Little Black Dresser

 Now, I can imagine that if you read blogs long enough, that a simple paint job transforming an old piece of furniture is, frankly, getting old (so I hope you find this interesting). But for me, I never tire of spying a piece of furniture in it's current run-down form and imagine what it could be. Deciding what approach to take, what color, what sheen, should I replace the hardware? Questions and decisions circle feverishly in my head until I decide.

 Sometimes it's a quick process, sometimes it's slow, but above all, I let the piece tell me what to do.This dresser clearly has good form, nice lines and in fairly good condition. Since the finish is outdated and the top is covered in cigarette burns, I ultimately decided on paint.

 Because of it's fantastic shape, it really said regency to me...which in turn calls for a classic color, so I settled on black. Again, just your normal paint job with black I had on hand and a thin layer of polyurethane for some added shine.

 For the handles, I considered replacing them, but why? They are certainly in scale with the dresser....I just had to come up with a technique to make them stand out.

 First, I painted them black and let them dry. Next, I used a painter's brush (one of my gnarly ones) and Rub-N-Buff  to get a gold tone over the black.

 It was just what it needed. A good solid color, a lot of shine and a little glam.

This one almost stayed home with me but alas, it's available for sale in my booth. Sigh.

I'll be showing you some more of my booth in the coming days and show you how I've incorporated the color of the year: Emerald. Talk to you soon!

***

Thank you for commenting on my return to blogging. I had chemo on Monday with the new regimen. I have been down and out for several days so much so my dear MIL had to keep Logan for me....I just couldn't move. That's to be expected I suppose since it's a new drug and my body has to get use to it.  Luckily, no vomiting, knock on wood. Knock.Knock.Knock.

Hand Painted Coffee Table

Well, before we get to the coffee table, I have to show you these two chairs that I recently scored. No, they are not matching (which is ok) and now I am faced with the decision a.) whether to paint or not and b.) fabric choices. Even more thoughts....fabric paint for the one on the left and I wonder what a bleach and water mixture would do to the one on the right.....although I really don't mind the navy fabric on it and it's in excellent condition...who knows what I'll do....any way you are here to see a painted coffee table right?

We have had this coffee table since before we got married (yikes!) and it was used then...the stamped date underneath is circa 1983....needless to say, she's not a precious antique...so through all these years of abuse from a house of boys....her age was beginning to show.

But the shape is fantastic, I've always adored the legs, but you can really see how bad the top is in this first picture...
chips, dents, dings, water marks...you know the story...boys.

Keegan hauled it outside for me and set it up on my 'painting pallet'. I sprayed the entire piece glossy black. It is not a great departure from the dark walnut, but really cleaned up the finish

Once the table was completely dry, I broke out the gold leaf pen and hand painted some leaves around the perimeter. Gold leaf pens are really great to work with, great control, so I was able to finish the design in under 30 minutes.

I worked 'backwards' so I wouldn't smudge my work, although it dries fairly quickly.

The pattern added just enough to the top of the table to keep it from being just another piece of black furniture. I also added gold to the 'knuckles' (for lack of better word) of the legs...you'll see a better picture below, again bringing a little more detail in.

Once the the gold leaf was nice and dry, I put on a coat of poly and let it cure a couple of days.

Better picture of the legs:


I moved it back into her regular spot in front of the sofa.....

...we'll see how many more years we can get out of her!

I styled her up pretty neutral (there is a lot of color going on in the living room as it is!) but I love the air of formality she's got now.

Now what to do with those chairs.......:)

A Drop-Leaf Restored

I have been on the hunt for a round table for my booth for a couple of weeks and finally found one on a recent jaunt. The size was perfect and with the drop leafs, excellent.

I should have taken a better before shot, but as bad as the picture is, you can still see how pitiful this little table is. Dried and worn out wood, the finish peeling and cracking off and obvious water damage. I thought that I could bring it back to life with a little effort and work.
I decided to give it a shot.

