q is for quandie

Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to leave a comment regarding the question of drawer pulls last week.  Pressed brass drawer pulls, should they stay or should they go now?  If they go there will be trouble, if they stay it will be double … is anyone else singing along?  For those of you not old enough, that song is by The Clash and was written in 1981.  I’m pretty sure it wasn’t about drawer pulls though.

Well, to clear up any mystery, here are the actual drawer pulls in question.

And I’m guessing that some of you might be tempted to think that was a ‘before’ picture, but no, it’s not.  Thus leading to today’s question.  How chippy is too chippy?

Let’s start at the beginning though, shall we?

A week or two ago I found three dressers in one day on craigslist.  Two were even right here in my own hometown, which was pretty awesome.  It was also Mr. Q’s day off, so he was free to run around picking them up.  In the end, we only purchased two of them.  The third was a little overpriced and the seller wasn’t budging on the asking price, so Mr. Q passed on it.  This dresser is the first one he purchased that day.

As you can see, it had that ugly orange-y/reddish stain.  I am not a fan.  Job no. 1 was to strip the top and then wax it.  Easy enough.

Turned out beautifully.

Next step was to paint the body in Miss Mustard Seed milk paint.  Those of you who follow Miss Mustard Seed have probably been reading about the new color she has coming out, Farmhouse White.  I was so wishing I had that color for this dresser!  But no, I am just impatiently waiting for it like most everyone else.  Meanwhile, since I’d had such good luck with the Marzipan and leaving it unwaxed (on the book page dresser), I chose to go with that color again.  I was aiming for a chippy, vintage farmhouse look, so I opted not to pre-sand.  I did wipe the dresser down with some TSP substitute though.

I have to say, even after having painted, let’s see, maybe close to 100 pieces of furniture in milk paint, I still often can’t predict the end result.  I suspected I would get some chipping.  I wanted plenty of chipping.  What I got was A LOT of chipping.

Personally, my heart still skips a little beat whenever I see an awesomely chippy piece of furniture.  One of my own favorite pieces is this chippy cupboard that resides out in my photo cottage.

Recently I saw a very similar cupboard (much taller, but the doors were missing) for sale at my local Bachman’s and the price tag said $1,000 (Maplewood location in case any of you locals want to rush out and buy it).  No lie.

So when I saw how chippy this dresser turned out, I thought it was pretty fab.  My sister wasn’t so sure.

I could have opted to sand this all down to the wood and start over.  I have done that before and in general once you do the sanding necessary to take all of the paint off, the next coats of paint tend to adhere pretty well (not always, but generally).

But I was kind of loving the chippy.

When my friend Meggan dropped by to pick me up for some thrifting, she voted a resounding yes on the chippy as well!  So how about you?  Chippy yes or chippy no?

Lots of ironstone seemed like the right choice for staging this dresser.

Along with some old books and wooden utensils.

As for the drawer pulls, there were a couple of comments left on my last post about them that really made sense to me.  Kim made a comment about creating the look I want with the dresser and then deciding on the hardware.  And Nikkii’s comment about choosing a style really clicked with me.  I realized that this dresser was going to be vintage farmhouse all the way!

I think the existing pressed brass drawer pulls totally work with the chippy, vintage farmhouse vibe of this dresser.  I hope you agree!

This dresser is available for sale by the way.  If you are local and interested, feel free to leave a comment and I will be happy to email you with the details.

I sent Mr. Q off to pick up another dresser from craigslist a while back.  Sometimes Mr. Q isn’t quite as particular about condition as I am.  He gets all chatty with the seller and he doesn’t really scrutinize the furniture.  He also has a tendency to overestimate my abilities to save a piece of furniture … or maybe he doesn’t.  Here is the dresser in question.  It doesn’t look too bad in this photo unless you’re really looking closely.

Here’s a photo of the top …

Now you’re starting to get the picture.  Check out this close up though …

Yikes, right?!

Originally I had been hoping to strip and stain the top and paint the body, but obviously that wasn’t going to work.  My next plan was to patch the veneer using wood filler and then paint, but then I remembered a really cool idea I saw on pinterest of using old book pages to fill in missing veneer.  This piece was perfect for that!

I sanded the piece lightly, wiped it down and then painted it with three coats of Miss Mustard Seed’s Marzipan.  Covering a dark stain with a white tends to require at least three coats.

Once it was dry I mixed a little water with some Elmer’s glue (homemade Mod Podge) and I used a small brush to paint the glue in all of the spots of chipped veneer.  Then I pressed my book pages onto those spots and painted another layer of the glue mixture over the top.  I used my finger to really press the paper into the areas where the veneer was gone.  I didn’t worry about trimming the paper yet.  Once the glue was dry, I used a very light touch to sand around the edges of the area which removed the paper just where I wanted it to.  Lastly I used a small brush to add some Miss Mustard Seed Tough Coat Sealer over the paper for durability.

I found it a little hard to capture the look of this in photos, but it really is a cool effect.

Once the book pages were in place I sanded the rest of the dresser and then vacuumed off the dust.

I got some awesome chipping/distressing on this piece, which I was hoping for.  Rather than fight the ‘beat up’ nature of this piece, I wanted to play it up.

For those of you who follow Miss Mustard Seed herself, you may have noticed that lately she has been forgoing a top coat on a lot of her pieces.  If you’ve ever painted with MMS milk paint, you know that the top coat deepens the color.  With wax added the color darkens it a bit, with the hemp oil it darkens even more.  So I know exactly where Marian is coming from when you have a piece all painted up and you love the color just as it is.  You don’t want to change it.

