A Brush of Whimsy

Antique Coffee Table

2012-02-02T12:57:00.000-08:00

Isn't it always fun to be given free furniture? I was happy to get this one~

The top was so beat up, but it cleaned up nicely after it was stripped, sanded and stained.

I used Old White CP for the base. The plan was to dry brush it on, but my brush happened to be a little wet, so I did sort of a wet/dry brushing application. :) I just kept my brush wet with a teeny bit of water and brushed on super small amounts of paint. I probably only used about a tablespoon of paint on the entire table.

I sealed the base with 2 coats of Minwax Paste Wax~

I haven't been using the Minwax wax lately, but I really loved how quickly it dries and is ready to be buffed. The Annie wax seems to take much longer...but that's just me. :)

The top of the table got 3 coats of Tung Oil~

Here's my freebie before picture~

Now it's all cute and ready for a new living room~

Thanks for checking in! :)

Whitewashed Tables

2012-01-07T21:03:00.000-08:00

It's been sooo long since I've posted! I am hoping to go back to teaching next year, so I've been spending all my free moments working on application questions, preparing a new portfolio, and updating my resume. Afer sitting out for eight years hanging out with my kids, my head is spinning with phrases like differentiated instruction, project-based learning and the six writing traits! :)

Aaaanyways, we inherited these lovely hunter green tables several years ago from my parents. They aren't really all that bad, but the green is just so... 90's, I guess. They take me back to high school days. :)

First I stripped the tops~

This is what I've been using lately~

I stained the tops, but they looked a little boring, so I mixed up a whitewash mixture from the same off white mistint I had painted onto the base.

For my whitewash mixture I just poured in a little paint and water. I think the ratio should be somewhere in the 50/50 range, but I just guess.

I also like to add a small amount of clear glaze to the mix because it allows a little more time to work the paint in before it dries.

After the whitewash, I dry brushed the same paint over the top to give it a little more worn look.

When it dried, I sanded it with a really fine 320 grit sandpaper.

After painting the base, I just barely distressed some of the edges because I didn't want that hideous forest green color peeking out. To give the appearance of distressing, I glazed with both RL Tobacco to darken the nooks and crannies and the Tea-Stained for an aged effect.

I sealed everything with Minwax Paste Wax~

I love using my wax brush~ it goes on so quickly and evenly!

I'm so glad I never have to see these in forest green again~

Coffee Table

Side Table~

Both together :)

Happy New Year! :)

French Provencial Bedroom Set

2011-12-11T21:36:00.000-08:00

When I found this set on Craigslist, the gentleman selling it said it was antique and solid wood. Not so, my friends, not so. It was vintage at best, and I'm not sure there was a solid piece of wood to be found. The fronts of the drawers were actually made from plastic. I figured this set would be a great test to see how well chalk paint really adhered to anything. :)

I painted them in Provence CP, and used Old White as a trim color. I lightly distressed and then waxed with clear and dark wax. The chalk paint worked like a charm!

This is how they turned out~

Happy Holidays!!!

Aubusson Blue Desk

2011-11-25T11:16:00.000-08:00

This desk was a piece from a huge french bedroom set I found a while back. I did this one a different color from the others partly because I didn't know how anyone could squeeze that whole set into one bedroom and after painting four other pieces in Provence, I was ready for a change!

Check out that gold!!! :)

The desk and chair got 2 coats of Aubusson Blue CP.

Hey, there, Zach's Lego Man! :)

I painted the little trim pieces in Old White.

Since this piece was not wood, and in fact, had plastic fronts on the drawers, I really tried my best to not distress too much. It's one of my weaknessnes, though! :)

I applied the dark wax directly onto the paint.

I usually let the wax dry about a day, then buff it.

I lined the drawers and covered that gold cushion on the chair with some fun, bright fabric.

Aubusson is really dark, so this really livened things up!

Before~

After~

Happy Holidays!

You're Going to do What with My Coffee Table???

2011-11-16T12:00:00.000-08:00

Just before I sprayed this guy, I remembered to take a before picture. :)

I sprayed it with a $5 mistint from Lowes.

After a light distressing, I glazed with black RL glaze~

I sealed the table with two coats of Minwax Paste Finishing Wax~

My chalk paint waxing brush made it a breeze~ so much better than cheesecloth or regular cloths because you can really lay down a nice thin coat of wax with this fabulous brush!

*Update: After Maya played with her My Little Ponies on the table top, I could see scratches in the wax. I decided to pull all the wax off using mineral spirts, which works great, by the way, and sealed with polycrilic spray instead, to make it more durable. :) Of course, if you read the end of the post you'll see it really didn't matter...

Here's the before again~

All fixed up~

*Now, here's the kicker...the nice older couple who bought the table from me planned to 1- REPAINT it a different white (covering up all the distressing and glazing work, my friends) to match their fireplace hearth, and then 2- CUT the table in half and place on either side of the fireplace...SAY WHAAAT??? Now that's just brutal. :(

Have a great Thanksgiving holiday!!!

A Thanksgiving Table

2011-11-03T06:40:00.000-07:00

I promised my son, Zach, we would get to park in the garage this winter so we won't freeze on the way to school again this year, so this table set that's been hogging up the garage had to be dealt with! :)

Everything got a coat of Paris Gray Chalk Paint.

The chairs and table base only needed one coat, but I gave the table top several coats.

To distress, I mostly used a sandpaper grit of 400, along with 220. It just doesn't take much effort with the CP!

There were so many carved details on this table set, I knew glaze would add the perfect touch. It was pretty dang brutal glazing the six chairs, with all the legs, spindles and details!

As I wiped off the glaze, more of the paint came off. I loved it, though, because it gave the set an extra chippy look!

I used Wipe-On Poly for the finish. Everything got at least 2 coats. The seats and backs of the chairs got 3 coats, and the table top got four coats for extra super duper durability.

Here is the table and two of the chairs before~

All ready for Thanksgiving dinner!

Add a leaf, and there's room for more!!!

Here's some shots of the chairs...did I mention there were 6 of these to do??? :)

HAPPY {early} THANKSGIVING!!!

Goodwill Dresser

2011-10-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

I couldn't believe this little cutie I found at our local Goodwill store. I never find good furniture there, but we always go because it's Maya's favorite thrift shop! :)

I gave it a light sanding, just to smooth everything out.

The sides and front of the dresser were painted with one quick coat of Duck Egg Blue Chalk Paint, and the remaining areas got a sparse coat of Old White~

After distressing, I waxed it first with clear then dark wax~

*FYI ~ Duck Egg Blue looks really gray at first! The clear wax brings it to a pretty blue, and the dark wax adds a greenish tint to it.

I stripped and sanded the top. A mix of dark walnut and ebony stain gave the top a lovely, rich look.

