q is for quandie

In the past I did all of my furniture restyling in the carriage house.  I have lots of work space out there, and I can work on multiple pieces at once.  Unfortunately, that space is not heated, so I always just took a hiatus in the winter.  This winter I decided to attempt to work in the house.  That required a couple of changes.  First, I decided to work with the Miss Mustard Seed milk paint because it is non-toxic and all natural.  Next, I switched from using paste wax (which is quite smelly!) to the Miss Mustard Seed hemp oil for the final finish.  The hemp oil smells just slightly weedy (no pun intended).  I can work on just one piece at a time and I try to keep the mess to a minimum (I do not do this in the carriage house!), but I can make it work.

Here is proof.

For those of you not local, we are having a ridiculous cold snap here in Minnesota.  We’re talking sub-zero highs.  Highs people!  Not lows.  OK, so when life gives you sub-zero temps, make lemonade … or paint furniture … or something like that.

So, on Friday evening the hubby and I hauled this guy into the house for his makeover.  This piece came to me via nnK (that’s code for my neighbor Karen) whose co-worker’s uncle was getting rid of it and she thought of me.  Thanks nnK!

From the pictures I saw, I assumed this was one of those sort of early 70’s Spanish style pieces.  However, when we picked it up the owner explained that his mother purchased this back in the 50’s, and he was pretty sure it was not new then.

It is not as ‘chunky’ as those 70’s pieces and it is very well constructed, so I think the uncle was on the up and up and this piece is older than I thought.  But, I definitely did not dig the look of the wood grain on this guy.  Ewww.  It was a no-brainer to paint him.  And since I’d had so much luck with the MMS Kitchen Scale on my own oak buffet, I decided to use it on this one too.

I probably could have left it at just one coat of paint, but put on a 2nd more watered down coat for good measure.  Here is what the paint looks like before distressing and oiling.  The milk paint has a rather chalky finish, and the color is quite a bit lighter.

After the paint dried, I hand sanded.  Sometimes I use a scraper to promote chippiness, but on this one I just sanded.  I did get a fair amount of chipping on the top, but very little on the sides.

 Then I just gave him a good rub down with hemp oil (boy, that sounds like it should be much more enjoyable than it was).

Et voila!

There are some charming details inside too.  One of the top drawers has a clever and well constructed removable divider.  The bottom section still has its vintage contact paper liner.  It was in such good shape, and so full of vintage-y goodness that I left it as is.

So, there you have it.  What one can accomplish in one freakishly cold January weekend.

Update:  This buffet is SOLD!  to someone named Karen (funny coincidence, not the same Karen that it came from).  And she came to pick it up during what is being called a “shockingly cold polar vortex” (you gotta love that!)  because that, my friends, is what Minnesotans do.  Tough it out, carry on.  What?  Windchill is 38 below zero?  No biggie, let’s go load up some furniture!

Thanks Karen!

No, not those Jonas brothers.  If you expected to find some handsome pop singers here, sorry for the disappointment, but I’m talking about these handsome Jonas brothers.

I purchased the Jonas stencil via Etsy from Euro Stencil Designs.  It was $38 plus shipping, and has been worth every penny.  I’ve used it on a bazillion things.  I even used it on this year’s Christmas wrapping.

I did three dressers with this stencil last summer, and they were super popular.  Probably nearly as popular as the band!

I started with this one.  I painted him using homemade chalk paint.  Have you read about this?  It’s easy to make.  Just mix equal parts warm water and plaster of paris until smooth, then add about two to three times as much satin paint.  I don’t measure, but I have a good feel for the consistency I’m looking for.  I don’t know what it is about adding the plaster of paris to the paint, but somehow it just goes on smoothly, dries more quickly, sticks to the furniture better, and distresses more easily.  I usually finish the piece off with paste wax when I use this paint, as I did in this case.  The original hardware was all intact on this guy and I prefer to keep it when that is the case.

Next I painted this one using the same technique.  This one was missing some hardware though, so I switched it all out for some vintage black glass knobs.  I love the way the stencil fit perfectly inside the scrolls carved into the drawer fronts.

And finally, this one.  Same painting technique, and this time I saved some original hardware but had to add some black glass knobs as well.  I wish I’d had all the original drawers pulls as they are the prettiest silver, but no such luck.

The latest Jonas project is book painting.  I saw this on pinterest and thought I’d give it a try.  I think these are turning out fab.  I’ll be selling them at the Round Barn and possibly at my own occasional sale in June as well.

I regularly scope out CL (that would be craigslist) for deals on furniture.  I try to stick with stuff that is 1940’s or earlier, but occasionally I throw in a mid-century piece.  I also try to stick with stuff that is less than $100.  So, when I surf CL, I usually put in a max dollar amount, just to avoid seeing all of those ‘antiques’.  You know, the ones that you just know would be gorgeous painted, but are way out of your price range.

But somehow, last fall, I ended up spotting an ad for a bedroom set, $200 for all 3 pieces.  The pictures in the ad were terrible, and did not do this set justice at all.  I think this is the only reason that no one had snatched it up right away.  That, and the fact that they were in Cokato.  About an hour’s drive from civilization (my opinion only … if you are from Cokato, I’m sure it is a lovely town and much closer than I think).

So on a beautiful fall day, the hubby and I took a road trip to Cokato, and came home with this (pardon the terrible phone pic).

The sellers did not believe we could fit everything into our Ford Ranger, but they underestimated both our packing skills and our determination to not make a second trip to Cokato.

If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that I am opposed to ‘sets’ of furniture.  I fell victim to them in the past myself, but I’ve been slowly trying to eliminate them from my own house.  So, I decided right from the start that these pieces would not be painted as a ‘set’, but each piece done individually.

I started with the bed.  First, let me show you the CL ad pic that the seller posted.  It gives you only an inkling that it may be fabulous.

I painted it using a combination of 1 part Kitchen Scale to 3 parts Ironstone MMS milk paint.  Then I added a stencil to the foot board.

Turns out it is more than fabulous!  Just look at that gorgeous foot board (and you couldn’t even see it in the CL ad).  This bed ended up selling to someone who drove all the way down from Bemidji for it.  She runs a small theatre group that was putting on a production of Evita.  She needed a bed with a regal presence for the stage.  This one does the trick I think.

Next, I painted the dresser.  Here is the pic from the CL ad.

This piece is what sold me on the idea of driving to Cokato and buying this set.  I knew this would be fantastic painted.  Again, I mixed my own MMS milk paint using 1 part Typewriter and 3 parts Ironstone.

I’m not entirely happy with my photography skills on this one.  I need to quit attempting to take photos in front of the barn.  That red just reflects everywhere.  It gives this piece a pinkish glow that really is not part of the paint job.  This dresser went to the Round Barn and sold in less than a week.  I’m sure in part because it is so unique.

The final piece was the vanity.  Again, here is the CL ad photo.

If you are put off by the garland of silk roses, the pink roses lamp, and the snowman … well, you just have to look beyond that stuff!

It needed quite a bit of work.  The entire bottom framework had cracked in two.  Ken repaired it for me using dowels and glue.  That Ken is a furniture magician.  I then painted it with MMS Kitchen Scale.  The scrolly details are painted in MMS Ironstone.  This was the first piece I painted in Kitchen Scale, and I loved it so much that I later chose that color for my own oak buffet.

This guy was so much fun to paint.  The MMS milk paint went on so easily.  It chipped and distressed perfectly.  The one is still for sale (last time I checked).  You can find him at the Round Barn if you are so inclined.