q is for quandie

Did you know that the Chateau Marmont hotel is located on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and that it was built in 1927? It is a Hollywood landmark.  Movies have been filmed there, famous stars have lived in its bungalows.  I did not know any of this when I ordered my Chateau Marmont stencil a little over a week ago. I also didn’t know that I would be buying a 1927 dresser within just a few days!  I just thought the stencil was pretty.

Unfortunately, only a small section of the 18″ x 12″ stencil fit on the 1927 dresser.  Here is the full stencil:

I originally just assumed a place called Chateau Marmont was in France. I would still be laboring under that illusion if I hadn’t had the TV on over the weekend while finishing up my painted books. I have a confession to make. Sometimes I watch those horrible true crime shows. It’s one of my guilty pleasures. But I only watch them during daylight hours!  I would be chicken to watch them after dark. So … I had the TV on, and a show came on about a serial killer that appeared on the Dating Game. Please tell me I’m not the only one here who remembers the Dating Game!

Anyway, yes … it’s true. He appeared on the show in 1978. And in fact, the bachelorette chose him! Can you imagine? Believe it or not, he was a registered sex offender at the time.  Apparently the Dating Game people didn’t do background checks! In the end, the woman never did go on a date with him because she ultimately found him creepy. Yet another example of why we should trust our gut instincts!

But … at this point you are probably wondering … how did we go from Chateau Marmont to the Dating Game serial killer? Well … one of his earliest victims lived at Chateau Marmont. On the show they explained that she was walking to school from the Chateau Marmont where she lived with her parents.

And we come full circle and the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon strikes again!  I’m sure I would have never even noticed the name of the residential hotel where this girl lived if I hadn’t just happened to buy a stencil with that name on it.

But enough about serial killers, chateaus that are really in California and strange coincidences.  Didn’t the 1927 dresser turn out lovely?

You may remember from the ‘before’ pictures that the top of this dresser was badly damaged.  I decided to just rip off the veneer entirely.  As I suspected, about 80% of it came off quite easily in about 30 seconds, and the last 20% took me another 30 minutes to remove!  I used a heat gun and a putty knife and just kept picking away at it.

Painting details:  painted in Miss Mustard Seed milk paint in Shutter Grey with Grain Sack on the very top.  The raised oval and rectangle also painted in Grain Sack.  Finished with hemp oil.

The Shutter Grey is really more blue than grey.  It is one of those tricky colors that looks different in different light.  Sometimes it looks more grey, and other times more blue.  Either way, I love the pale subtlety of this color.  I wish I had done a better job with these photos, but I ran out of time.  I had to snap them quickly after work as my light was fading.  I wanted to get some shots of it before I threw it in the truck at the last minute for Junk Bonanza.

One last note, I must say the Shutter Grey was a pleasure to paint with.  I was worried that it wouldn’t cover well, being so light, and that I’d have to do 3 coats.  But it went on beautifully, covered quite well in one coat, but I put on a 2nd lighter coat for good measure.  If you haven’t tried this color, I say give it a whirl!

Little darling, it feels like years since it’s been here.

Any Beatles fans out there?

In honor of spring, I decided to paint this dresser in a bright and sunny yellow last weekend.  I’ve actually had this paint since last fall just waiting for the perfect piece.  As soon as I saw this one on craigslist, I knew it would be lovely in yellow.

Feel free to skip this next bit if you are only here to see the pictures!

Painting details:  painted in MMS Mustard Seed Yellow milk paint, details painted in Linen, finished with MMS clear wax.

New to me, I left the top alone.  It seems to be more and more popular to leave the tops of pieces stained, so I thought I would give that a try.  I cheated though … the top of this one was in good enough shape as is, I just spruced it up with a little MMS hemp oil.  I’m still not brave enough to strip and stain.  Maybe I will tackle that skill this summer.

The hardware on this dresser was quite lovely, and I had all of it, so it stayed.

As you can see, I got a lot of chippy-ness … especially on the Linen details.

It’s a perfectly lovely little breath of sunshine to welcome spring.  Wish I had a fresh bunch of daffodils to stage my photo, but we are still a bit away from daffodils here in Minnesota.  Just imagine them there in that ironstone pitcher.

The year is 1927.  Our president is Calvin Coolidge.  Charles Lindbergh is about to fly solo across the Atlantic.  Work begins on Mount Rushmore.  Women are getting their hair bobbed and beginning to wear … gasp! … trousers!

And while all of that was happening, inspector no. 218 was signing off on this dresser.

How do I know this?  Well, there is a sticker on the bottom of one of the drawers of course!

Isn’t that kind of cool?  And isn’t this dresser a beauty?  Imagine it coming fresh off the factory floor all shiny and new.  I bet it was part of a set.  Back then you bought an entire suite of bedroom furniture, not just one dresser.  I’m sure there was a mirrored bureau or vanity to go along with this, don’t you think?  And a fabulous headboard.