Several coats of Tung Oil finished the top off just perfectly!

I gave the original hardware a spray of this~

The drawers were lined in this pretty brown and white fabric from JoAnn's. I used spray adhesive to keep the fabric in place~

I think the before is pretty cute~

These are the after pics of the dresser in its' new home! I forgot to take pics before it sold, so I got to go see it this morning in Melody's home. I've never seen any of my pieces once they've sold, so it was so much fun!

Did you see the little glass globe on top of the dresser? It says "Seek Beauty." I like that! :) Have a beautiful day!

Paris Gray Side Tables

2011-10-06T12:26:00.000-07:00

This is a cute pair of side tables I found on Craigslist~

After a quick wipe down, I painted the base with one coat of Paris Gray Chalk Paint. Then I did a little distressing with my sanding sponge.

The chalk paint distresses so effortlessly, there really is no need for heavy duty sand paper.

When I applied the clear wax, the gray darkened up a bit. It looked so pretty I wasn't sure if I should add the dark wax.

But I did, and it really added a richness to the tables.

I stripped the tops with this eco friendly stripper from Sherwin Williams~

The regular price is stinking expensive, but it was 40% off when I bought it, so I got a screaming deal!

I stained the tops with a mixture of Early American and a touch of Dark Walnut.

I always try to go as dark as I can with the top and still match the color of the wood that is peeking out from the distressed base.

The top was finished with three coats of tung oil~

Just a reminder of the before~

Here's the after pictures. It was a gray, rainy day, so they kind of blend in! :)

Wishing you some sunshine today!!! :)

Beachy Coffee Table

2011-09-20T00:23:00.000-07:00

When my neighbors gave me their old coffee table, I knew just what I would do with it.

After a quick sand, I sprayed on a mistint from Lowes.

A bit of distressing was all it needed. I had to keep myself in check~ I can go a little crazy on the distressing ~~sometimes~~ almost always, and I didn't want to spend a ton of time on this project! :)

I wiped on and then off some stain in Golden Oak~

It really warmed the paint color up and recovered the places I had sanded to bare wood while I was distressing.

For protection, I sprayed on a couple coats of polycrilic I found in my paint cupboard.

Before~

All ready to go~

Enjoy your day! :)

Duck Egg Blue Curvy Dresser

2011-09-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

This old dresser was big, heavy, and pretty ugly!!! The brown you see isn't wood, it's a nasty brown paint that was slapped over the wood by a previous owner.

I've already posted a few other projects that I've used chalk paint on, but this was actually my first CP piece. :) Earlier this summer I won Kathie's CP giveaway! The giveaway included two cans of CP, dark and light wax, and two crazy awesome waxing brushes. I know...I am soooo lucky!

After much deliberation, I picked out Duck Egg Blue and Old White.

I went ahead and lightly sanded the dresser before I got started painting to smooth out the shoddy paint job it had been given years ago.

I gave the drawers one coat of Duck Egg Blue, and the rest of the dresser base got two coats of the Old White.

I sanded the heck out of it, using my orbital sander as well as sanding sponges.

I waxed the dresser with clear wax and then hit only the white parts with the dark wax.

I stripped the top, sanded and stained it Ebony~

Wow...I did not realize the ebony would be so dark! I wanted the top to match the shabbiness of the rest of the dresser, so I mixed up a whitewash of old white/water, brushed it on and let it dry. After that, I sanded most of the whitewash off, leaving just enough white here and there to look like it had been worn off over the years.

I finished the top with tung oil and finally some Minwax dark wax~

Of course I could have used Annie's dark wax, but I wanted to save that for the chalk paint.

All finished~

Thanks for checking in!!! :)

Melody's Turquoise Bedroom Set

2011-09-03T08:31:00.000-07:00

A while back, Melody purchased the french side tables from me. She asked if I would also paint her bedroom set. I haven't been doing custom jobs lately, but in my few emails with Melody, I just liked her so much I wanted to help make her turquoise bedroom set dream happen! :) This is what we started with~ a bed, dresser and two nightstands. (I had already stripped and sanded the tops here)

I went to Home Depot, and they did a color match for the color Melody had chosen~

I stripped the tops of the dresser and nightstands~

*Just a little tip~ it's a good idea to wear pants and long sleeves (along with all the other saftey equipment) even in the summer time when stripping furniture because I swear, little drops somehow find a way to sneak on your skin even if you're being really careful, and this stuff burns, people!

After applying the stipper, I covered it with wax paper so it wouldn't dry out~ Christa gave me this tip awhile back!

After scraping off the stripper, it needed a light sanding to make it all nice and smooth!

Perfect!

Next the bed frame and bases of the dresser and nightstands all got a nice sanding.

Before painting, I applied a little vaseline to some of the areas where I knew I wanted it to look nice and chippy~

After everything was sprayed and dried, I did lots and lots of distressing. Melody wanted it really shabby, which is my favorite! I used all kinds of things to distress~ my sander, sanding sponges, sand paper, razor blades, and paint scrapers!

I brushed on some RL glaze in Tobacco~

I ended up sanding off quite a bit of it, just leaving a touch because it turned the turquoise a little too green. :)

Then I mixed up a whitewash of part water and part Old White Chalk Paint and brushed it over all the painted areas.

Again, I sanded off most of the wash, just leaving behind traces of white here and there.

Alot of the time when distressing, the original stain color gets sanded off down to bare wood. I wanted the original colored stain to show under the distressed areas. I found a stain that was a great match, and rubbed it over all the places that I had sanded and left raw wood.

The stain will change the paint color as well as the wood if it is not removed from the painted areas. Mineral spririts works awesome~just wipe away the excess stain that gets on the painted areas. It's all good!

The bases of the dresser and nightstands all got two coats of wipe on poly~

I stained the tops of the dresser and nightstands with the same stain color. Unfortunately when I had previously sanded, I ran into plywood. Ugh! Melody really wanted stained tops, so I didn't want to have to paint over the wood. I thought maybe a nice white wash would hide the imperfections, and yet still allow the wood to show through. Worked like a charm, and I think the whitewashed tops actually look waaay cuter than just the regular old stained tops! Sometimes Plan B is better! :)

I finished the tops with three coats of Tung Oil~

Here is the before picture of the nightstands~

Here they are, all fixed up~

The sweet fabric is from Hobby Lobby~

whitewashed top~

The before picture of the dresser~

After~

All together!!!

Don't forget the bed!

*Melody has an incredibly inspirational business, website and blog called Brave Girls Club. Through colorfully happy art, she teaches young girls and women to remember, embrace and be restored to who they once were, before the negative effects of life creeped in. I hope you will go check out her site and blog! It's awesome! :)

The Hideous Piece of Furniture in the Driveway

2011-08-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

I thought this little guy was a real cutie when I saw him at the thrift store. However, after I'd put on the base coat and had set it out to dry, my husband came home from work and said, "Where did you get that hideous piece of furniture that's in the driveway?"