Now I have never refinished or restored a piece of furniture, so this was also a learning experiment. I knew I had to strip it and went to Lowe's and settled on a product that was non-caustic and good for the envoirment called Citrustrip. I bought the spray-on type (but they have brush-on too), and basically followed the directions, sprayed an even coat and let it sit for a minimum of thirty minutes.

It actually didn't take long for the stripper to start working, the top coat (or what was left of it) started to froth up. It was pretty gross looking (so I thought I'd share it with you).


After minimal scraping, and a warm bath of soapy water, I had successfully gotten down to the bare wood.

It still had the dent and dings and scrapes, but that's the good kind of damage. I selected Dark Walnut stain for no other reason than I had it on hand. I was immediately happy with the choice, it was brought back to life and I hadn't even applied the poly yet! I also decided to give the under carriage and legs a coat of black (again because I had it) and distressed the paint

After painting the legs and under carriage black, I took the palm sander and distressed it, after that I went over the everything with the dark walnut stain and this is how the finished product looks:

Finally, I applied two coat of polyurethane over everything and let it dry.

I was really thrilled with the outcome of this little table that could....I think the finishes, match the style and if a table could be happy, I think it would be.

I couldn't believe how fun the process was either, I'm usually a 'paint it' kinda gal, but the top was just too damaged, but it gave me the opportunity to refinish and it was actually thrilling, not to mention easier than I thought. I sent my MIL at least three pictures during each stage, I was so excited with the progress. I could really get into 'refinishing'.

With the sides down and some autumn finery (and scanty grass)! :)

Of course I had to do a little tablescape before it goes to the booth. :)

Have you ever refinished a piece or do you only like painted finishes?

Also, a big thank you to Tobi Fairley (my design idol) for featuring my DIY Chevron Floor cloth! Check it out HERE

Joining Miss Mustard Seed

Need a design boost? For advice and guidance on style, contact me!

Master Bedroom: It's Coming Along

The fabric that I ordered finally arrived and I completely love it. It was exactly what I wanted and even though it was my second choice (read about my first choice HERE) I'm so thrilled with it. I've ordered some other fabrics too, but they've yet to arrive. I didn't want to order anything else until I was sure I liked the main fabric. So a little more waiting, but I went ahead and made two pillows from my lovely new fabric.

I want to give you a little background on the master bedroom. It was the first room we painted when we moved in seven years ago....


.....and this is why. It was a terrible, terrible shade of lilac that the former homeowners had painted. I refused to do anything in the house until this room got painted. The color was just gross. I wanted to create a cozy and comfy bedroom and really flex my design muscles so I chose a dark brown. Seven years ago, I was on the "blue and brown" train (that I've since gotten off of) and wanted a dramatic wall color accented with blue. Justin and I tackled the project together. I painted the base color; Coffee Bean, Justin doesn't like to paint. To create a little interest, I thought stripes would be just the ticket. Once dry, Justin and I spent about 3.5 hours dry brushing a gold glaze over the coffee bean. The next day, Justin taped off 12 inch stripes and I came back behind him with the coffee bean and created the stripes. Good times. We worked as a team and it was one of the first projects of many to come in our new house.

Fast forward seven years, my taste have shifted, and I was ready for a change (wink, wink). So I started picking out paint colors and bringing chips home for Justin to help me decide on the new paint color. He's (usually) pretty easy going with all my decisions and supports me 100% but when I started talking about painting the bedroom room, he got stubborn! The gall! I couldn't believe he didn't want to paint the bedroom! "It's just paint!" I tell him. He's feeling a little, let's say; attached and nostalgic about "our first project" in the house. So the coffee bean is staying, I decided to play nice and compromise. :) At least it's not this purple anymore!!

So working with the brown walls, I decided to go with black, white and orange palette in addition to brown. I've been using orange in other parts of the house so it was an easy choice for me. I've been trying to pull this room together for months now and I am determined to finish it. I found a great coverlet in 'Tiger Lily' at West Elm on sale and Justin bought it and two euro shams for me for my birthday. It came in and I love how it looks. I went on the hunt for fabric to coordinate, and found a great Schumacher fabric.
After finding out I couldn't afford it, I found this alternative. It was still expensive for me, but I only needed one yard for a couple of accent pillows. It is perfect and had all the colors I needed. I did that a little backwards, I usually like to find the fabric and then the bedding, but I have had things sell out right before my eyes (online) and I didn't want to miss out on the Lexington bedding (it's not easy finding orange bedding! :).