But, I just got this piece and it is no longer fresh off the factory floor!  There are a few spots where the veneer is lifting, a couple gouges here and there …

and I really have no idea what is going on with the top!  Was there originally another level glued on top of this one?  Was it just badly damaged by something sitting on top of it?

It’s a mystery to me.  I’m not sure what would cause this sort of damage.  The veneer is totally warped and loose, so I’m guessing water was involved in some manner.

Basically all of these flaws add up to the perfect candidate for a paint job.

Now I just have to pick a color.  My original thought was Miss Mustard Seed’s Eulalie’s Sky, a lovely aqua blue.  But then I also happen to have some of her Shutter Grey on hand as well.  Wouldn’t that be pretty?  With the raised oval and rectangle painted in Grain Sack.  Obviously those two spots are also crying out for a stencil, and since I just ordered a new batch from Maison de Stencils the other day, I’m going to have to wait patiently for them to arrive.  Meanwhile, I will do what I can to repair this lovely dresser so it’s ready for its makeover.

I confess that I adore all things European.  I have been lucky enough to be able to travel to Europe  a few times, and each time I go I decide that I love another city the best.  Our last trip was to Prague, which was completely charming and lovely.

But I have gotten off track … I meant to say that London is one of my favorite cities.  The museums!  The flowers!  The history!  The theatres!  The shopping!  All fabulous.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been there since I made the switch to digital photography, so I don’t have any fab pics to share with you.  I didn’t actually use the camera and guidebook in this photo though, it wasn’t that long ago!

  Anyway, in honor of all things Anglo, let me present …

 A little grey on grey Union Jack action.

Boring details:  painted with MMS milk paint in Trophy.  However, if any of you have ever tried to use tape on milk paint, you know that they don’t mix.  So, I added bonding agent to the Trophy just in the rectangular section that became the Union Jack.  I wanted the rest of the dresser to chip and distress, but I didn’t want to pull the paint off with tape while adding my flag.  I will warn you that even with the bonding agent, I lost some chunks of paint.  I also peeled the tape off very, very carefully.  The white is latex, and the pale grey on top is a mix of the white latex and the Trophy with bonding agent.  I won’t continue to bore you with the details of painting the jack, let’s just say that far too much Frog tape went into my local landfill after this.

But … in the end, here is a fun Union Jack that I think is unique amongst its peers.

I have done a few Union Jack pieces in my day.  Every time I do one I say ‘never again’.  I find them very time consuming, and I’m never entirely happy with my results.  I always think I could have done this or that better.  I did do a pair of end tables that turned out quite nice, and my friend Cathy has them in her family room now.

I also have done a few pieces in the traditional red, white and blue.

In fact, I even painted a small writing desk for my husband’s study with the U.J.  You know I love it when I keep one for myself!

But, I won’t be keeping this guy.  He is headed for Junk Bonanza.

A few weeks back I was chatting with Lori about our upcoming Junk Bonanza booth. She mentioned that we would need some sort of checkout counter, something we could stand at to write up receipts. Preferably with storage so we can throw some supplies/snacks/etc in there. So I started searching for something that would work, keeping in mind that it also had to meet my vintage fab standards. To be honest, I wasn’t optimistic.

But then, I came across this.

Perfect height to stand at and write up receipts. Two shelves inside; one for paperwork, pens, receipt books and one for snacks, drinks, purses, sweaters, or whatever else we might need to have with us. It is as if this thing was made to be a checkout stand rather than a radio cabinet.  Check out the lovely details!  I knew it would be fab painted.

It was listed at $100 on craigslist … which frankly was too much. So, I sent an offer of $50. And it was accepted! Woo hoo!

I sent Mr. Q to pick it up in Minneapolis, and when I got home and took a look at it in person there was much rejoicing. It’s perfect for my needs! And I knew it would also be a fun piece to revamp.

I immediately mixed up some MMS milk paint in Trophy and while waiting for the pigments to dissolve a bit, I threw some chicken in the oven and gave the piece a quick sanding. Then, while my chicken cooked, I gave the paint another stir and slapped on the first coat. After dinner, I gave it a second coat. While that was drying, I studied it. I knew I wanted to add some MMS Grain Sack to the curly raised details near the top, but I realized it would also be fun to paint the lower fretwork in Grain Sack. Then, to balance it out, I also painted the very bottom raised detail in Grain Sack. And naturally, a stencil was called for.

Sometimes you just have to go with the flow with milk paint. In this case, I spent quite a bit of time painting that fretwork with a tiny brush to get it just right, and then almost all of that paint chipped off!  Not to be defeated, I sanded the rest of it off and painted it again.  The 2nd time around there was less chipping thanks to the sanding.

Now … don’t tell anyone, but I just used painted cardboard to cover behind the fretwork.  To cover the upper opening, I used spray adhesive to adhere vintage book pages to cardboard.  The cardboard is just stapled in place from the back.  Since this is a checkout stand, I used pages from “Ropps’s New Calculator” … which seems to have tons of tables to calculate stuff like the cost of grain and such, which seemed appropriate somehow.