GAME ON! I had to make this thing extra cute!

A while back I scored BIG TIME and won Kathie's awesome chalkpaint giveaway at A Few Good Pieces! I'm not done with the first piece I used the CP on, but I also decided to use it for this!

I used Provence and then trimed it in Old White.

Then I taped off stripes on the front and painted them in Old White.

After that, I gave it a nice bit of distressing with my sander and sanding sponges (fine and medium).

*I have since done a piece with regular latex paint, trying to achieve a super distressed finish, and it has been 100 times harder to get the same look that happens so easily with CP.

Since it was looking so beachy, I thought I'd give it a whitewash. I mixed some of the Old White with water and brushed it over everything. When that dried I used my sanding sponges and lightly sanded again.

I waxed with the light wax, followed by the dark. I love how using the dark wax antiques it and seals in the same step!

OOPS TIP: I messed up the sides by putting on too much dark wax. I know that you can use the clear wax to wipe it away, but the wax had gotten lumpy and icky. I used mineral spirits, and it easily wiped away all the wax so I could redo the sides.

Here he is, all ready for a makeover. All right...he is a little ugly~

All done over, beachy-retro style!

Have a fun weekend!

Hot Pink Vanity

2011-08-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

When I found this little vanity, it already looked pretty darned cute!

I sanded it, filled hardware holes and drilled new ones.

At Home Depot I found a hot pink paint/primer called..."Hot Pink," and sprayed it on.

After distressing, I brushed on some black RL glaze, getting in the nooks and crannies.

Then I wiped away most of it, leaving a sweet antiqued look.

This little message was hidden on the inside of the vanity~ :)

Just a bit of black paint took care of that!

Wipe-on poly was the perfect way to finish it off and give a nice bit of shine and protection~

At Hobby Lobby I bought some more of this fun zebra fabric that I have used before~

All of the drawers and little compartments were lined with the fabric, using Mod Podge~

Once the fabric was in the drawers, I also brushed a coat of MP over the top of the fabric for extra protection. I figured some lucky girl is going to have lots of makeup and things stashed in there! :)

Before~

Hot Pinked!

Lots of fun surprises inside~

I can just picture this full of make-up and fingernail polish!

The top left drawer (shown) holds rings, and the top right one has a bunch of small compartments for earrings and necklaces~

Hobby Lobby zebra knobs~ just one was the perfect finishing touch!

The little black knobs are also from Hobby Lobby.

I recovered the bench cushion, too. It's really easy to do...just lots of staples!

Thanks for dropping in!!! :)

Just a Little Nightstand...and a Story About Bob

2011-07-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

I found this nightstand on Craigslist from a fun gentleman named Bob who I have bought a couple of other items from.

Bob stashes his furniture finds in a rental he owns, and I believe his wife is not completely aware of the extent of his used furniture collection.

When I saw the ad for this piece, I knew it had to be Bob because of how he words his ads, and he always prices his things kind of funny, like, $58, or $43. No reason, really, just sounds good to him. Here was our CL emails~

Me: Are you firm on the price?

P.S. Is this Bob? :)

Bob: I have a hard enough time hiding things from my wife and now I have to put up with you. I can't hide from anyone!! Oh, thats right, you already viewed that item. There goes all my profit.

Me: Ha ha... I thought it had to be Bob! Are you sure you're ok with that price? If so, just let me know when you'll be at the Furniture Stash Shack! :)

Bob: When I saw the "Stash Shack" I literally exploded. Yes, you can have it. I will let you know when I will be back out there. See ya!

Me: Have a great week and try to find me some more good stuff, ok? :)

Kind of funny, don't ya think?

So, anyways, I gave this piece a light sanding and a spray of Kilz. I sprayed on my own turquoise concoction, gave it a nice distressing, and glazed it with this great stuff~

I sealed it with a few coats of wipe-on poly.

The gold handles were given a makeover with a shot of this~

Alrighty then...here is the before~

...and the after~

Have a happy day...and thanks, Bob! :)

Pink Bedroom Set

2011-07-06T20:49:00.000-07:00

I am always amazed at how some of you take very comtemporary, ordinary pieces and make them look so fabulous. So, I thought I'd try a little makeover on a regular old bedroom set.

After sanding, I primed with my fave~

I mixed up some leftover oops pink paint and threw in a little bit of white to tone it down.

Using 80 grit sandpaper, I lightly distressed all the edges.

I wiped on a couple coats of poly for protection~

I sanded, primed and sprayed all the ugly gold hardware a basic white and then distressed them as well.

Here we have the before~

Now it's all pink!

Have a great day!

Tea-Stained White China Hutch

2011-06-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

This is another CL find that my husband picked up for me on his way home from work~

The backing to the hutch was missing, and the very top of the hutch blew off somewhere on I-84 on it's way to my house. :) I went to Home Depot and found what I needed to replace both sections. It's super handy because they will cut your stuff to the needed measurements for you on their fancy machine for free! Lowe's does it, too!

After a little sanding, I rolled primer on the big flat sections and left the other parts bare. I wanted this piece to be really chippy, and I've found that it's hard to accomplish that with the primer.

Using Q-tips, I applied vaseline to areas that I wanted to looked chipped away.

I sprayed on "Powdered Snow" in Behr's Ultra.

After the paint was nice and dry, I wiped the vaseline off. I'll have to admit I got a tad bit carried away with the vaseline this time and had to go back and paint over some of the overly chippy areas. One of the drawbacks to using the vaseline is you can't see what the distressing looks like until you've painted and then wiped away the paint that's over the vaseline.

I also used sandpaper and razor blades to add some more distressing.

Next I used my brush to apply RL Tea-Stained glaze~

I gave the whole thing a nice coat of Minwax Finishing Wax~

Here's another look at my pathetic, blurry before pic~

Here it is now, all finished up~ Warning....it's VERY chippy! :)

Have a nice weekend!

Chippy Aqua Vanity

2011-05-25T17:04:00.000-07:00

I saw this vanity set on CL, and it reminded me of pieces done by one of my absolute favorites, European Paint Finishes. They are my furniture idols! :)

I had been trying to figure out how to get a really sweet chippy look, and wasn't having much luck until Sausha, over at Show and Tell wrote a post about distressing with vaseline.

Let me tell you, it works awesome!!! I won't go into detail about how I did it because it's all there in Sausha's post, but after working for hours trying to make things look chipped up, it was amazing to just wipe away the vaseline and wahlah~ chippy deliciousness!!!

I also used a razor blade and sanding blocks, but the vaseline was the bomb!

