q is for quandie

The other day I saw an ad on craigslist for this pair of chairs (this is the seller’s picture that was with the ad).

Here is how my thought process went.  “Hey, those could be kind of fabulous!  Then again, maybe they are permanently ugly.  I know paint can do wonders, but is the shape all wrong?  And what are those weird pointy things sticking out of the back?  Will they come off?  And what is under those cushions?  Even though the upholstery is white, it still manages to be all wrong with that 80’s texture and sheen.  What will it take to re-fab these?  Should I?  or shouldn’t I?”

Then I did some research on pinterest and the closest I came to a similar chair that looked good was this chair from The Cross Decor & Design (although it appears to no longer be available).

And it’s not painted.  Mine will be painted.  But it still gave me a hint of what these chairs could look like.

After exchanging a couple of texts with the seller and finding out that yes, those back cushions are removable and there is cane beneath them, I decided to take a chance on these chairs.  Mr. Q and I drove out to pick them up on a frigid evening.  Upon seeing the chairs in person, I was still not sure about them.  They weren’t as nice as the cane back chair I painted last year that now resides in the Q Branch, but I had to remind myself that I wasn’t sure about that chair at first either.  The price was right, and I was there already, so I handed over the cash and threw them in the truck.

Here is my ‘before’ picture of one chair.

From the angle of my shot you can see that it has some pretty cabriole legs in front, and some nice curves on the arm supports that weren’t as apparent in the craigslist photo.  That back cushion is still just freaking me out though!  Not to mention the weird pointy details, which as it turns out are made of metal.

Those are definitely coming off!

Then there are the tacky arm sleeves that are velcroed in place.

Gotta go!

Here is the chair with those items removed.

Ahhhhh, getting better already.  I also found upholstered arms under those funky sleeves, and started ripping one off.  There are about a million staples holding it in place though, so that little process is going to take some patience.

I threw one of my H & M pillows on the chair just to get a feel for how it would look without back cushions.

Not bad, right?  Some paint and some new fabric on the seat cushions are going to do wonders for these chairs.

By the way, after I showed these chairs to Meggan, she sent me this.

Turns out that Joanna Gaines used them in the a recent episode of Fixer Upper, the Tire Swing House.  I hadn’t even noticed!  Well, if cane wing back chairs are good enough for Joanna, they are good enough for me!

Now I just have to decide, should I go for chippy with Miss Mustard Seed milk paint, or solid with chalk paint?

Remember the lovely tall dresser I picked up a while back and took its photo in the snow?

I pulled it out of storage for its makeover last weekend.  The shape of this dresser says ‘gentlemen’s chest’ to me.  Usually the taller dresser in a set was meant for the gent (sorry, couldn’t resist that bad rhyme).  I could easily have gone more feminine on this piece though, with those pretty curvy legs at the bottom.  But I was feeling the masculinity of this piece and went with MMS milk paint in Artissimo, which is a rich navy blue (finished with Cece Caldwell’s clear wax, which has rapidly become my favorite wax to work with).  I stripped the top and then just waxed it with the Cece Caldwell’s dark wax.

After adding a vintage suitcase and my dad’s old Tarzan books, I was getting the feeling that this dresser had a sense of adventure.

Then I added some old sheet music inside the upper drawer.

And now this dresser is ready to sail the seven seas!

How about you, are you ready for some adventure?

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Embracing Change

The client who purchased the gorgeous dresser that I painted in Duck Egg blue recently, also purchased the matching bed.  She’s not putting them in the same room though.  The dresser was for her own bedroom, and the bed is intended for her daughter’s bedroom and she wanted it painted white.  I am still a big fan of white painted furniture, although I don’t do as much of it as I used to.  I knew this bed would be gorgeous no matter what color it was painted though.

Am I right?

But let’s go back to the beginning of the story.  This bed had some damage on the footboard, which you can see here.

I sent it home with Ken for repairs.  He chiseled the break so that it was even, and then glued in a piece of wood to patch it.  Here is how it looked with the patch in place.

If you haven’t heard me say it before, I’ll say again, I am very lucky to have Ken for a neighbor.  He can do these sort of repairs in no time, and he does a beautiful job of it.

Here it is painted.  You can hardly even tell that there was a problem.

This foot board was really the piece that sold me on this entire bedroom set.  I have seen many beds with a foot board that curves around the bed, but I had never seen one that had side pieces quite like this.

Aren’t they just gorgeous?  The headboard on this bed is lovely too.

But the foot board is like a work of art.

I staged the bed with a stack of vintage suitcases, and you’ll recognize my faux french hat box from Monday’s post.

My client told me that her daughter loves everything french, so I couldn’t help adding a little surprise to the bed.

Do you see it?  There at the bottom?  A little Paris stencil that fit perfectly on that raised section of trim.

I think it added the perfect finishing touch to this lovely bed.

Linking up with:

French Country Cottage

Remember the really gorgeous bedroom set I picked up a while back?  I have been working on a custom paint job with a client on the dresser (and she is also purchasing the bed).  I have to say that coming up with a plan for the dresser was very much a collaborative effort.  We started out in a completely different direction, but once my client shared her vision for the entire room (this dresser is going to be part of a full makeover of her master bedroom) we were able to pull together a look that will work in the room.  One of the major considerations was another piece that she has, a gold antique french curio cabinet.  Something similar to this (although this is not her exact piece) …

I knew that she wanted a french look for the dresser, but once I saw this piece I realized she wanted what I consider a ‘Louis the XIV’ sort of french look.  We had originally talked about using black on the dresser, or possibly even a grey.  But I really couldn’t picture either of those colors working well with the gold piece.  The gold curio is clearly a statement piece and should be the standout in the room, but the dresser will also have a big presence.  I didn’t want them to compete, but instead work together.  At some point, my customer mentioned that she liked the idea of adding some gold to the dresser.  I’ll admit, I was not on board at first.  But then I started doing a little research on pinterest.  I even put together a new board called ‘go for the gold.’

This chair in particular sold me on the gold idea.  I realized that when done right, a touch of gold could be gorgeous.

Also, this made me feel like I finally had a clear idea of what my client was looking for.  Except instead of grey, we decided on Duck Egg blue, which will bring out some of the color in the mural on her curio (which is similar to the example above, with a gentlemen in a blue coat).  It’s also the color that she originally talked about wanting to bring into the room.

Which brings us to the resulting dresser.

I used a light hand to apply the gold Rub ‘n Buff to bring out the details on the dresser.

It’s enough gold to help tie this piece in with the curio cabinet.  I think the gold works really beautifully with the Duck Egg blue.

I staged this piece very simply with an old book that has the same look as the dresser, a duck egg blue with gold details, and a vintage clock.

The original hardware on this dresser is very pretty, and was already gold toned.  I just cleaned it up a little and put it back on.

Those little doors at the top of the dresser open to reveal two shelves inside.  I painted the interior to match.  Don’t you just love the curvy-ness of that opening?

I also love the little detail of these pretty brackets that sit at the back of the wider portion of the dresser.

I’m more than happy with how this dresser turned out in the end.  It was such a gorgeous piece to start with, so I wanted to do justice by it, and I think I did.  What do you say?

P.S.  That little french cane back chair with the gold accents from my pinterest board is going to be the inspiration for how I paint the vanity that matches this set.  But first I have to paint the bed.  Stay tuned.