When all is said and done, now it looks like this.

Isn’t it lovely.  It’s very possible that we will have the most fabulous check out stand at Junk Bonanza!  Well … OK … I suspect the competition will be fierce, so maybe not.  But we’ll definitely hold our own.

P.S.  You may have noticed my painted books peeking out of the edge of that last photo.  I’ve done some in Trophy and some in Eulalie’s Sky for Junk Bonanza.

Are you wondering how I manage to find so many good pieces on craigslist?  Well, I have a secret weapon.  A craigslist spotter in the form of my neighbor Karen (a.k.a. nnK).  Not only does she spot stuff for me, but while I was away in Las Vegas, nnK and Ken went and picked a dresser up for me as well.  How lucky am I?

There is an interesting twist to this story.  You see, this dresser was listed for a mere $45.  nnK spotted it and went into action quickly.  She contacted the seller and set up a time to pick it up the very next morning.  She texted me and asked if she should offer $40.  I replied lickety split and said no!  I knew there would be numerous buyers waiting in line for this dresser.  Pay full price and pick up promptly.  This is the rule to live by if you want to get bargains on craigslist.

This is where the story takes a turn.  You see, later that evening, the seller contacted nnK and said she’d had multiple offers on the dresser, including a buyer who was willing to pay $60 and pick it up immediately.  She would be willing to hold it for us though, if we would pay the $60!  Has this ever happened to you with a craigslist purchase?  I’m sure a lot of you are now thinking maybe it would be time to walk away.  But, no, $60 was still a pretty good deal for this dresser … at least from my perspective sitting in Las Vegas sipping a margarita.  So I told nnK to go for it.

I don’t regret it, it did turn out lovely … but a closer inspection showed that this dresser was in pretty rough shape.  The bottoms were falling out of the drawers.  The top was badly warped.  One drawer had a huge gouge across the top of it.  Several of the drawer slides were falling off.  It was missing two drawer pulls.  Yikes!  $45 was really a fair price, but when you have a bidding war what can you do?  Walk away, or pay more.  I had secret weapon no. 2 in my back pocket though, Ken.  He fixed all of these problems with a few tools, some wood glue and a lot of know-how.  The most complicated repair was the side of this drawer where the bottom had completely broken away.

Ken added a new piece of wood to the side of the drawer to hold the bottom in place.  Clever!  We also used a complicated systems of pulleys and levers to deal with the warped top … well, not really, but we did use a giant clamp, some glue and a screw that was cleverly hidden under the back trim piece.

I knew all along I wanted to paint this dresser in Miss Mustard Seed’s Kitchen Scale.  This color is so fabulous to work with.  It goes on so quickly, covers well in two coats and dries in minutes.  Not to mention, it is just simply gorgeous.  Instead of my usual hemp oil finish, I decided to use a combination of clear wax and antique wax on this piece to add a little more dimension.

I also added all new glass knobs.

I hadn’t originally intended to stencil this dresser, but when I realized I had the perfect “PARIS” for that medallion, it seemed like a no brainer.

I lined the top two drawers with some of my favorite October Afternoon scrapbook paper.

In the end, this dresser is just lovely.  It’s the perfect size to be tucked in to just about any spot.  Of course it would work in a bedroom, but you could also put this one in a kitchen, bathroom, hallway, mud room, laundry room … you name it.  I’ll be taking this one to Junk Bonanza with me and I’m sure it will go to a good home!

I picked up this metal stool last year for a song.  It was painted with metallic silver paint.  Is there some sort of super cheap metallic silver paint out there?  I have a really cool old bead board cabinet in my basement that is also painted metallic silver.  It came with the house.  Why did someone paint it metallic silver?  One of these days I might do something cool with it … just as soon as I get around to it … but I digress.  

I thought this stool had that industrial chic vibe.  I brought it home and decided to start with sanding it.  There was a layer of green under the silver, and a layer of creamy white under that.  Once again I thought someone would snatch it up at my sale … I priced it at … wait for it … $5!  But still no takers.  Clearly no one wants a silver stool with emerald green accents, and I can’t blame them.

It was another perfect candidate for the Annie Sloan sample paint.  In case you are keeping track, I have painted one picture frame, one child sized metal folding chair and now one stool with my sample and there is still about 1/3 of it left.  Here is the stool painted with Provence, and waxed with MMS antique wax.

Isn’t it lovely?

I took a few photos, and was ready to call it done.  But then I thought to myself “hey, this would be pretty fab with a number on top!”  Duh.  So a quick zap with a stencil, and voila … stool no. 12.

Perfect for the kitchen, or maybe the bathroom.  Use it as the seat to your vanity/dressing table.  Use it next to your wicker chaise lounge as a handy spot for your mint julep.  So many possibilities!