q is for quandie

I purchased this chippy blue chair many years ago at a garage sale.  I no longer remember what the seat looked like at the time, but I’m sure it was gross.  I’m also sure that the seller thought this thing was ready for the dumpster.  But you know me, I love that chippy factor.  And this one is authentically chippy.

 I recovered the seat with some pretty vintage pink and white fabric and for many years the chair lived in the ‘potting shed’, which became the ‘summer house’, which became the ‘photo cottage’ last year.  At that point, the chippy blue chair became homeless.  I’ve shuffled it around, but it hasn’t really found a spot.  I used it in the photo shoot for this dresser I painted a few months ago.

But it ultimately ended up stashed on the front porch, so during last weekend’s clean up I pulled it out of there.  Taking a close look at it, I realized it was really dirty from all of those years in the cottage out back.  It deserved some attention.  I pulled off the seat, removed the fabric covering and sent it to the washing machine.  Then, I vacuumed off the surface dirt.  Finally I pulled out the magic eraser, and that made all the difference.

Look how much dirt came off, ewwwww …

That was a brand new magic eraser when I started!  Are you now wondering how it is possible that 90% of the time I neglect to take photos of my process, but somehow I managed to get a photo of dirty water for you?  Yeah, I don’t know what’s wrong with me either.

After cleaning the chair, I re-glued some of the cross pieces at the bottom that had come loose.  Finally, I wanted to add a little protection to the finish so I pulled out the sample of Fusion Beeswax Finish that Homestead House was kind enough to send to me.

I used some torn up flannel sheeting and rubbed the beeswax over the whole chair.  It added a little more sheen to the painted areas, and some much needed moisture to the chipped areas giving the chair a fresher look. I don’t know if you’ve used a magic eraser before, but it does tend to remove the shine from things.  So the beeswax added a really nice lustre back to the chair. This stuff is made with pure natural beeswax and hemp oil.  You could quite literally eat it because it is food safe quality, but honestly, it doesn’t look that appealing as a snack.  I did feel quite comfortable using it indoors with no ventilation though, and now my chippy chair has a little more protection from all that dirt.

Next came deciding what fabric to use on the seat.  I had a couple of options in my stash.  The first was this H & M tea towel.  I liked that it had a blue border, but once I fitted it to the seat, I realized that not much of the blue border would show.

 

Next I tried a dyed grain sack.

I liked this idea in theory, but when I put these together I felt like the richer color of the grain sack overpowered the pretty blue of the chair.  It’s not a bad combination, just not the one I wanted.

Finally I tried an H & M pillow cover that I had on hand.

Ding, ding, ding.  We have a winner folks!

I like how the blue pops with the white fabric on the seat.  And a bunch of french writing?  What’s not to love?

So, a tip for you here.  These 20″ x 20″ pillow covers from H & M are the perfect size for the average chair seat like this one.  They are a mere $5.95 each (plus shipping though).  The problem with H & M is that their inventory seems to go fast.  They still have this style, but only in pink and pale green.  Another style they have that would look great on some chairs is this one:

So, my chippy chair is cleaned up and re-covered and now I just need to decide what to do with it!

 I’m sure I will find a home for it somewhere, and it will probably make its way into future furniture photo shoots.  Wouldn’t it look great paired with a chippy desk?  Maybe I’ll keep it on the front porch for now, it certainly looks nice next to the white hutch.

Recently someone asked me how I pick the pieces I paint.  I didn’t come up with a very good answer on the spot because I really haven’t given much thought to my process.  I just pick what I like.  But I do realize that choosing the right piece to paint is nearly as important as the painting itself.  So I decided to try and pin down my process a little for all of you.

In winter, most of my pieces come from my local craigslist.  We have a thriving craigslist community here in the Twin Cities.  So a while back I headed out to craigslist and picked out a few examples of what was out there to share with you.

First let’s talk price.  I generally set a maximum of $100 for a dresser.  I use the craigslist search tool to limit my search, otherwise I will be distracted all day by gorgeous pieces of furniture that are listed at $400, which is a total waste of my time.  Although $100 is my max, I will only pay that much for a piece that has all of its hardware, is in great shape, doesn’t need repairs and has something unique or special about it.  Otherwise I like to stick to a price range from $40 to $75 for a dresser.

Let’s start with a dresser that I would not pick.