*I use a spray gun for my projects...not sure how the vaseline would hold up if the paint was brushed over it.

The paint color I used was just a mixture of some paint I already had on hand along with some oops paint. Both were Valspar paint + primer.

After a little more distressing, I wiped dark walnut stain over the paint.

I sealed it with 2 coats of wipe-on poly in satin.

I stripped the top of the vanity and stained it in mahogany to match the original stain color that was peeking out from underneath the new paint on the base of the vanity and mirror.

I topcoated it with a few coats of tung oil~

~and finished it off with Minwax Paste Finishing Wax in Special Dark.

I had to order this online from Rockler, and got free shipping thanks to a tip from Korrie! :)

Gotta have the before~

Here it is now~

Thanks for popping in! :)

Turquoise Tall Boy and Nightstand

2011-04-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

Craigslist finds have been a BIG bummer lately, so as I was haphazardly scanning through the pics, I couldn't believe this sweet dresser and nightstand set that had just been posted~

Oooo...I couldn't get my phone and call the number fast enough! My husband's work was only a few miles away, so he picked them up on his way home from work.

My mouse sander has been giving me all kinds of grief~ and has since been retired for good, so I gave them a quick sanding with a medium grade sanding block~

I really like these little things!

I've been priming most of my pieces with this spray Kilz lately because my spray gun lays down a coat that is equal to about 2 regular coats. It seemed like a waste of primer. That, and it's easier, too! :)

After a light sanding, I sprayed on some "Embellished Blue," a Home Depot color that Sherwin-Williams color matched for me.

I heavily distressed these guys, so I had lots of bare wood exposed. I picked up some stain that matched the original wood color. It was called English Chestnut.

When I brushed the stain over the distressed edges, it looked so much better! I decided to just wipe it all over the whole thing, rather than using glaze to antique.

Using stain to age a piece is alot quicker and less messy than glaze. The effect is just a little bit different.

I gave them a couple of coats of wipe on poly. The tops also got a coat of wax, just to give them a nice even finish.

Here's a before of the dresser~

Here is the set all fixed up~

Thanks for stopping by!

A Pair of French End Tables

2011-04-13T00:29:00.000-07:00

I found these end tables on Craigslist. The best part was the lady selling them lived only a few miles away from me!

I thought they looked like they might bleed through regular primer, and even though I sanded, the top was pretty slick, so I used this~

It was just barely warm enough to pass the spray gun temperature rule :), so I sprayed on this peacock blue color from HD, called "Caribe." (This is the same color I used on the French Chairs.)

All the edges were distressed using my mouse sander.

After that, I glazed, with Ralph Lauren "Tobacco."

Two coats of wipe-on poly was applied for protection.

I sanded, primed and then sprayed the pulls with Rustoleum Hammered Brown~

Next, I lightly swooshed a little bit of black spray over the top to make them look a bit speckled and older. I learned this tip from Chrissie!

Before~

After~

Have a great week! :)

Sweet Pink Vanity

2011-04-03T14:31:00.000-07:00

Welcome! Hopefully it wasn't too hard to find the new site! I feel like a cereal blog name changer, but this is it, people....I promise! :) (Just to avoid confusion, this blog used to be called Second Time Furniture.)

This was a cute little vanity I found off Craigslist. (The little green trailer in the background is my husband's camp trailer. A while ago I was spraying back here, and he was quite unhappy to see that there was white overspray on the wheels - oops! :)

After sanding, a quick coat of spray primer and another light sanding, I sprayed on some pink "oops" paint.

I heavily distressed, and then brushed on Ralph Lauren "Tobacco" glaze.

For the finish I wanted to wax, but figured a young girl's desk might need a little more protection, so I wiped on two coats of this~

Before~

All dressed up in pink~

Another sweet little glass knob from the nearby vintage shop~

I mod podged the drawer with cute Hobby Lobby paper~

Does anyone else have trouble with this...kids relentlessly trying to be in the pictures?

The cubbies are perfect for pet storage!

A close up of the bench~

O.K, fine...just be in the picture! :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Name Change~ Again!

2011-04-01T00:27:00.000-07:00

So sorry for the confusion, but it seems as though another name change is in order. It was brought to my attention that my new blog name was similar to a business name out there. Out of respect for this business, I thought I'd give it another try.

So, I've come up with a new name that I can hopefully keep ~ A Brush of Whimsy.

Hopefully, this will be it...fingers crossed! :)

Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Robin's Egg Blue Dresser

2011-03-28T07:25:00.000-07:00

I saw this dresser at our Salvation Army, but as happens all too often the original price was just outrageous! A couple weeks later it was still there, and I was suprised to see it had been marked WAAAAY down into my price range!

I sanded it and repaired missing areas of veneer with my KwikWood epoxy putty.

You can find it at Home Depot!

After that I gave it a quick coat of Kilz~

I headed to Sherwin Williams and they mixed up a Home Depot color for me~"Embellished Blue."

The dresser got a heavy distressing around the edges with my sander, and then I brushed on the darkest brown RL Glaze, "Tobacco."

For the finish, I wiped on a couple coats of Minwax Wipe On Poly.

The original knobs were gold. And ugly.

I found these glass knobs at a vintage shop near my house that I used for the top knobs~

For the bottom drawers I just fixed up some of these wooden knobs to match the rest of the dresser.

Remember how the dresser looked before?

So much better now~

A Funky Chair Pair

2011-03-20T12:29:00.000-07:00

These two sad chairs have been sitting in my garage all winter~

After a nice sanding, a spray of Kilz, and another light sanding, they were ready to go!

I sprayed on a coat of peacock blue ("Caribe") from Home Depot.

Next, they got a heavy distressing with 60 grit sandpaper (80 grit works great, too).

After that I went over them with a finer grit sand paper to smooth it out.

I glazed with RL black glaze mostly by just brushing on and wiping some off with a damp cloth~

The glaze relaxed the blue just the right amount!

After two coats of poly, the painting part of this project was in the bag!

This fun fabric at Hobby Lobby was the perfect match for recovering the "new" chairs.

I used a 40% off coupon I found online from HL to buy a staple gun that I was going to need for my first recovering project. :)

There are so many tutorials on recovering chairs, and I am so not qualified yet to give one, so I think I'll leave it at that. I will say it was simple to do!

Here's a before of the chairs again~

Here they are, all glammed up!

While my husband does not fully appreciate the awesomeness of the "crazy" zebra stripes, I guaranteed him sum teenage gal S gunA lov em! :)

*As a side note, Mike and Melanie over at The Frosted Gardner are giving away a $50 Home Depot gift card as a thank you to their 1,000 followers. They do amazing furniture transformations~ head on over and check them out! :)

Spring Green Dresser

2011-03-12T16:42:00.000-08:00

I'd had my eye on this dresser at The Salvation Army for a few weeks, but the price tag was a bit pricey.

