Parade of Homes Buffet

You have been warned, more crappy cell phone shots, in the workshop no less!  Still from the series of, ahem, lovely photos taken in the workshop, totally unstaged because things were moving so fast.  Here is a wonderful Bassett Buffet that I refinished.

And, even stranger this is apparently the only photo I have of this piece.  I promise to take fresh photos when I get this picked up from Omaha's Spring Parade of Homes that it is visiting the past 2 weeks.  This particular buffet (for you locals wanting to see it in person) happens to be at a a home in the Valley Shores neighborhood.  A lake community just west of Omaha.  

I really wish I had a photo of the inspiration art work for this piece.  If you go the double canvas art work right above it was the inspiration for the color and treatment on this buffet.  I started with a ASCP Duck Egg base, then layered on a hit and miss dry brush of ASCP in Provence.  On top of that hit it with a scattered dry brush of ASCP in Old Ochre and a metallic paint in Silver Sage.  Lots of layers on this one!  The last was a light dry brush in metallic  antique copper and metallic bronze.  It was waxed to finish it off, and the original hardware was sprayed in Oil Rubbed Bronze and replaced.  

She is one heavy lady so we added some wheels for mobility and I re stained the top and finished it with a wipe on poly.  

There is also a pair of Ethan Allen side tables down at the show in another home (same neighborhood) that I did not even get their photo taken as they were literally completed the day before we delivered.  I hope to introduce you to them when we pick them up as they are quite fun in white-washed bleached wood look for a warm California beach feel.  Fun to do!  They were planning to use the 2 tables side by side as a coffee table.  

This week I have been working on a couple of custom orders and trying to outfit my growing children for summer.  Amazing how fast they grow up!

And I can not leave without sending out a HUGE Thank You to Three Mango Seeds for featuring my Birds on a Branch Dresser.  That was so sweet, and the best part was I found a new and very inspirational blog to follow!  WooHoo!  Go check Three Mango Seeds out and see for yourself all the cool projects they have going, and what looks like some neat parties to visit and link to!

Our weekend will include a baseball game, soccer game, several graduation parties, and some grace from worship! May your weekend also be filled with Fun and Grace! Deb

Get a Number!

Somewhere in last week's frenzy I managed to complete another piece that I had in the works for a while.  This was one of the saddest, OK the second saddest, pieces that I've ever picked up.  We actually did pay for it, but not much because not one. single. drawer. piece. was put together.  It was just a shell of a cool looking dresser, with drawer pieces that "just needed the fronts put on".  Oh, and maybe it would have been better to say needed drawer fronts for 2 of the drawers.  Plan B:  pull out the drawer runners on the bottom drawers and even up the floors of those spaces and paint them out.  Baskets.  Plan B is for Baskets.

Disclaimer:  More bad cell phone photos because this flew out the door to NJ & Co. as soon as the wax dried.
Remember this piece?

Well I still haven't gotten over my fixation with numbers apparently...or green.

I actually left the original black paint finish on this as my base and then painted over with a custom mix of paint.  1 c. Versailles Chalk Paint mixed with a 2 ounce sample jar of Benjamin Moore Dill Pickle.  This horrible photo does not do the color justice.  And to be honest it really turned out similar to MMS Luckett's Green Milk Paint which I've used a couple of times and loved.

I actually have to say that I was kind of excited that the drawer fronts were missing, which my husband totally did not get by the way, just so that I could buy some baskets and create a unique storage piece.

So here she is, a new and versatile piece saved from the landfill and ready to go in your home.  She's fun, she's sturdy, and she's useful, ah a match made in heaven!

Have a great weekend, and hope all the Mothers have a wonderful day on Sunday!
Deb
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Ready, Set, Go!

