q is for quandie

Finally, I have a piece of furniture to share with you guys today!

I purchased this secretary desk/hutch last fall, as evidenced by the fall colors in the ‘before’ photo which I took right away when I brought it home …

I partially chose this piece because the price was right, but I also thought it would be a fun challenge to totally change it up.

I’ve been storing this one in the carriage house all winter, so it feels good to have it out of there now.  When I first started to work on it, I pulled out the little drawer inside the drop down desk section to find that the previous owners hadn’t emptied it out.

Once again, I was disappointed when I didn’t find a wad of cash or maybe a lost Van Gogh.  Instead I was gifted with Hannah Montana tattoos and some questionable film negatives.  But I did find it slightly magical that the owner of the handmade drivers license and I share the same birthday.  It feels meant to be.

Step one with this piece was to remove that header on the top.  I think this may end up being a controversial approach, but I feel like that colonial sort of look is pretty dated … and not in a good way.  I also removed the fretwork in front of the glass, the faux key hole escutcheons and the drawer pulls (also decidedly colonial in style).  Finally, I removed those very 80’s looking round ball wheels.  I’ll admit, they worked really well … but they looked totally out of place on this piece.

I painted the interior of the piece in Dixie Belle’s Sea Glass, and the exterior in their Drop Cloth.

This is such a pretty combination.

It was seriously putzy to paint the interior of the drop down desk portion using a brush.  But back when I started on this piece it was only in the 30’s outside, so I had to paint inside the house which meant I couldn’t spray it.  If only I had known that it was going to warm up to the 70’s within a week or so.  I may as well have waited just a bit longer to work on this one.

By the way, I’ve totally cheated on these photos by taking them before putting the glass back in those doors.  I always get so much glare from glass doors.  But I will be putting the glass back in before listing it for sale.

Once two coats of Sea Glass were dry, I added a small section from one of the newest re.design with prima transfers called Paris Valley to the little drawer.

The Paris Valley transfer is a collage style mix of various graphics …

Once again, this is one that you could use as is, but I’ll definitely be cutting it up to use various bits and pieces on lots of different projects.  I circled the little bit that I used on that drawer above.

Then I coated it all with Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat.  I chose to use the clear coat rather than my usual wax for more durability on both the writing surface of the drop down desk and the shelves.

Next I pulled out another of the new Spring 2020 re.design with prima transfers.  This one is called Flower Collector, and I’m fairly sure it’s going to end up being one of my favorites.

It’s another gold transfer, and for this piece I chose to put it over the Drop Cloth for a more subtle look.  These gold transfers also look amazing over dark colors (like this piece).

I’ll point out that I switched up the layout of this transfer, using the bottom section of it on the drop down desk and the rest on the drawers.

That was a much better fit for my piece.  Always keep in mind that you don’t have to use a transfer ‘as is’ out of the package.

Once the transfer was applied, I added a coat of clear wax to the exterior (all of the Drop Cloth parts).

I was planning to put clear glass knobs on the drawers, but then I discovered these knobs in my stash.  I had just the right amount, and they were the perfect color.  I’m pretty sure I bought these at Hobby Lobby, but it was at least a year ago or more.

One last little detail to share, I did put the brass key hole escutcheon back on the upper door.  But first I used Dixie Belle’s patina paint in Copper with their blue spray to give it a verdigris sort of finish which worked beautifully with the Sea Glass color.

It feels so good to have this piece finished at last!

I absolutely love how it turned out.  I’m tempted to keep it for my front porch.  If it doesn’t sell right away, I might just have to do that.

So, now I’m curious.  How many of you wish I had left those original colonial elements in place?  And how many of you prefer my slightly modernized version?

As always, thanks to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing the paint and to re.design with prima for providing the transfers for this project.

If you’re looking for Dixie Belle products you can find them here.

If you’re looking for re.design with prima products you can find local retailers here, or online sources here.

And if you are local and in need of a flower collector’s secretary desk, check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page.  Although our ‘Stay at Home’ order has now been extended another two weeks, I am willing to set up a physically distanced appointment if anyone local is interested in this or any other pieces I have for sale.

Oh no, you guys.  Although I’ve been trying to minimize the time I spend watching COVID-19 related bad news these days, I made a huge tactical error the other night and started watching some YouTube videos about its impact on the cruise industry.

In case you hadn’t heard (and maybe many of you don’t actually care), on April 9 the CDC extended its ban on cruise ships sailing in U.S. waters to 100 days.  In addition, the cruise lines are going to have to make some fairly significant changes to the way they operate before they can resume business.  At least in U.S. waters.  I don’t know if the E.U. or other areas will follow suit.  Nonetheless, it seems like the chances of Mr. Q and I actually going on our European Capitals cruise in September are looking slimmer and slimmer.  If you’re an avid cruiser and want to learn more about this, check out this guy on YouTube.