When I dropped by a week later, I had a special surprise!

After sanding, I primed it with Kilz spray. This is great stuff!

Kilz leaves a bumpy surface, but a super light sanding with 220 grit or so smoothes it right out!

I've been wanting to do a green piece, so when I found this green misint at Lowes, I was feeling pretty lucky!

I was dying to use my spray gun. It was barely 40 degrees out, but it felt so much warmer because the sun was shining! The man at Sherwin-Williams told me it needs to be at least 50 degrees to spray, but I was willing to take my chances! I'd had it with my brush and roller!

So, um...anyways...this is what may happen to paint when spray gun temperature recommendations are not followed. :)

Paint warts, I think, is what I shall call them! :)

It was actually not a big deal because the bubbles (and there really weren't that many of them) were in places that looked just fine getting sanded down as part of the distressing. Unless the paint falls off next week, I'm going to say the spraying was totally worth it!

I used my mouse sander and heavily distressed all the edges.

Next I mixed up and applied white glaze with a cloth.

I also used my sponge brush and dry brushed on a little extra of the glaze mixture, just to add heavier glazing here and there.

Two coats of Minwax Wipe-On Poly was used to finish off the lower part of the dresser.

I decided to give the top of the dresser a nice whitewash. It had already been stripped by the previous owner, so all I had to do for prep work was sand with 220 and 320 grit.

I used a water/paint/glaze mixture. I didn't measure, but it was approximately 60/40 water/paint with a little glaze mixed in. I added the glaze to the mix to allow more time to work the mixture into the wood and blend with each area I covered.

I brushed a very thin layer of the mixture into the wood with a two inch sponge brush. It worked great!

It looks quite blotchy and uneven before it dries because the wood is still absorbing the mixture, but chances are it will even out more as it dries.

The next morning I applied wax using cheesecloth.

Cheesecloth works really well and makes it easier to lay down a thin even coat.

Next I used a buffing pad to blend out the the wax. It looked pretty, but the buffer leaves scratches in the wax. A while back, Christa over at Stories of a House had recommended using Meguiar's Ultimate Compound to buff out scratch marks.

That's right, it's a car product, but it works!

I sanded, primed and sprayed the original pulls a hammered brown. Then, I mixed up some white paint and a pinch of glaze. Using a little paint brush, I covered the pulls with the white mixture and wiped it off lightly with a damp cloth. Here are the stages of the pulls~

I gave the pulls a protective covering with this~

I decided not to paint and line the drawers on this dresser because the inside of the drawers were in pristine condition, and most importantly, there were NINE drawers! That would have taken me forever!!! :)

Now for the fun part. Here's what the dresser looked like when it lived at the thrift store~

....and now~

The whitewashed top shows and highlights the woodgrain but hides little imperfections...

Spring is just around the corner!!! :)

Gray Nightstand

2011-03-04T07:40:00.000-08:00

Just after Christmas, I posted this gray dresser that was later purchased by a lovely family for their adorable teenage daughter, Hannah.

They wanted a nightstand to go with it, so I tracked down this little cutie from the same gentleman I had purchased the Pale Blue Dresser from.

Since the weather has cruelly turned cold again, I was forced to return my spray gun to its' case and had to roll and brush on the paint and primer...ah shucks!!! :)

After priming with Kilz Clean Start, I gave it a light sanding with 220 grit paper, and wiped it down with tack cloth.

I rolled and brushed on several coats of the same gray I used on the gray dresser. It was a little concoction I mixed up in my kitchen. :)

BTW, if you don't have a liner for you paint tray, aluminum foil works great! Honestly, it's what I use all the time.

I lightly distressed the edges with 60 grit paper.

Next I ran very fine #0000 steel wool in the direction of the wood grain all over the dresser. It leaves a very faint glazing effect.

I used my black Ralph Lauren glaze next.

This is what it looks like when I first brush on the glaze. It's not pretty!

Always be sure to get it really well in the little nooks and crannies!

I think you just have to kind of play around with glaze and figure out your own way of applying it. I don't even glaze all my pieces the same way.

This is what I did on the nightstand. After haphazardly brushing on the glaze (above), I used a wet cloth and wiped the glaze along the wood grain to spread it out fairly evenly. It was usually too dark at first, so I simply rinsed out my cloth and continued doing the same thing until it had the effect I wanted. It's nice to have a dry cloth on hand as well to lightly wisk away areas that are a little too heavily glazed.

The following day I finished it off with two coats of wipe-on poly~

These sweet little knobs were used for the top of the gray dresser, so I thought it would be cute to replace the original knobs of the nightstand with a knob to match~

I brushed the gray paint all over the knob and then wiped it off with a cloth, leaving just a bit here and there to give it an aged look.

Using the same fabric that was used to line the drawers of the dresser, I also lined the nightstand drawer.

Here we go...Before~

and AFTER~

Have a great weekend! :)

Giveaway Winner!!!

2011-03-01T09:17:00.000-08:00

Today is the big giveaway day, and I wish I could pull an Oprah and make all of my follower friends winners!

But since I'm not, I went over to Random.org and generated the number of our winner. I could not for the life of me figure out how to post the little result box over here, but I promise it was fair! :)

The number was #2, which means that Nikki at Kreative Knack is our winner!!! Nikki is a true DIY girl, and she just finished an adorable kitchen cart project! Congratulations, Nikki!!! Please email me with your info, and I'll get you hooked up with your two year subscription to this fabulous magazine!!!

Have a great day everyone!!!

Pale Blue Dresser

2011-02-25T13:11:00.000-08:00

While scanning Craigslist for some new inventory, :) I spotted this beauty.

The dresser was in great shape except for a few things. On the bottom of the apron, some veneer peices were missing.

Not a problem, if you've got this stuff on hand~

I molded some of the KwikWood onto the damaged areas~

This is what it looked like after I sanded it down.

Last week we had some great weather, so I was able to spray the primer and paint onto the base of the dresser with my spray gun!!! I had to prime a different piece today using a roller and brush because it's cold here again, and it KILLED me! :)

Before spraying, I covered the top with extra special protectant paper~ha, ha, and sealed it off with Frog tape. I was planning on staining it later.

"Carribean Mist" is the paint color I used.

Next I distressed the edges. I've been using my hand sander a bit lately to distress the edges, and it works pretty well.

You just have to be careful not to get too crazy with the sander or you might end up with some bites in the wood in places where you didn't want it. (Oh, yes, personal experience!)

After distressing, I wiped Minwax Dark Walnut stain over just the edges and then wiped it right off.

After the stain dried I used really fine sandpaper (320 grit) to sand off the stain that had gotton too far away from the edges. This cleans it right up!