The first problem with this dresser is the hardware.  Gack!  It is just plain ugly and would have to be replaced, and there are 8 handles.  That is going to add up.  Not to mention, these handles have two holes each, so I’d either be filling holes, or trying to find replacements that fit these existing holes.  But the real problem with this dresser is that it just doesn’t have any personality at all.  If this dresser were dirt cheap, let’s say around $25, and I didn’t have to go far to pick it up, I might consider it.  It could be dressed up with some number stencils on the drawers.  But it was listed at $100.  No way.

Here is another “no” for me.

This dresser was listed for $50.  Great price.  It has something I always look for, key holes.  To me key holes usually indicate a well made, antique piece of furniture.  The ad claims this piece is solid wood, another plus.  So, why don’t I want it?  It’s painted a weird olive green.  I hate stripping paint.  It’s time consuming and messy.  So my choice on this piece would be to either paint it something that works with the green and allow the green to show as an undercoat, paint it a solid coat of chalk paint (or even Fusion!) and not distress it at all.  But the fact of the matter is, I’m a distressing sort of girl.  I reserve the non-distressed look for mid-century pieces.  But that’s just me.  Maybe you’d be OK with any of these options, in which case this dresser is a great deal!  I generally steer clear of previously painted pieces though.

Let’s move on to a distinct ‘maybe’.

These are often called a “chest on chest” dresser because they have a wider lower section of drawers with a slightly narrower section on top.  I find this look really appealing.  The Seven Seas dresser that I painted recently was a chest on chest. The trim around each drawer on this one adds a lot of detail.  The legs in front are pretty sweet.  They aren’t turned, but they still have some personality.  This dresser was listed for $75, which is a decent price but not great.  One glaring problem is the missing drawer pull.  As I’m fond of mentioning, one missing drawer pull is the equivalent of not having any hardware at all.  You’re never going to match that.  You’d have to replace all of the hardware on this piece.  But, it still might be worth it.  Honestly, if I didn’t already have a bunch of unfinished pieces lined up in my garage, I’d follow up on this one.

Here is another dresser that I would seriously consider:

This dresser was also listed at $75.  Look at that charming detail on the top two drawers, and the lovely turned legs in front.  It has a mirror (it was shown in a separate photo), but I often leave these mirrors off.  Especially when they are mounted on two turned supports like this one is.  I just don’t like that look very much, and I find the turned supports annoying to paint.  This is a style of dresser that can work really well for a wide screen TV when there isn’t a mirror.

I do have one concern about this one though.  It could be a ‘bleeder’.  Are you familiar with that term?  Basically some of the orange to reddish colored stains will bleed through paint.  No matter how many coats of paint you use to cover them up, that orange/pink color will just keep coming through.  There are methods you can use to deal with the dreaded bleed thru, which usually involve sealing the piece somehow, but that adds another step to your process and can really be frustrating.  So, I usually avoid those pieces.  They can be hard to spot though.  This one looks like it has the potential to be a ‘bleeder’ although it may not be.  I would have to see this dresser up close and in person before making a decision on it.

This last example is right up my alley.

It was listed at $75.  What do I love about it?  The turned legs, the beaded trim below the first pair of drawers, the fabulous hankie drawer at the top.  I can picture in my mind how this piece will look painted.  I know that I can play up those details with some distressing, or contrasting colors.  I can’t really see what the hardware looks like in this picture, but I can see that it is all there.  But even if I have to replace it, I think this piece is worth it because of that charming hankie drawer.

In fact, I liked this one so much that I did send Mr. Q out to pick it up.  Here is the ‘before’ photo I took when we got it home.

And here it is after its make-over.

I painted it in Miss Mustard Seed milk paint in Trophy.  I used MMS Ironstone on the trim details, and I finished with hemp oil.

I added a little stenciling on the hankie drawer just to give it a little extra personality.

I got some really fantastic chipping on this piece.

I really wanted the details on the dresser to pop, so I painted them in Ironstone for contrast.

As you can see, I did end up changing out the hardware on this one.  The original hardware was pretty, and it was all there, but it was a very yellow brass and I didn’t like the way it looked with the grey of the Trophy.  I just left the original knob on the hankie drawer.  I’m not really sure why, but I tried that one both ways, and just liked the original better (the other drawer pulls are bigger and brassier than this little knob).

I hope this post gives you some ideas of your own about re-fabbing a dresser or two.  Head to your local craigslist and see what you can spot for yourself!

And meanwhile, yes, this lovely dresser is for sale.  Let me know if you are interested.

