Bohemian Blue Buffet

The Bohemian Blue Buffet, B3 for short, was a fun gal to repair and restyle.  She did have a lot of veneer damage on both sides at the bottom.  It seems so many of these pieces, as they are moved through the generations, show some damage.  I imagine it is where people grabbed them to lift, and loose veneer doesn't need much encouragement to come off completely than a touch.  And once they start tearing off watch out!

One of the few that I grabbed a snapshot of for a blurry before photo.  We secured a piece of trim board on the bottom of both sides as they were ragged and sawtoothed from all the missing wood.  There was also damage to the corners of many of the drawers and on the lower front piece of trim.  The top here has already had all the water rings sanded off and is restrained and finished.  Hey, it was almost a true before photo.

But she cleaned up nice didn't she?  Don't you just love that original hardware??  Oh my gosh, I get so excited when I can keep the original hardware, and this stuff though the brass was worn and peeling in spots was so cool.

I added some copper mica powders to Aqua Clear Top Coat (an Heirloom Traditions Paint product) that I carry.  Brushed on a couple of coats and the hardware is nice and shiny again.

The top was a worn out mess, but turned out beautiful!  That dark wood top looks gorgeous with the teal like Bohemian Blue from my DIY Paint line.  Debi Beard knew what she was doing when she created this color!  It is so soothing and subtle and will work well on so many different types of furniture.  I just love the classic lines from this Art Deco period piece.  

And look, those damaged sides ended up looking pretty darn good thanks to that little trim board that covers up and resupports that broken and thin edge.  Sweet!

So, how about you, what fantastic redo's are you working on this weekend?  Happy Friday everyone!

Deb

To purchase the DIY Paint:  Bohemian Blue or the Aqua Clear Top Coat visit my booth at the Brass Armadillo, Omaha #43 or use the Affiliate Link shopping button in the upper right hand corner of my website.  Thank you!

Chasing Squirrels

A friend and I have a joke we share.  It never fails we'll be chatting and we'll notice something shiny or pretty, aka a squirrel, nearby and off we go on a different conversational tangent!  Sometimes we'll even shout "squirrel" just like Dug the dog from the Up! movie.  I actually thought about naming my blog "Chasing Squirrels" due to the fact that I have something of a tendancy to be headed one direction with a project and off I go in a different direction or sometimes on a totally different direction.  Will there ever be enough hours in my life to accomplish every thing I want to do?!  Lately I've been working on a few projects around the house that are just for us!  Today's post is one of those projects.  Sadly I forgot to take a before photo of this buffet, but I will tell you that it was pretty sound and not in too bad of shape when we got it.  Other than some sticky drawers that needed work it wasn't bad.  It also had hardware on it that were not to scale for this piece.  You know that Burger King commercial with the guy that won't go get the Whopper because his hands are just so small?...  Yeah, the pulls were all really tiny and this piece is substantial.  Here she is ready for her debut.

I painted her with Old Ochre and Old White on the details.  For this space I wanted to kind of keep it light and neutral and those two paints together gave me just the look I wanted. 

Look at that pie crust trim, pretty huh?  I loved the many different trims from the minute we brought this one home.  The top was in perfect shape and after sanding I added the Jacobean stain and antique oil finish. 

I found some really large bronze oiled knobs that look so much better on her!  I think she can feel better about her assets now that she is balanced!

Here are a couple of recent finds too, pretty little silver bowl and heavens but I love that peacock feather!  Check this out...

wonderful little horse head I sprayed white and the pretty, slightly tarnished pitcher.  The "finding" has been good lately which is just so much fun!

So, do any of you end up chasing a squirrel in the middle of a project?  I do hope to eventually have a Master bedroom reveal for you, but please don't hold your breath.  There are just so many pretty/shiny things out there!

Hope your week is wonderful!

Deb

Linking to these parties:

http://elizabethandco.blogspot.com/2012/01/be-inspired-link-party-3.html

http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/2012/01/piece-of-work-wednesday-furniture-link_24.html

http://missmustardseed.com/2012/01/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-a-link-party-4/

Once in a Blue Moon

Once in a Blue Moon I paint a piece that is just for us.  I've taken some time over the holidays to devote to some projects for our house.  I'm not finished here by any stretch of the imagination, but it feels good to knock out a couple of things I've wanted to do for such a long time.  This buffet piece is one that I searched very patiently for at all of my regular haunts and on Craig's List.  It actually made me nervous when I finally found it while I waited for the owner to contact me, because I really, really didn't want to lose out on this piece.  It was perfect for my space, and a beautiful style.  After some debating I pulled out my favorite Annie Sloan chalk paint, Duck Egg, and went to town in between decorating for Christmas and finishing the shopping.  Here is the result.

I do so love that duck egg blue.  Isn't the harware pretty?  I reused it because frankly I don't think I could have found anything more perfect for this.  I opted to highlight a few features with Old White.

She sits behind my new sofa.  I'd love to show you the full room, but it's not actually finished yet.  The story of my life..."almost done".

I actually pulled out my Annie Sloan dark wax and felt really good about the results.  I don't know why that dark wax intimidates me so!

This was just the storage I needed for this space, and I'm so pleased with how it turned out.  But she's not too lonely, oh no, I'm also working on another buffet piece that will sit in our formal dining area that is currently being used as a piano room/mud room/library space.  Hope to show it soon, just the buffet though, cause that room isn't finished yet either..."almost done". 

Here's my little Jack Frost, waiting to see if we'll actually have any snow this year.  Though after a 60 degree day I should probably shove him in a closet so as not to jinx us! 

Linking up to: 
http://redoux.blogspot.com/2012/01/friday-link-up-party-37-and-les.html
http://elizabethandco.blogspot.com/2012/01/be-inspired-link-party-1.html
http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/2012/01/piece-of-work-wednesday-furniture-link_10.html
http://missmustardseed.com/2012/01/furniture-feature-friday-link-party-3/
Have a great end of the week everyone!
Deb

Restored & Distracted

I'll have to make this short and sweet today and I'll tell you why.  Well, I'll show you first.

A little, bitty, 8 week old adorable tyrant named Pepper has moved in.  She wants to snuggle, she wants me to play with her like her litter mates used to, she wants to climb up me.  She makes it tough to get much accomplished, but she makes my heart happy. 

Luckily before we got Pepper I managed to work on and complete a buffet.  Remember this 1930's era buffet?

She was so, so sad.  Her top veneer was totally wrecked, well, really all of of her veneer was a total mess.  Some of her trim pieces were missing.  The drawer glides were so worn down that the drawers no longer lined up well enough to close correctly.  But what was there had such pretty detail.  I imagine this once was a stunning piece.  So, we reworked the glides, patched the veneer, sanded a lot, used Kwik Wood to replace a couple of missing swirls.  Thank you Annie Sloan for Chalk Paint!  Here she is today,

in all her Duck Egg/Old White loveliness.  We decided to celebrate her imperfections and pretty much used 1 coat of duck egg so we could distress her quite a bit.  The top was no longer stainable so it got the same treatment.  I love the contrast on the details.

Duck Egg is absolutely one of my favorite colors.  This piece will be for sale at the Prairie Pickers & Peddlers Market here in Omaha. 

I'm hoping she appeals to someone, but if not she sure is appealing to me. 

Have a super week!  I'm off to snuggle little Pepper for a bit!
Deb
Linking to:
http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/2011/09/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-link_22.html
http://redoux.blogspot.com/2011/09/friday-redoux-link-up-party-22-and-les.html