I used Ralph Lauren Tea-Stained glaze to make the fresh blue paint job look a little more time worn.

I let it sit for a few days and then I sealed it with Minwax Paste Finishing Wax.

I lined the drawers with this pretty fabric. First I measured the drawers and then cut out pieces of fabric an inch or so larger all the way around. I'm always glad I allow for this extra bit because I am usually off a bit!

To keep the edges of the fabric from fraying, I turned it over onto the back and brushed Mod Podge on just the outer edges of the fabric

Any last little bits or strings of fabric that need cutting are so much easier to clip on the dried edges.

This time rather than brushing MP over the entire inside of the drawer, I just brushed it all along the outer edge of the drawer before placing the fabric down. It seems to have worked just fine! (Yea for shortcuts!)

The top of the dresser had a lovely top, so I didn't want to paint over it. I used Citristrip followed by mineral spirits to get all the varnish off.

Once dry, I sanded the top by hand using very fine sandpaper~ 220 and then 320.

I applied Minwax Pre-Stain Conditioner before staining.

Then I applied two coats of the Dark Walnut stain.

To finish the top, I used tung oil.

I did two applications of the oil. Dry time between coats is at least 12 hours, so patience is a must here! :)

All righty then, here is the before~

All pretty in blue~

Thanks for visiting!

A Great Big Thank You Giveaway!!!

2011-02-22T12:18:00.000-08:00

It's been so fun having this little blog and meeting some wonderful new bloggy friends! I've found so much inspiration and learned tons from so many of you!!! As a thank you, I'm having my first giveaway!

I only subscribe to one magazine and this is it~

Just leave a comment letting me know you follow this little blog, and you will have a chance to win a 2 year subscription to this super fun magazine! I figured that most of you that read this blog are true DIY'ers, so I think the lucky winner will really enjoy this subscription! Next Tuesday I'll post the winner!

THANK YOU!!! :)

French Provencial Side Table

2011-02-18T00:38:00.000-08:00

After finishing up this coffee table, I was on the lookout for a matching side table that could be sold along with it.

I found this cute little side table at the thrift shop a few days later and thought they would make a nice pair~

Although most of the table was wood, the top was laminate. That meant I couldn't stain the stop but would have to paint it. Since it had a slick top surface, I used this good stuff~

It says sanding isn't necessary, but I still gave the whole thing a nice sanding.

AWWW YA!!!

That's right... I woke my spray gun up from winter hibernation...it was actually warm enough to spray~ 58 degrees! I was giddy!!!

I used the same paint as was used for the base of the coffee table, Sherwin Williams "Creamy." After that I distressed it and then antiqued it by wiping on (and then alot off) Minwax Dark Walnut stain.

I wasn't too worried about getting the stain to look just perfect because I knew even more would wipe off when I applied the finishing wax the next day.

I buffed it to a nice shine using a cloth.

O.K... here's the before~

All fixed up...

Super cute paper from Hob Lob was the perfect lining for the drawers...

View from the top...

Side view~

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T00:12:00.000-08:00

Shabby Yellow Dresser

2011-02-10T00:09:00.000-08:00

This old dresser came from an estate sale. Oh yes, it looks sweet... but this dresser kicked my butt! I lost count how many hours it took me just to get this baby ready to prime, but seriously, it had to be around 7 hours or so.... I'm not kidding!

Since it was so old, I wanted to test it for lead before I sanded. Home Depot or Lowes (can't remember which) carried these lead tests. They cost around $20, but there are eight tests in each one.

Our scientist in the family, Zach, was a great assistant.

The test came out negative, so it was good to go!

I was in trouble as soon as I started sanding. The paint just gummed up under my sander and wouldn't come off, so I knew I was going to need to get out the stripper.

I started out with the Citri Strip that worked great on the coffee table in the previous post.

Some of the paint came off, but now I had a gooey gummy mess, that I couldn't get off. It was like someone had stuck a million pieces of chewed gum all over the dresser. I fired over a 911 email to Cassie at Primitive and Proper. This girl knows everything about furniture refinishing! She told me I was probably going to need to whip out the big time stripper to finish off this job, and she recommended Formby's.

Most of the remaining paint came of with Fromby's and mineral spirits before I finally gave up. Still this dresser will always have a little bit of it's original white paint, and that's perfectly ok with me!

Did I mention it took me 7 hours just to get to this point??? :)

There were a few places that needed repaired~

Not a problem. This stuff works great for these kinds of repairs~

After applying the Quick Wood epoxy, I allowed it to dry for a couple of hours and then sanded it down.

The sun was shining, and it wasn't super cold, so I drug the dresser outside and sprayed on a fast coat of Kilz. (I thought I deserved a quick spray primer on this project instead taking the time to roll it on! :)

I thought about painting the dresser white, but after the prep ordeal, I couldn't bear for it to be just an ordinary white.

I pulled out some yellow paint I already had and mixed in some white and another greenish yellow oops sample I found that day to make the perfect yellow.

This dresser needed to be shabby, so I distressed the heck out of it!

After that, I brushed Minwax Dark Walnut Stain all over and wiped it off with paper towels. I gave it another good sanding after that.

It was finished off with a coat of finishing wax, applied with cheesecloth,

The orginal pulls were already the perfect color, so I left them as they were. One was missing, so I had to paint a couple wooden pulls to match the dresser.

I painted the insides of the drawers and lined them in coordinating paper from Hobby Lobby.

Before shot~

Here it is, all yellowed up!

Simple wooden knobs were an easy and perfect fix for the missing original pull~

The original pulls are so adorable!

.Go ahead...peek inside the drawers~

It's even got wooden wheels!

I REALLY want to keep this one! It matches just perfectly with our playroom!!! We'll see.... :)

French Provencial Coffee Table

2011-02-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

A while back, I agreed to refinish this dining table and chairs for a lady I've done a few pieces for.

I've never refinished a table set, so I have been ~~relentlessly bugging~~ seeking advice from darling Christa over at Stories of a House. This girl is a true professional, people! She has helped me so much, and has offered alot of advice. *Much of the information in this post comes from Christa, who just happens to be in the process of writing an e-book about furniture refinishing.* If you want a copy, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to get in line behind ME!!! :)

Anyways, I thought I'd better practice on something before tackling the real table set, and I thought this coffee table that has just been sitting in my garage would be perfect!

After sanding and priming the base, I painted it with my new Sherwin-Williams "Creamy" (Miss Mustard's favorite color). I got it in their low or 0 VOC line. It's kinda spendy, but my brother is a home builder, and the painter he uses~ that would be Larry~ has an account at SW, so I got Larry's discount! Score!

After some distressing, I applied Minwax Dark Walnut stain to give it a lovely antiqued look. I just brushed it on with a spongebrush and then wiped most of it off with a cloth.

