q is for quandie

I have been struggling a bit with the milk paint lately.  I know it’s unpredictable, and it’s hard to control the chippy factor.  I know all about the color variations.  But this summer I seem to be getting one unexpected result after another.  This dresser is a case in point.

Let’s start at the beginning.

This one has lots of potential, right?  It has a little bit of veneer damage, and a chunk of the trim is missing at the bottom.  It’s the perfect candidate for a paint job.

I decided to go with my absolute fave MMSMP color, Kitchen Scale.  I hadn’t used this color for a while.  My own mirrored buffet is painted this color and I absolutely love it.

 It works fantastically with grey, the neutral of the moment.

So I decided it was time for a Kitchen Scale dresser.  I sanded this one quite vigorously because it was in rough shape, and I didn’t want a ton of chipping, just a subtle chippyness.  I have to note here that I did mix the paint a little bit thicker than usual.  I ignored the little voice in my head that was telling me to thin it down a bit more, which may have been a mistake.  I painted my first coat and closed up shop for the evening.  When I went back out the next day, I found a massive amount of crackling.  On every surface except for the sides of the dresser.  The sides didn’t crackle at all, go figure.  Massive, bad, over the top, too much crackling everywhere else.  I should have taken a picture for you, but I didn’t.  When I have issues like this, it generally puts me in a bad mood and photography doesn’t happen.

I will note here that I did not apply heat to the dresser, and it was not all that warm outside and I did not paint under the full sun.  Why the giant crackles?  Was it just the thickness of the paint?  No idea.

I decided to sand the heck out of it again, and try adding another coat of thinner paint.  It had the desired result.  It toned down the crackle.  Oh, it’s still there, for sure, but now it’s at an acceptable level.

Am I the only one who considers this an acceptable level?

Often people wonder if milk paint will continue to chip away down the road, and the answer is no, it shouldn’t.  As long as all of the loose chips were removed as part of the finishing process.  In this case, I sanded the dresser pretty thoroughly and then vacuumed it to remove any loose chips.  I put a final coat of hemp oil on it which also helps the paint remain adhered.  I can run my hand across this dresser pretty vigorously and no paint chips off.

Alternatively, some people choose to leave the chipping paint in place and seal it with a poly finish.  I’ve never tried this approach, but I can see where it would be a fabulous look in some cases.  Maybe down the road, if I get a good chipper, I’ll give this a try.

In the end, I think the dresser is quite lovely.  It has some fantastic details like the angled sides and the carved bits that really pop now.  I kept the original hardware because it is quite charming.  This dresser is definitely distressed and has an aged appearance, but there are plenty of us out there who love that look, right?

Please say yes.

The moral to my story, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again.  You can always sand something down and add a little more paint.

After all, ending up with something that looks like this is not an altogether bad thing.

Anyone out there in the market for a gorgeous distressed dresser in my favorite shade of milk paint?

 If so, leave me a comment and I will get back to you.  Ooops!  Sorry, this one is SOLD.

I painted this gorgeous hutch last summer.  I wish I had a ‘before’ pic for you!  I knew the moment I saw the craigslist ad that this would be gorgeous painted.  It wasn’t horrible, but it was rather outdated looking in its original state with a rather orange-y stain.

I loved the Gothic arches in the glass door and the detail at the top of the cabinet.  I have to admit, this is still one that I look at and think “why didn’t I keep that?”

You can see that I lined the inside with pages from an old Swedish bible.  I hand painted the ‘1863.’ at the top.  It’s not a stencil, I just printed the image off my computer, traced it onto the cabinet using tracing paper, and then painted it in with a small brush.

Yep, she was a beauty.  I sent this one up to the Round Barn and it is long gone.  Sniff, sniff.

I picked this nightstand up at the Highland Park garage sales.  It was pre-prepped for me, meaning the person selling it had intended to refinish it herself, but she never completed it.  She had sanded it and removed the knobs (unfortunately, she didn’t have them anymore).

It was so nice of her to take care of the boring parts of the process for me!  All I had to do was focus on the creative, ie. fun, part.

A while back I made a trade with my friend Michelle.  I found some darling mid-century Italian tole wall sconces at a garage sale that I knew would be perfect for Michelle, and I had been admiring a roll of fab mid-century wallpaper that she had stashed in her studio.  An easy trade.

What I love about this wallpaper?  The colors are perfect, aqua, pink and white with that little touch of metallic gold and black.  Feminine, without being flowery.  Geometric all-over pattern that isn’t difficult to line up.  It’s perfect for my needs.  I was hanging on to it just waiting for the right mid-century piece to use it on.  And I knew this nightstand was it.  So let’s pop into the photo cottage and see how it turned out!

Yep, pretty fab, right?

I painted this with Annie Sloan’s Provence.  Then I added the wallpaper to the back of the cubby area, and the front of the drawer.

A couple of my friends really pushed me to find a more classically mid-century knob for this piece, but after perusing Etsy and finding the knobs I liked to be rather pricey, I opted to go with some vintage milk glass knobs that I already had on hand.  They aren’t typical mid-century.  They were not stark white, but had a bit of an aqua tint.

Classic mid-century base.

 I think the combination of the very mid-century style of the nightstand, the mid-century wallpaper and vintage milk glass knobs comes together nicely to create a ‘mid-century meets vintage’ look.

I’ll leave you with one last b & a.

 What do you think?  A good combo of mid-century and vintage?

Since deciding to spend Saturday sitting beside my bff’s pool drinking special Fresca’s (that’s Fresca with vodka, don’t knock it til you try it, it is very refreshing), I’ve been feeling guilty because I don’t have any fabulous new content for the blog.  I have several projects underway in the Carriage House, but none are quite finished.  I didn’t want to bore you with another gardening post (although I do have one coming soon).  So I came up with a brilliant plan!  I’ll begin a new ‘column’ on the blog sharing some of my furniture rehabs from the pre-blog days.

I’m starting with this darling radio cabinet that became a wine cabinet.

Unfortunately, prior to the blog I often neglected to take before pics.  But this was your basic gutted radio cabinet.  It was empty inside and was open in the back.  Originally there would have been a huge radio inside (‘cuz back in the day, they were huge.  Remember when we thought boomboxes were portable, ha!)?  I think there may have been a turntable inside as well because the top opened.

I bribed Ken into helping me with this one, probably with wine.  He built the shelves which were modeled after the wine storage in my pantry (which he also built).  He was able to tuck them into place with the top off.  Once that was done, he attached the top permanently using dowels and glue.

I tested this out and one could store over two dozen bottles of wine in here.  Not bad.

I used one of my fave stencils on the front.

Back in the day, I mainly painted with homemade chalk paint.  Basically flat or satin latex mixed with Plaster of Paris and a little water.  I had great success with it, and I still use it some times.  It won’t give you the chippyness of milk paint, but it is budget friendly and you have endless choices for color.

I love the detail at the bottom of this cabinet.  It needed to be glued up a bit when I got it.

So the next time you see a beat up radio cabinet at a garage sale (or heaven forbid, at the curb), think outside the box and turn it into wine storage!