Here it is, isn't it beautiful?

Anyway, I still have a few projects to complete, but I thought I'd show you the progress so far. I'm glad that we've decided to keep the brown, I really like how white looks on brown.

My dressers are old, just to give you an idea....my Dad bought them for me when I first moved out of the house and they were old then. They are totally vintage! ;) I am still deciding whether I want to white wash them or not, we'll see. I didn't use the mirror that was attached to the dresser, I found a big frame at the Goodwill , spray painted it white and had a piece of mirror cut for it. I used my DIY wall shelves under a couple of thrifted frames. Above that a couple of thifted decorative plates. I made myself a shell wreath for above the mirror to complete a very symmetrical look.
I wanted some symmetry over the dresser because I did a gallery wall across from the bed. Pictures of the boys and Justin.... all the frames thrifted and spray painted white. The tall dresser is a project that I am really excited about, you should see what it started from. I named it the Chain Link dresser. I'll be showing you how I did this in the days to come. You might remember the leaf art, it use to hang in the living room. I recently found that little leafy mirror and layered it right over the top of the frame, yes that was intentional. :)

A close up of the pillows and bedding. I just love the honeycomb pattern on the coverlet, it adds a lot of texture.

The lady on the dresser was my Mom's, circa 1963. She was always in my house growing up and now she'll live in mine. :) I've always loved her as a kid and thought she was so exotic looking.

I recently painted my lamps, again. This is a Krylon color called Saddle Tan. This is my first time using this color, but this color is in the fabric and also the curtains, so I tried it out. I'm liking it.

This chair and the desk behind it is on the project list... new upholstery for the chair and a new slipcover for the desk.

So here is what I have left to do:

Buy two more curtain panels

Do different slipcover for desk

Recover and paint chair

Alter some existing art (add colors of fabric)

Get rid of blue stripe around tray ceiling

What I'm still considering:

White washing the two dressers

Changing headboard

DIY Projects you can try out yourself:

DIY Sunburst Mirror

Spray Painted Lamps

Leaf Poster Artwork

Painted Chandy

Wall Shelf out of Curtain Rod Holders

Painted Black and white Dresser


Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you're inspired!

*EDITED*
Here is the link to the fabric that I chose:
Richloom Chandler in Spice

Desk Job

What do you do with a beat up freebie desk? Well, several things, but lets focus on what I did to a beat up freebie desk. :) From it's original make-over a few years ago, from wood to painted black...I decided to lighten up a bit and give this ole desk another face lift.Sorry, no good "before" shots, and even these, I had already sanded...Deciding on a color wasn't too hard, I've been on a grey kick for a while, a lot less harsh than black, but it was still a little too plain....I decided to paint the top of the desk with chalk board paint, how fun would that be!!

I let the paint dry and I really liked how it was looking, but I still wasn't satisfied, shocker, I know... so I decided to add a little detail with paint. I was a little nervous, but if I messed up I could always go back over it with more chalk board paint. I decided to personalize it with a monogram, E for Edwards, and continued with a little bubble detail. It was easy, after the E dried I centered a clear glass plate over it and used the eraser of a new pencil to create the circle and I just kept dabbing all the way around the edge of the plate. I created a border too with the same technique, dabbing the eraser in paint, all the way around...



I seasoned the whole top and I was done!

I added some new hardware, hung a cute little thrifted basket that I spray painted orange, with one of my little flowers I've been making, and Logan likes to put his action figures in there too...










A little thrifted cup to keep the chalk in...

Do What You LoveWhat You Do Printable from Make it Perfect


I printed out some free illustrations from Feed Your Soul...matted and framed them, gotta love some free art!






I think this is the desk's final makeover, I might be happy with it for a while! We'll see!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you're inspired!