I finished the base with a coat of Minwax Paste Finishing Wax. I usually use a cloth, but I this time I used cheescloth. It worked great!

WARNING~ when stain is used over paint, it takes quite a while to stick really well. I only waited overnight to apply the wax over the stain. Lots of the stain came off when I wiped on the wax. The stain stayed in all the little nooks, crannies and grooves, but on the flat surfaces alot was wiped away. I really liked it that way, but if I had wanted more of the stain to remain, a spray-on polycrylic would have worked great for a protectant, or I suppose giving it more time to dry might do the trick, too!

Next it was time for the serious work~stripping the top. At the risk of sounding like a complete ding dong, I'll admit I thought people used stripper because they were just too lazy to sand. Well, it turns out that stripping the top of a piece that is going to be stained prevents the wood grain from being ruined, as sanding would do. I used CitriStrip because it is less toxic than some of the other paint strippers

After I had scraped and cleaned off all the varnish, I lightly sanded the top with 220 grit sandpaper.

Next it was time to stain. I used these staining pads to wipe on two coats of stain instead of a cloth. They worked really well!

After the stain dried, I used a new favorite suggested by Christa~ Formby's Tung Oil.

I wiped on two coats with a cloth, allowing plenty of time to dry between each coat.

For a little extra shine, I used this wax again for the final topcoat~

Here is another look at the before~

Here's the after~

The actual table set will premeire in Spring 2011! (When my spray gun comes out of hibernation) Stay tuned... :)

Tiny Polka Dot Rocking Chair

2011-01-28T07:34:00.000-08:00

I've been working on a couple of pieces this week, but have nothing to show for it so far. :) I thought I'd share this little project today!

Last summer while at my favorite thrift shop, I found this little wooden rocking chair.

I thought it would be so cute for a little girl, so after priming, I painted it a soft pink and shabbied it up a bit on the edges with some sandpaper.

It still needed something, so I added some white polka dots. I used this craft marshmallow we had laying around dipped in some paint to make easy peasy dots~

At the same thrift shop, I found a bag of little wooden letters.

I gave them a couple coats of white and then glued them onto the chair.

Here's the tiny rocker now~

Cute little puppy~

~Back view

Maya wants to keep it for her stuffed animals, but this one has got to go, too! :)

Ralph Lauren Glaze Smokin' Sale!!!!

2011-01-26T18:51:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I was at Home Depot picking up a few things. I thought I'd browse through the glaze section, and I found a sweeeet deal!

Since HD is replacing RL with MS~ Home Depot, Ralph, Martha :), they are giving this stuff away! The gallon size has been marked down from $26 to $13! I got one in Tobacco and one in Black Truffles (with a little extra black added). It took a lot of restraint not to grab the last 7 cans, but I'm probably good on glaze now for about 2 years!

(I've never used the RL metallics, but they are half off as well!)

This is really great glaze, and it will only be available online after its all gone! :)

Zach's First Ski Race!

2011-01-25T09:56:00.000-08:00

*This is from the little blog I do for Zach and Maya. I thought it was kind of fun!

Zach had his first ski race last Sunday! I found this little cowbell at the thrift store that we used to cheer him on!

Zach is #60, of course!

It was raining, but none of us would have missed it for the world!

Maya and I were trying to find the best spot on the mountain to watch the race. It was soooo steep that we kept falling down and sliding. Little Maya just giggled and giggled and was a great sport the whole time! (Yes, I am wearing Maya's Hello Kitty hat since I didn't bring one!)

At the starting gate~ Ready...Set....Go!

He made every flag and didn't even wipeout!

Way to go, Buddy!

Pink Waterfall Vanity

2011-01-20T12:19:00.000-08:00

This is the second of the two waterfall pieces I snagged at the thrift shop several weeks ago~

Of course, I didn't even notice this missing chunk until I was home~

I thought I could just pry off the rest of the veneer, but no such luck! After googling "How to get off peeling veneer" I learned that this does the trick pretty well!

I just layed a cloth down first and ironed over the top in little sections. That heated up the glue under the veneer and allowed me to chip and pull the rest off. Still, a big pain, though! Ugh!

BTW, it might be a good idea to NOT use the good iron ~~like I did~~. That first shirt that gets ironed afterwards just might have an interesting scent! Oops! :)

After sanding, I primed it with this wonderfulness~

I love this stuff, especially in the cold wintertime when I would much rather paint inside where it's nice and warm!

On a recent trip to Lowe's I also found this adorable pink paint in the Oops section. I already have a couple cans of pink paint, but how can a girl pass up a deal like this?

This paint is from their Olympic line that is also low odor and 0 VOC~ yea!

After a couple coats of pink paint, it was glazing time!

Sharon, over at Elizabeth and Co. is one of my favorites. She does a lovely job transforming furniture pieces (and she herself is a sweetie pie)! On several of her pieces she has used white glaze, and it always looks so dreamy! I thought I'd give it a try. Sharon shares her tips on how to apply glaze here.

I was out of white paint, so I just grabbed a little sampler of Ultra White at Lowes to mix into the glaze.

These pulls came from Hobby Lobby. I had to buy them when they were half price because they are spendy little suckers, but so danged cute!

I was going to use and then feature this little tool my husband uses to clip the backs of pulls for me so they don't stick out too far inside the drawer.

He wasn't home when I had the urge to test it out, so I tried it myself and ended up doing this~

I basically knawed off the end and then snapped the top part off. So...ya...I'm going to go ahead and wait until my husband gets home to do the rest, I think. :)

I finished off the vanity with a coat of this~

Before shot~

Pink deliciousness~

The drawers were lined and mod podged with this pretty paper from Michael's~

Glazing details~

I hope this ends up in some sweet little girl's room!

*Update~ It did! :)

Waterfall Desk

2011-01-13T10:06:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago I posted two waterfall desks found at the thrift shop. The larger one looked like this ~

Terrible pic, I know! I've got so much furniture in the garage I had to climb over and on top of pieces just to get a shot of the desk! :)

After sanding, I drug the desk inside to be primed since it's SO cold here! Maya really wanted to help! Don't worry, we were using the Kilz Clean Start 0 VOC primer for this project! :)

I decided to finish up the last of my turquoise paint. There was just enough! I know, SOOO 2010! :)

I did add a tiny bit of a seafoam color, too, just to tone down the turquoise a little.

I used my little roller that has been hanging out in the fridge since before Christmas (just wrapped in a sandwich bag and a plastic sack).

After two coats of the turquoise I glazed with RL black~ (of course!)

I finished it off with two coats of Minwax Wipe-On Poly.

The inside of the drawers were painted the same color, and then lined with my favorite wrapping paper from Hob Lob~

Mod Podge tips here.