Linking up with:  Finding Silver Pennies.

During the recent miraculous spring warm-up here in the Twin Cities, my co-workers Sue and Cathy and I headed out to our first lunch time garage sale of the season.  Woo hoo!  Mid-March, and sales are already popping up.  So exciting!

We didn’t find much, but I did come home with a Dixie blonde mid-century nightstand and a really fab old wire ‘in-box’ (which now lives in the Q Branch).

The nightstand was bargain priced, and I knew it would be the perfect candidate for another Fusion makeover.  Why?  Well, when I paint MCM pieces I always feel like they shouldn’t be distressed.  Normally I am all about the distressing, but not with these pieces.  Obviously, milk paint is out of the running when you don’t want to distress.  True, you could add the bonding agent and get a non-distressed look, but seriously, why bother?  That’s going to get expensive, and putzy, and unnecessary.  In the past chalk paint was always my go-to for MCM pieces.  And, don’t get me wrong, they did turn out lovely.

But now that I have tried Fusion, I am pretty sure it’s going to be my paint of choice for MCM pieces and I’m not just whistling dixie!

I painted the body of the nightstand in Fusion’s Champlain and the drawer in my new favorite color, Laurentien.  The color reminds me of my favorite shade of McCoy pottery.

I let the paint dry overnight, and then I added some of my fav MCM vintage wallpaper to the inside of the cubby hole.  As I was working with the wallpaper, it was nice to not have to worry that I was taking off any paint while wiping off excess paste.

The wallpaper has little touches of gold in it, so I decided to add some gold Rub ‘n Buff to the knobs to bring that out.  When I purchased this piece, Cathy assumed I was going to replace those knobs.  Nope.  The knobs are perfect for this piece and are part of its personality.  What do you think of them now Cathy?

I love how the gold works with the turquoise.

Since I felt like the little nightstand would be lonely in a photo shoot all by itself, I also decided to paint up a chair that was waiting for a makeover.

I used the same colors on the chair, and then added some vintage barkcloth to the seat.  The aqua in the barkcloth was a perfect match for the Laurentien.

Didn’t it turn out sweet?

Almost makes me want to add a few mid-century pieces to my own home.  How about you?

I may have to seek a 12 step program soon.  I can see it now, “hello, my name is Linda and I am addicted to miniature dressers.”

But gosh, this one was so unique.  A different style completely from my other ones.  I just really had to have it.

I’m sure I overspent on it.  It was $55.  I should have negotiated.  I should have walked away.  But this is the problem with addictions, you just don’t care about the cost.  I guess there are worse things I could be addicted to though, right?

Once I got a good up close and in person look at this little dresser, I realized that it was originally painted, but had been stripped at some point.  Here is a message for all of those people who gasp whenever someone paints wood, guess what? some wood was meant to be painted all along.  This isn’t pretty wood.  I’m sure back in the 80’s when stripping paint was all the rage, someone stripped a perfectly fantastic vintage paint job from this dresser thinking they would find beautiful wood underneath.  Bummer.  And it was in my favorite shade of aqua too.  See …

But luckily I had a pretty good idea about how to restore an original looking paint job … with layers of milk paint.

First I wiped the dresser with a damp cloth.  I didn’t sand at all, because I was going to be fine with some chipping.  The surface felt really dry to me though, so I had a feeling it wasn’t going to chip much.  I started with a layer of Miss Mustard Seed’s Luckett’s Green.

Yep, as I suspected, no chipping.

Next I added some hemp oil.  I just dabbed a little on my finger and ran it around all of the edges.  Then I added two coats of Miss Mustard Seed’s Linen.  I used a little blow drying (with a hair dryer) between coats to encourage my paint to chip (and it did chip in all the spots that were hit with the hemp oil).  Once the final coat was dry, I sanded lightly with 220 grit sandpaper, then finished with some furniture wax.

I also added a rub-on message to one of the drawers.  And it’s true, I am utterly happy with how this one turned out.

Just look at that chipping, talk about divine!  This is MMS milk paint at its finest.

The drawers all got lined with some pretty October Afternoon scrapbook paper.

The beauty of working on this little dresser was knowing that I was keeping it for myself, so I could do whatever I wanted with it.  This is totally my look; vintage, chippy, pretty, aqua and green.  Perfect for me.

 I’ve already made a place for this in the Q branch.

 It will be the perfect spot to store my rubber stamps and ink pads.  Now I will know exactly where they are whenever I need them.