail from the front of the top drawer.  It looks OK in that ‘before’ photo, but in real life it looked really plastic-like.  I had to chip it off with a putty knife because it was made out of some strange rubbery, plastic, waxy, I don’t know what, kind of material.

But I got it off, did a little patching with some of Dixie Belle’s Mud and then painted the nightstand with three coats of the Pink Champagne.  Next I sanded the edges and the detailed trim to distress.

Then came the fun part.  Adding the Prima Marketing transfer.  The transfer design had a pretty scroll-y frame around it, but I cut that off because it was just a tad bigger than my drawer fronts with the frame included.

One detail you might notice in that photo is that I don’t just apply the transfer to the drawer fronts leaving gaps where those cross pieces are between the drawers.  I did that once and I thought it looked kind of funny.  I prefer to put the drawers back in place and then apply the transfer without any blank spaces between the drawers.

If you use this technique, just be absolutely sure that your drawers are back in the right spots before you begin because there’s no going back.

Once the transfer was applied, I went over it ever so lightly with some fine grit sandpaper to give it a little bit of a distressed look as well.  I finished the piece with some of Dixie Belle’s Spray On Wax.  I used it right over the transfer and it worked beautifully.  That stuff is just so darn easy to use.

I replaced the original wood knobs with some petite glass knobs that I purchased from D Lawless.  These are the 1″ version.

Let’s face it, something this pink and flowery was just calling out for glass knobs.

I’m still dying to put those gorgeous Prima Marketing knob transfers that I shared with you a couple of weeks ago to work, but obviously it would have been a bit much to have knobs with transfers on top of a larger transfer.

I’m sure I will come across just the right piece for some knob transfers soon though.

In keeping with my ‘never say never’ motto, I once again lined the drawers with pretty paper.  I just happened to have this old roll of wallpaper in my workshop, so why not?

By the way, after working on this piece I came to the conclusion that it was probably originally one half of a dressing table.  There are some screw holes on one side, plus the wood on one side looked a little bit rough around where it would have connected to a center piece between the two sides (although you have to look closely in person to notice those details, they don’t show up at all in a photo).

I wonder what happened to its other half.

Didn’t this one turn out sweet?

As usual, if you are local and in need of a new nightstand, be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.