The seriously ugly wooden pulls were replaced with these cuties from HL (1/2 price!)~

I had to drill 21 new holes for these babies. My husband bought me my very own set of drill bits. They are just for wood and have a tip that digs into the wood just a little so that the bit doesn't walk around when drilling~

Pretty cool!

The screws needed primed and sprayed black. My assistant, Maya, put the screws in styrofoam to make spraying a cinch!

Let's have a look at the before~

Here's the desk, all fancied up~

A little peek inside~

Thanks for stopping by!

(Pink) Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend!

2011-01-11T14:32:00.000-08:00

*This is a post from the (kinda) little daily blog I do for Zach and Maya. Thought I'd share it because it's just so cute!

Yesterday after preschool, Maya came up and whispered to me, "Can I get my ears pierced?" Yippee! (I've been trying to talk her into it for a while now.)

Well, today was the big day! We drove to the mall and went to Merle Norman. The ladies, Emily and Terri, were so nice!

Maya picked out pink "diamond" earrings. As we waited for Maya's turn, she started to get a bit nervous, but she was very brave!

Here is Terri, figuring out exactly where to place the dots on Maya's little ears!

Perfect placement, I think!

1...2...3...(They did both ears at once!)

O.K., so it hurts a litttle more than a pinch! :) My bad.

TOTALLY worth it!

Emily, Maya and Terri! These ladies were so awesome and did such a great job!

Me and my Little Lady~

What a great day!

The Battleship

2011-01-06T00:01:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, Maya and I were driving by our Salvation Army thrift shop. I had every intention of shooting right past, I REALLY did. Then I saw the sign ~ 50% all furniture! Seriously, how could I not? Am I ever glad I did, because this beauty was hiding in the middle of the other pieces~

We had to drive home with the back hatch of the Blazer flipping up and down because we couldn't close it all the way, due to our latest find. It was just a tad bit breezy!

The top of the dresser had two chunks missing from the top~

I used my Kwik Wood epoxy putty. This stuff is pretty amazing!

When it dried, I sanded it down until it was even with the surface.

After a few coats of primer, the damaged places are completely undetectable! Yea!

All five of the drawers were missing the drawer slides, so my husband spent three hours on Monday fixing them for me. Here are the fancy new tracks~

He had to add a strip of wood to the bottom of the drawer before screwing in the top slide because the drawer was just too thin.

Most of the drawer stoppers were missing, too.

Easy fix~ he just placed screws in the same spot and it worked great!

The dresser was solid wood, but it had a thin layer of fake looking wood over the top. Since it was a bit slick, even after I sanded, I thought I'd better pull out my heavy duty primer~

Psst... do you see the Blazer in the background? I actually get to park IN the garage this week! Just in time for the snowstorm. It's short-lived, though, because my husband ~ and his truck ~ will be home from his trip tomorrow. :) Gotta store that furniture somewhere, right?

A while back I found a quart of dark gray oops paint at Lowe's called "Winter Flannel." I wanted the gray to be a bit lighter, so I added in a white sampler from Lowe's.

How do you like my professional mixing station? :)

After giving the dresser two coats of gray it looked a little boring.

My husband came home from work and said, "I'm interested to see how the battleship turns out." That's code for, "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" :)

After some distressing, I grabbed my #0000 steel wool and ran it over the whole dresser along the grain of the wood.

It leaves a gorgeous faint gray glazed look and adds another layer of dimension~

I used RL glaze in black, to add a little more to the steel wool effect.

The inside of the drawers got a couple coats of the gray, and then were lined with this fabric from Hobby Lobby~

To adhere the fabric to the drawer I used this spray adhesive~

Details of how to in this post here.

I didn't have enough spray adhesive to finish the last two drawers, so I used my fabric Mod Podge on them.

Fabric Mod Podge "how to" found in this post.

The hardware was primed and sprayed black~

I mixed a tiny bit of clear glaze with the gray paint and lightly glazed the hardware so they didn't look quite so fresh and new.

I love these little knobs from Lowe's.

For the finish, I just wiped on two coats of this~

So here we have the before~

and the after~

I think the "Battleship" turned out pretty well! :)

A Gigantic "Thank You" and My 2010 Projects

2010-12-30T19:07:00.000-08:00

I started out on this little furniture/blog venture this September! It's been alot of fun to have a "real" reason to need to go out to the thrift shops!

Along the way I met you~ my amazing new blog friends who have inspired me with lots of fun and creative ideas! Many thanks to all of you who take the time to read my blog and leave those sweet comments!

I've learned so much about the furniture biz from many of you, especially these lovely girls~Christa, Mandie, Karen, Sharon, Sue, Cassie, Chrissie, Michelle, and my very first follower, Cathy! THANK YOU!!!

I thought I'd take a look back at the projects I completed this year~

My very first project was this cute little pink desk!

This little nightstand was painted to match!

Treasure Chest Side Table~

Sweet Little Nightstand~

French Provencial Side Table~

Retro Desk~

Vintage Side Table~

French Provencial Coffee Table and Side Tables~

Turquoise Side Table~

Oak Sideboard~

Flower Dresser Set~

Desk to match~

Nightstand, too~

Pink Desk and Chair~

Black Buffet~

Creamy Side Cabinet~

Pink Frenchy Dresser~

Huge Red Desk~

File Cabinet to match~

Cottage Bedside Table~

Well, I think that about wraps it up for the year! :)

Thank you!!!

A Pair of Waterfall Desks

2010-12-29T08:09:00.000-08:00

A couple days ago while at my favorite thrift shop I found these two waterfall desks~

While I was deciding if I should buy them or not, a man came over and spent about 5 minutes totally checking the one on the right over. I thought I had lost it, but all of a sudden he walked off. ~~Ha! Sucker!~~ Whew! The price tag? $50 for both of them! I've already got ideas running around in my head!

Red File Cabinet

2010-12-27T00:15:00.000-08:00

A while back a lovely lady named Joey purchased the Huge Red Desk.

(She also bought the White Sideboard when she came to see the desk! :)

She wanted me to refinish a really cute little wooden file cabinet she had to match the desk. This is what it looked like~

I sanded, painted, glazed and sealed this cabinet exactly like I did the red desk. The only difference was I had to roll the paint on instead of using my spray gun because it's just too cold here! :(

She also wanted to replace the thin silver pulls with pulls that matched the desk.

I painted the inside of the drawers, lined them with super cute wrapping paper that was half off at Hobby Lobby, and did a little mod podging.

Here is the cabinet again before its' makeover~

...and after the makeover~

Another crummy pic~ I had to snap these really quickly before Joey came to pick it up!

I'm hoping she'll send me pics of the two pieces together!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We sure did at our house! :)

Linking to these parties this week~