As I said last week, I am still here just busy as a crazy woman can be!  The weekend was wonderfully productive, mostly because there were deadlines to meet by Monday on a couple of the pieces.  Nothing like a deadline to keep me in line!  So, in between the normal weekend activities of soccer games, church meetings and activities, and a band banquet I managed to totally wrap up 6 pieces that had been in the works all last week.  I'm tired and a bit surprised I am even thinking about heading out to the workshop today to maybe work on a small custom order.  We'll see.

I'm hoping to get better staged photos of all these pieces later, but for now all I have are cruddy cell phone snap shots of some of them.  I'm going to call this piece, The Jane.  Jane is the J part of NJ & Co. where I consign many of my furniture finishes.  She is a lovely woman who appreciates pretty furniture and styles my furniture so it looks so lovely in the shop!  Jane loves her bird accessories too, and she brought me a photo of a bird dresser that she thought would be a wonderful idea for a piece.  I have pinned many inspiration pics and saved magazine clippings for quite some time of bird inspired pieces too, so I decided this was a sign it was time to do one.  It helped that I found the perfect dresser that same week!

Remember, non-edited cell phone photos.  The dresser is actually painted Annie Sloan's Cream, so it doesn't look as "greenish" in real life,.  The wide expanse on the drawer fronts make it easy to free hand a dark branch on here with a couple of birds traced on also.  Just very simple lines with some subtle shading which you can't see in these crude photos.

The top was so pretty, but there was one small area that had been damaged that just didn't take the stain well again.  No worries, we just continued the design on the top.  Several nice coats of wipe on poly seals it up nicely.   I kept the original hardware, just spiffed it up in oil rubbed bronze.  It fit the piece and was it great shape other than being dingy.

We delivered 'The Jane' to NJ & Co. yesterday afternoon.  I'm betting that the real Jane has her looking fabulous by now.

Many more reveals to come this week!  Hope you'll keep stopping by so you won't miss them.

Deb
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Fallen off a Cliff??

I haven't....really.  I have been on a marathon of completing a few long over due projects.  Hopefully I'll actually be able to get some  photos of the new creations to share with you soon.  Hopefully it won't snow again too.   This weather has been stinkin' crazy and keeping my tiny little heater in the workshop working overtime.  I'm thankful it is not so frigid that it can't keep up, because I am so ready to move my painting operation out of the dining room!!!

The Prairie Market ladies met and set our new dates for the Fall sale.  Yes, we decided to forgo a Spring sale this year.  It was just so stressful to try and ramp up with such little nice weather to work in.  And boy did we get that right this year!  We've also added two new vendors as of now and there may be a few more join us.  I'll write more on that later and get my side bar and buttons updated soon.

I do have to come up for air, sleep, and to feed the family on occasion!  And while I was writing this my "picker" aka The Mr. texts me photos of more goodies.  I've "miles to go before I sleep..."  Gotta run!

Have a great weekend!
Deb

Linen

A while back I discovered that I had quit taking before photos.  Honest, it was not an intentional decision, I just get so busy pulling the next piece and quickly working to get it rolling along.  So I have no proof, but you'll have to trust me that this next piece was a Hot Mess!  Seriously I believe some of the previous repairs may have been made with silly putty stuffed into crevices and holes.  It was the lumpiest sort of mess.  We chiseled and sanded, and filled properly and often.  We glued and clamped and rebuilt missing pieces.  And "Voila`" she is new again.  Well not without some Linen MMS Milk Paint first.

It had so many mismatched pieces of hardware that we just started over.  I thought the Linen color might be more creamy in nature, but I would day it is not at all far off from Ironstone to my untrained eye.  Maybe if I had 2 pieces sitting side by side with both paints I might see the difference.

This piece chipped heavily without nearly balding itself!  :-)  I am so darn technical these days...

If you like primitive pieces, which I do have a fondness for, you will love this piece.  And yes, there have been those around my house that shake their head and wonder why I would say this piece is finished and ready to sell.  To each their own I say!

Actually I have an extremely healthy love for all styles and types of furnishings which is why my own home is such an eclectic collection.  It makes me all warm and fuzzy to have that collected look of worn hand me downs, new and stylish, and a bit of the unconventional thrown in once in a while.  I am perfectly content being a bit conflicted on my decorating style!

