Odds and ends

I spent a good amount of my weekend working on projects.  I have a headboard bench I will be finishing up and showing everyone soon,  and hopefully making more progress on some inside decorating as well.  There is a cold front coming in and I am listening to the wind blow and realizing my days of enjoying the fall weather while working outside are coming to an end.  I went to wash my brushes out in the back hose and several feet of ice came out.  

I am so not ready for freezing temperatures but ready or not,  here it comes!   It is November after all so I have been very lucky to enjoy the warmth this long.  

We broke in the new finish nailer my sweet husband got me a few days ago.  I must admit,  I am intimidated by using air tools.  The noise of the air compressor and the pellet shot like noises of the nailer kind of startle me everytime.  I am much more comfortable with the sounds of electric power tools but with how nice the air nailer worked and the tiny holes it makes,  I will learn to tune out the noise!

Around 9 o'clock last night I finally came to bed after filling some holes,  trying to decide the next steps on the bench, and just enjoying how things are turning out. 

I am looking forward to showing everyone what the bench is looking like and I am hoping for a few more warm days so I can get it painted!  

   

Thanks for sharing my furniture journey.

Love,  Lori

Refinishing Buffet Table

This piece has come and gone but I until now have neglected doing a blog post about it.  I wish I would have taken a before photo,  the whole thing was painted a boring flat black.  I started painting it Old Ocre (an off white) when it occurred to me that I wanted the top stripped and dark stained.  

I began the process of stripping the top and preparing the wood for stain.  It was a bit of a long process but underneath was a beautiful piece of wood. 

This was after the first coat of stain,  still not dark enough for what I wanted.

I got it a much deeper color and then finished the light color of paint.  

I painted the hardware and then antiqued it with German Silver guilders paste but I wasn't happy with the light knobs with the dark top.  So I took them off and did a top coat in black and then quickly wiped the black off to have it only remain in the creases. 

After they dried I re-added new guilders paste on top to add depth.  I LOVE the way this turned out! 

After I put the knobs back on,  it was time to do the insides.  I wanted to go for a pop of color,  I went with a light turquoise. 

When it was all done I sealed the whole piece and antiqued the doors a little bit.  

So here it is all finished before it sold.  It was a real work of love.  It was a great piece,  one of my absolute favorites!

It's Done! Final reveal of barrel drawer.

Today I made good progress on my commissioned headboard bench and also on my set of barrel drawers.  I am going to do two seperate blog posts because I have a lot of photo's to share of each.  First let's start with the set of barrel drawers.  As you may remember it started out looking like this: 

It was nice but not the style I wanted to keep.  I wanted to do an updated look. So I had painted the front leaf decor over with black paint. 

After it was all dry I designed some vinyl stickers in a clock face much like my clock on my wall in the first photo for the top.  For the front I used a damask pattern and I numbered the three drawers. 

I applied these to the front and made sure they were applied tight to avoid paint bleed underneath.  Then I painted with Annie Sloan chalk paint in Old Ochre that I had left over from another project. 

It looks streaky after one coat so you need to do 2-3 coats of this thick paint to cover completely.  

This is how the first coat looks -super streaky!- but after the second it starts looking clean. 

It's in the process of drying in this picture and yes, all paints turn a slightly different shade when dry so please always have your paint professionals blow dry your paint sample on the lid to make sure you know the true color especially if you need an exact match.  In the photo you can see the clock outline of the vinyl. 

When the paint is dry you can use your fingernails or tweezers to take off the vinyl stickers.  You can see the clean lines that are much sharper than if you use a stencil.  I don't know what the exact term for this process is but I call it my "reverse stencil" for lack of a better term. 

When it's all peeled it looks fancy and clean. 

Tomorrow I will do touch ups on some of the paint I can still see through,  and then antique and wax and seal the whole piece.  You ALWAYS need to wax coat chalk paint to have it make a strong and beautiful finish,  without it it has a gritty texture that can chip and flake off.   When the wax dries it makes it a buttery and smooth texture that is very durable.  I have a love/hate relationship with chalk paint which I will explain another day when I do a whole post on chalk paint. 

Excuse my yellow lighting:  The dog in the photo is my Beagle Bernie or as we sometimes call him Mr Burns.  He is my animal soul-mate and most trusted companion and as my MIL would say my "snoopervisor."  He keeps me safe and makes sure I keep him in kibble.  So tomorrow this barrel will be done and I can put it up for sale to keep "Mr Burns" in kibble.  😃 

This morning I got up and used some fine grit #220 sandpaper to distress the edges of the barrel.  My husband and I both have mixed feelings about taking a new piece of furniture and scuffing it up.  On one hand sometimes you want something to look brand new,  for this piece I wanted to add a little character.  

It's a good look though for a more modern or artsy house because it adds depth,  it's also a good look for a home with kids because it looks a little pre-damaged.   So if your kid sets a bag on the table and it scratches it a bit,  no problem.  Maybe it's called distressed because you are not as stressed out if you bump it in the wall and mess up an edge a bit,  it just added character.

After sanding a bit it's time for wax.  I like Annie Sloan or Johnson's clear wax (Johnson's runs much less expensive) take your brush and give it a good coat.  

When I started doing this I bought a good brush (apx $30) but if you clean it well and take good care of it,  it can last year's. 

A lot of places try to get you to buy their cloth to buff the wax but all you need is a clean cheese cloth,  old unwanted shirt, sox or other cloth that won't leave tiny fibers like a paper towel would.  For this example I used a lonely sock.  (Great use of your singles) I rubbed down the whole barrel with the clean and dry dock.  It gets stiff when the wax dries so this will be a one time use item. 

The knobs are on and it's all done!  I hope you like it! 

Try something new this season!

I was looking through Pinterest this morning and I saw a bunch of cute Christmas decorating ideas.  -none of these are my own-

Some that were a little fancier than others but all fun and creative ideas.  I hear so many times people say "but I am not crafty" or "I wish I could do that".   Honestly everyone I know who does crafting for fun or for a living,  often all they see are their shortcomings.  Where we could have done it better or wish we would have done something differently.  

It doesn't have to be perfect or even make sense to be beautiful.  I would have never thought of decorating with rusty bed springs but someone did, and look how cute it is! 

Maybe you will love an idea or maybe you will hate it and find a way to make it your own and make it better.  You might look at these candles and say,  I don't have lace but I have red paper and a paper punch and end up making the cutest Valentine's Day polka dot display ever.  The point is: Try Something.  

It really doesn't have to be perfect.  I keep telling myself this as well.  But it will be something,  and you will learn from it, and you will get better at it until you are proud of how far you have come.

   Have a fun holiday season and try your hand at something that you think looks difficult,  you may just surprise yourself with what you can do!