Well, I was kind of loving the Marzipan as is.  I added a little bit of wax to a corner on the side and saw that it really brought out more of an almond color and I didn’t love that.  I debated.  Not adding a top coat means this piece is not water proof or washable.  But since the book pages aren’t really ‘washable’ either, I felt like I could get away without a top coat on this piece.  Also, since this dresser is very distressed anyway, adding a little more distressing over time isn’t going to take away from the look of the piece.  So in the end I just wiped the dresser down with a damp paper towel and didn’t add any sort of top coat.

You might have noticed that this dresser came with wood knobs.  I could have just painted them and put them back on, but I came up with another idea that played off my book page theme.  I purchased these label holder cup pulls from D. Lawless Hardware.  They are dirt cheap at 60 cents each.  Yep, you read that right, 60 cents (the screws have to be purchased separately).

They aren’t super functional.  I wouldn’t use them on a bigger/heavier drawer, but for the two smaller top drawers on this dresser they will be sufficient.  And don’t they look fab with the same vintage book pages inserted?

So, there you have it.  From uber shabby to rather chic.

I think this piece would work really nicely as a sideboard in a smaller dining room, or as a perch for your widescreen TV.  It would also be perfect in a larger foyer for storing hats, scarves and gloves.  Or of course, you could always use it in a bedroom.  And it just so happens that this dresser is available!  Feel free to leave a comment if you are interested!

Sharing at the Making Broken Beautiful party.

Happy New Year!

Will you be heading out to a festive party for New Year’s?  Sipping champagne and toasting the start of 2016?  Sharing a moment with someone special at midnight?

I love the fresh start that comes with a new year.  This year I am determined to live healthier.  Eat more fruits and veggies and skip fewer workouts.  I also like to set a ‘skill improvement goal’ of sorts for myself every year.  In 2014 my goal was to improve my stripping and staining abilities.

Check!

My goal for 2015 was to improve my reupholstering skills.  Hmmm.  Not so much of a ‘check’.  I managed a few chairs that were fairly basic.

My friend Sue actually did the sewing of the seat cushion slip covers, I simply reupholstered the arms.

Hardly much at all, yet it took me forever to accomplish.

And I never did get around to upholstering that settee that I picked up.  It’s still on my to-do list.

And that brings us to 2016.  My goal this year is to improve my photography skills.  Currently my ability to take a good photo hinges upon perfect lighting conditions.  I need to learn how to get good photos even when conditions aren’t perfect.  To assist me in this endeavor, Mr. Q has gifted me with a new tripod and a remote shutter release for my camera.  I also plan to take some online classes.

I also plan to bring back more “quandie quickies” for 2016.  In other words, quick makeovers that can be accomplished in less than an hour.  I’ve been piling up some goodies that are scheduled for a quick makeover, like these wooden divided bowls (trays?) …

and this green metal box.

How about you, do you have goals for the New Year?

But wait!  Before we officially move forward into 2016, let’s take a moment to reflect back on 2015.  I’ve picked out my fave five pieces from last year.

I painted this vanity back in January.  It was inspired by a piece of furniture I saw in Nina Hartmann’s book, among vintage & friends.  I loved the touches of black and how perfectly chippy this piece was.

I used Miss Mustard Seed milk paint in Grain Sack (the greyish white) and Typewriter (the black) on this piece.  I recovered the bench with linen that I stenciled.

I also painted this next piece way back in January.  It’s my Rooster Cupboard!  This is the only one of my favorites that I kept for myself.  It works perfectly in my Q Branch as storage for crafting supplies.

I still smile a little inside every time I catch a glimpse of that rooster on the grain sack lining the glass doors and I love the pop of the Miss Mustard Seed Flow Blue milk paint.

I must have been having a great run of pieces last winter because my next fave is from February.  It’s the Paris bed.  I painted this gorgeous bed for a customer.  She wanted a creamy white, which ended up being the perfect choice for this piece.

To me this piece was the perfect example of a chalk paint project.  I painted the bed in Cece Caldwell’s Vintage White and used her Aging Cream dark wax to highlight the details.

My next favorite sort of flew under the radar I think.  It’s the union jack school desk that I painted back in April.  I used Fusion paint on this one which worked beautifully on the shiny surface of the desk top, as well as inside the metal cubby hole.

I really loved the way this turned out.  I thought it would be perfect as a small bedside table.  I considered keeping it for my guest room, but in the end I brought it to Eye Candy ReFind.  Then it didn’t sell.  And didn’t sell.  And didn’t sell.  I started to think that I really would be keeping it, but it finally sold at the end of November.  It was just waiting for the right person to come along!

My final fave is the green French farmhouse dresser that I painted in July.  I absolutely love this In a Pickle green milk paint from Sweet Pickins.  I think the brightness of the color provides a fresh, modern take on the chippy vintage farmhouse style.

This is another piece that just hasn’t managed to sell.  I suspect that I need to find a courageous buyer who isn’t afraid of adding a pop of brilliant color to a space.  I can totally see this piece in a mostly white room, or how about in a room paired with some Rachel Ashwell shabby chic florals?

Check out my fab furniture tab and pick out your favorite for 2015!  I’d love to know what it was.

In the meantime, I will raise my glass and toast to a happy and healthy New Year!  I know 2016 is going to be amazing.