One of the many expected changes for cruise ships is an elimination of buffet style food and drink on board.  So no more self-serve ice cream, no more taco bars, and no more midnight buffets.

So, as a sort of fond farewell to the buffet, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite buffets starting with one I actually called ‘the midnight buffet.’

I painted this one back in October 2016.  It’s painted in Fusion’s Midnight Blue.  It only required one coat of paint (thanks to the dark color over a dark existing stain), plus Fusion doesn’t require a topcoat.  So this was a definite plus when working on such a large piece.

I had so much fun staging the midnight buffet outdoors using some funky whisk brooms in cages and taking advantage of the falling leaves.

I painted another buffet in dark blue, this time using Dixie Belle Paint Co’s Bunker Hill Blue.

This blue is a little bit brighter than Fusion’s Midnight Blue, but I toned it down by adding a black glaze over it (if you want to see this color without a black glaze, check out this piece).

Another option for achieving a similar color using Dixie Belle paint is to make a 50/50 mix of their Bunker Hill Blue and In the Navy.

This time around I stripped and refinished the wood top with Fusion’s furniture wax in Espresso (a dark brown wax).

Just for fun I added a bright pop of color to the interior using Fusion’s Coral.

Not all of my buffets have been dark blue.  When I first starting painting with Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint I went through a definite Kitchen Scale phase starting with painting my own buffet (at the time, I have since sold it) in this color.

I loved it so much that I painted two more buffets in Kitchen Scale.

This next piece was so pretty, but it was quite large and since I painted it in the winter I wasn’t able to do my photos outside.

Plus this was back when I first started blogging and my photo skills were in need of practice.  So, I don’t feel like my pictures did this one justice.

But the chippy finish of milk paint was perfect on this piece.  Just check out those chippy legs!

If you’re wondering why those three pieces all seem to be a slightly different color, there are a few factors at play.  First of all, as per Miss Mustard Seeds blog, there can be as much as a 15% variation in the color from one bag of milk paint to the next.  In addition, milk paint tends to be a little less opaque than some paints so the color you are covering up can make a difference in your final color.  Finally, the white balance in my photos isn’t perfect in any of those photos.

Not all of my buffets have been left as buffets either.  I turned this one into a wine bar with the help of my handyman, Ken.

I had finished it just prior to one of my Carriage House sales, so I was in a hurry to get photos taken before the sale.  The hemp oil topcoat was freshly applied when I took these, and that’s not really a good look for photos.

Another fun piece was this buffet re-styled as a TV stand.

Ken cut holes in the back behind each of those center shelves so that one could run the electrical cords for a DVD player or other components out the back.

I’ve done a few more buffets in varying shades of grey.

A few years back I decided to try the General Finishes Milk Paint.  I think this product did more to confuse people about milk paint than any other product out there.  That’s because it’s not really milk paint.  Here is what they say about that on their website:  We named our product Milk Paint with the intention of putting a clear, bright, contemporary spin on an old fashioned furniture paint tradition. With that said, GF’s Milk Paint is not a true Milk Paint as it does not contain any milk powder.

Instead, General Finishes is a mineral based acrylic paint.  I found it very similar to Fusion paint.  Much like Fusion, it does not require a topcoat, although you can add one if you want to.  If you like using Fusion, you’ll like General Finishes Milk Paint and vice versa.

Anyway, this next buffet is painted in their Queenstown Gray.

On this next piece I used a fun technique.

  I started out by painting it with Fusion’s Ash.  Then I used the Imperial Damask stencil and the Galaxy Decor Wax from re.design with prima to add a subtle design.

This one has a fun pop of color on the inside too, this time using Dixie Belle’s Peony.

This last grey piece is really more of a dresser, but I think it would work beautifully as a buffet so I decided to include it in this post.

That one was painted in Homestead House milk paint in a color called Bedford.

Although I usually call them credenzas, I always enjoy doing the mid-mod version of a buffet using a bit more color.

There’s my absolute favorite green, Fusion’s Park Bench.

And this next one was a fun combination of turquoise and warm white.

I did some color blocking on this next mid-mod piece in grey, yellow and white.

And although this next piece is meant to be a dresser, I think it would work really well as a buffet too.

In fact, I staged it that way for the photos.

That pretty shade of green is a Sherwin Williams color called Aloe from their Vintage Moxie collection.

I hope you enjoyed this ‘buffet of buffets’ with me.  On the plus side, it was calorie-free!

Let me know what you favorite buffet was.  And if you’re also fond of cruises, are you also going to miss the buffet?