Rescue Me

I do feel like a Rescue home for poor neglected and abused furniture on many days, and this piece is a great example.  Observe...missing legs and feet, what to do, what to do?!  I actually looked into adding some height back to it by attaching a footed bottom, but my handy man Mr. talked me out of it.  Instead we gave her wheels and then a makeover.

It ended up being nearly the perfect height for several possible uses.

Love the detail work on this piece.  That's Home Plate accenting those.  Inside those little doors was...

lovely wood in really good condition.  It always amazes me how horrible a piece can look on the outside and how untouched the inside appears to be.  I just renewed and sealed the interior drawers.  What use do you see here?  Dresser, Bar Cart, Paper Craft organization?

As bad as the top was it stripped down and refinished beautifully!  The wood is just such a pretty contrast to the paint.  Love this one a lot!!

And when a girl gets wheels she sometimes needs new "jewelry" too.  I love these knobs so much.  It makes me sad that they were being clearances and I might not be able to find more!

A definite improvement!  The main body is painted in Smoke Signal.  Waxed in a 50/50 mix of clear and dark wax.  I can't wait to take her to the Prairie Market or Junk Stock!!

Painting Workshop classes have been updated for the rest of 2014.  Check out the dates by clicking on the button in the top bar!

Deb

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I shall call her Pumpkin

A fellow American Paint Company Retailer shared her 'recipe' for making a burnt orange color on our  Facebook page a week or two ago.  I mixed it up last week and brushed it on a dresser.  Tell me what you think of Pumpkin!

I'm rather smitten with her if I dare say so.  I think I am looking forward to those cool Fall nights and the crisp sunny days.  

It is a super rich saturate color!   It kind of made this very simple styled dresser special in my opinion.  Well that and those drawer pulls!

I mean, those are pretty special too, right?  Yes, they are, and I so love it when the original hardware can be kept with a piece.  This dresser, as many of these do, had a lot of texture in the old finish.  I suspect that storage in a hot garage or shed causes much of this.  I wet distressed and took advantage of it to give it a shabbied up look. 

Oh, and in case you are interested in creating your own Pumpkin piece.  You use APC's Orange Grove in a roughly 5:1to 6:1 ratio with Saddle.    It really depends on how light or dark you want it.  I just mixed enough to cover my piece without having to recreate it, but I promise that when I make it again I will let you know an exact measurement.  You can bet I'm looking for new pieces to use it on!

I have both Orange Grove and Saddle currently in stock at The Brass Armadillo in Omaha.  My booth is on Montana Avenue. Booth 208.  There is also a flyer about upcoming paint classes and tips for painting with Chalk/Clay based paints in the booth!  Stop by and check it out!!

Have a fabulous week!
Deb

Omaha, Omaha!

A piece almost always seems to tell me how it's going to look before I even start it.  Most of the time it even works out that way.  I have to say I had a plan, and then the plan went sideways.  At the same time I was talking to a friend and she encouraged me to do another Omaha Subway art piece.  Perfect timing/divine intervention do you think?  Of course it was!  So I took this dresser/console piece and here it is...Omaha Subway #3.

Remember the NFL playoff games and Payton Manning's famous "Omaha, Omaha" calls?  Yeah, around here we got enjoyed that a lot.

This is a Kent Coffee piece from "The Fanfare" line.  It had a few minor nicks that needed filled and a couple of chips out of the top, and it was a bit tired looking from lots of use.  Those 6 drawers are nice, deep, dovetailed, and really clean.  It has a 1951 stamp on the back.

Once again, I picked lots of different historical or significant fun buildings and areas to highlight.  It is by no means a complete collection, but hopefully some that will stir some pleasant memories for many.

It might not really make sense but I love to vary the fonts and size to make this a really fun piece.  Some day I might try symmetrical, but I'm not really sure if I'm a "symmetrical" kind of gal. Ha!

I'll let you know later just where to find this piece if you are interested.  Unless it ends up in my house because one of these days I'm going to keep one of these Babies!!

Have a good week.  Hope to keep adding some new things to look at as we are now entering the gear up for the Fall Prairie Market Sale!  Details on that in the button at the top of my page.

Deb

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Hoping for Patience!

I have not been a very good blogger lately.  Lots of reasons, some of them related to Summer vacation for the children who already seem bored.  Well, except for the ones who are working a lot!
<Happy Face>  A multitude of medical appointments to get caught up on to keep us all eligible for the schools, camps, etc.  And I am working on trying to get all things up and running for the APC paint line.  I want to create some amazing workshops to introduce you locals to this amazing paints.  So, in between wrangling the children around, I know I only have 3 but it seems like more, I am working on schedules, and plans, and materials, and ordering more stuff, and completing some custom work, etc., etc., etc.  It's all good stuff and pretty darn fun when it all starts to come together.  So keep watching for some new reveals AND a completed class list for workshops here at my workshop!

In the meantime, I begged a few friends to come over and let me use them as "practice students" last week.  I am happy to say that they obliged (wine helps), and they ended up with some awesome finished pieces to take home.  Here are a few photos from our practice Paint-A-Piece workshop.

She painted a cute little oak side table in Amber Waves of Grain and did an awesome job with it!

Nicole used Shoreline to transform this adorable step stool.  I just love that color!

Niki chose a bold statement color, Orange Grove, to rehab this thrift store find for her daughter's room.

Niki sent this photo of the chair once she had the seat recovered and attached.

Isn't that awesome?!!!  I just love this, and bet her daughter does too.

So, all levels of experience with painting furniture and look what these fun and adorable gals took home with them!  Thank you Ladies, it was a blast, and I learned a lot just by having you over!

Email me if you think you might be interested in a class soon.  I'm starting an email list and as soon as the classes are firmed up I'll be sending that information out.  Click on the little envelope button under my photo and bio in the right hand column.

Have a super week!  Stay safe with all this stormy weather around.
Deb

The Little Table that could

This little table was just a sad, wobbly gal with pretty legs when my friend Tammy spotted her for me.  Tammy has a good eye for potential though!  I've searched for her before photo but must have missed this one.

When all my new American Paint colors arrived I new right away what I wanted to try out on her.

Desert Cactus over Waistcoat.  Desert Cactus is a gorgeous rich khaki color, and Waistcoat is a beautiful saturated Chartreuse Green color.  So delicious with a bit of a kick!

I wet distressed just enough to let some of the Waistcoat peek through and even a bit of the original wood tones show up.

Some day I'm going to showcase Waistcoat as my primary color because I absolutely love it!

As a nice little surprise I painted the inside of the drawer and did not top coat with Desert Cactus.  I love the little jolt you get when you open the drawer.  That new knob reads amber to me, but photographs more plum like.  Either way I think it is the perfect knob for this piece.

Once those legs were tightened up, and a few rough spots patched this fun little table painted up beautifully.  Dark, antiquing wax, really richness up the colors, and it buffed like a dream.  I love American Paint Company and their products!

Have a great week!  Deb