Hope Spring is blooming where you are cuz it's cold here today!!  Deb

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And a HUGE Thank You to Marian, aka Miss Mustard Seed, for featuring my Sheet Music Dresser this week!


My Sheet Music Dresser was featured at:
  Thank you Sharon and the Ladies at Elizabeth & Co.!!

Music Sheet Dresser

Strangely enough, for a post with music in the title, I have no music playing right now to give you a better title.  Is that an Oxymoron or what?!  Anywho, too cold to paint right now so I might as well post instead for the 3 people who haven't deserted me and read this.

I stumbled on a nice old dresser a few weeks ago.  It was sad, sad, sad.  The veneer was mostly missing from the drawer fronts, and chipped on the top and it was grungy, grungy.  Well you can clean em up, but missing massive quantities of veneer is tough.  I remembered a Miss Mustard Seed dresser that I had loved and pinned, and decided to create my version of it.

And here's what I started with.

Good change, eh?  You have to love good bones.  Basically I left the old beat up stain alone and after a thorough cleaning dry brushed some old white on top.

You can see more of it on the side here.

You can see some of the fun music I was lucky enough to find.  

I pulled some vintage glass knobs out of my stash to use on this dresser.  That way they don't distract from the music, though I think black round ones might look like whole notes dancing around on the drawers.  

The top of the dresser presented it's own challenge with that serpentine wave that had to be trimmed!  Eek!

I'm always sure I'm going to ruin a piece late in the game and end up totally mad at myself.

I left pages with purposely torn edges and some dog ears to keep it real.  

All in all I'm so happy with this dresser.  What a fun, fun piece to do!  I absolutely love being able to try new techniques and looks on pieces of furniture.  If I had to do the same thing every day it would make me a bit crazy.  Tell you what though, I'd repeat this one again in a heartbeat!

This dresser can be found for sale at NJ & Co, Omaha.  If you are in the area, stop by tomorrow from 8:30-12:00 for a special Designer/Decorator event on Furniture and Home Furnishings!  

Have a super weekend!

Deb

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A Little on the Side

In between working on some amazing large custom pieces, and a few new things to take down to NJ & Co. which I will be showing you soon, I also completed some cute little side pieces.  Love these because there is almost immediate gratification.  Admit it, sometimes you just need some immediate gratification!  I do at any rate.

Lately it has been difficult for me to find much of anything that resembles solid wood, but especially something that is solid and smallish.  I love side tables.  I crave side tables.  I need side tables for all the rooms of my house!  So here are 2 small side tables I finally found.  (There is a 3rd one I just realized that I failed to photograph before running it up to NJ & Co., pitiful.)

I call this one "Beachy".  The lines and style just reminded me of something a bit 'beach house', or in land locked Nebraska 'lake house'.  I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paints, Florence in a rough undercoat, and Duck Egg as a top coat.

I sanded back heavily to give it a very shabby/worn feel revealing both the undercoat and the wood.

How about some nice rope-look jewelry for Beachy?  Just what she needed.

Perfect size for a lamp table or nightstand.  If you love her you can find her at NJ & Co., Omaha.

Next up, is a small 2 drawer side table/night stand.

She has been painted in a fresh, soft Benjamin Moore green, the color name of which escapes me at the moment.  Love the 2 deep drawers worth of storage.  I am always on the lookout with side tables that have storage and can hide all the little day to day clutter.  She has been lightly distressed and waxed with both light and dark wax.

New "aged" looking hardware complete her look.  She's also waiting for a permanent home at NJ & Co.  Stop by and check her out.  Ladies Night Out is tomorrow from 5-8 p.m. with "Spirited" refreshments and discount offers.

On another note, we are getting close to finalizing our next Prairie Market sale, so keep stopping by to check on the side bar for that date!

Have a fabulous week!
Deb