The Dump

Sometimes I have wondered if I should just set up a little stand right outside the dump where I could look over the contents of trucks entering and save a few old beauties before they finish their last ride. The Mr. and I were at a local thrift store a while back and found, and walked away from, a vintage dresser many times.  It seemed a bit over priced considering the top was totally warped and separated from the frame a good inch in both the front and the back.  Now replacing a top does not always throw us off, but this was a Waterfall style.  Rebuilding that kind of curve could take some time and skills.  It didn't help that the mirror obviously didn't go with it and the veneer was covered, interestingly enough, in a sheet of cork glued down.  But as I looked more closely at the body of this baby it wasn't too bad, a few chips out of drawer veneers, normal scratches for it's age, pretty carved wood detailing, and all original hardware intact.  The manager saw us and told us it had been there for a while and she was about ready to send it on to the dump.  We made an offer, and she countered with a lower offer when we said we'd give her the mirror to sell separately.  And we left determined to figure out what to do with that top!

Here is what it looked like after stripping off the cork and two layers of veneer.

Nice concave top huh?!  The Mr., who must be a frustrated engineer deep inside, decided he would tackle this problem and totally ignored my brilliant ideas.   But that's OK, by adding some cleats and drawing the curved ends downward by screwing them in from underneath he made it almost level again.  Want to know why almost?  Because when the front and the back came down then all the pressure to "change" moved to the center.  Do you know what old wood sounds like when it finally gives up to the pressure to move?  A loud gunshot is what!  Scared the crud out of me, and hello new crack down the middle of the dresser top.  At this point we could have purchased some new veneer and attached it, but that old wood was never going to be perfectly flat on the top so we opted to sand off any splinters from the split (ha!) and go with the rustic look.  Now my fun begins!

I opted to use a technique my friend Deb from Lake Girl Paints has shown in tutorials on her blog.  Deb is a brilliant, and generous, artist who has used this technique on a lot of her pieces and shows step by step the process she uses.  Please go visit her site and check out her projects where she shows you exactly how to use this on your own projects.  Deb Hrabik is AMAZING!

I forgot to take a photo after the red first coat, but as you can see I decided to partially disguise the flaws in this piece by creating layer upon layer of paint.  I didn't use a brush until the end.  Want to see what I was using?

Folded card stock and a process that Deb describes as dip and drag.  Can you see those cracks in the top?  We are celebrating those baby!

Here is the 3rd coat drying.  I might have over covered a bit with this coat, but that's OK.  This is a very freeing project where there aren't many rules...just lots of coats!  So far I have used Fireworks Red, Born on the 4th of July, and Smoke Signal.  My final coat was Waistcoat, a retired APC color that I just love.

After a combination of sanded and wet distressing you can see some of all the old colors I layers on peeking through.  It looks old and rustic and added over time.

Dark wax really tones down the intensity of Waistcoat.

See the pretty little Art Deco trim.

And this hardware, oh my.  This photo really shows the texture you can create with the dip and drag technique.

I'm pleased with how this one turned out.  The Mr. even asked if I really wanted to throw a price tag on this piece.  We'll see...

Have a super week everyone!
Deb

Re-do the Re-do

Not every piece is going to be easy to transform.  Some days you are more inspired than others.  Some times the inspiration turns into a fabulous new creation, sometimes not.  I have those moments and most of you have had them too.  Here's my story of one of "those" days.

I have a nice Ethan Allen long, low dresser with a worn finish outside, but super clean and in good condition otherwise.  Simple right?  I thought so, and no I did not take a before photo because I just never seem to remember them these days.  My apologies. :-)

I chose a deep dark brown base of American Paint Company's Wild Horses.  Love that color for a base.  On top I painted a couple of coats of Smoke Signal on the body and Limoge on the drawers.  New hardware and voila`, finished right?

Not bad, but kind of blah, drab, and boring huh?  It just didn't inspire me.

I had tried a new (to me) technique to get a linen look to the drawer fronts.  It felt and looked cool in person, but the effect is totally lost when you look at it like this.  Then I messaged a fellow APC retailer, Shelly Andrade of Shizzle Design and whined about my blah piece.  Shelly was kind enough to quickly throw up some photos of dressers she had painted with plain flat front drawers.  They were fabulous, and inspiring!  If you have never followed Shelly you MUST check out her blog.  She and her sister Cathy do the most amazing things with their projects...Shizzle!

So back to work and here is what I came up with using Shelly's projects as my muse.

Now, there will be some of you, hello Mom, who probably won't like this any better than the first result.  Or maybe will like the first result even better.  But for me, it is heaven to see so much depth on those drawers now.  I have not mastered that technique by any means, but it was so fun to try it out.

Now you can see the linen patterns I had created on the base coats.  In addition to the Wild Horses, Smoke Signal, and Limoges I now have Freedom Road, Desert Cactus and more Limoges on the drawers.  I hit and missed painted I dry brushed, and sanded, I washed and I wet distressed.  I probably could have played for another week on these.

So which version do you prefer?  I wish I had some nicely styled photos for you, but the workshop is too full to set it up, the weather is too cruddy to take it outside, and my house is in full winter dark (with Christmas Decor still up, the shame of it all) to take a proper photo.  I will sit on this for a while and then decide if I want to change the body color a bit or maybe just layer on a different coat of paint.  You might get to see the Re-do of the Re-do of the Re-do.  It happens.

Have a super fab weekend!!
Deb

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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Every Piece Tells a Story

  My friend Lori and her friend Patti commissioned a special piece for some young newlyweds, and I was happy to do so.  Lori's Mom was my preschool Sunday School teacher so I've known her for a loooooong time.  Good thing too, cuz the piece they picked needed some 'splainin'.  The piece they chose, and no I forgot to take any before photos again, looked pretty decent on the outside excluding a dark stain or two on the top.  What we failed to notice at first was that the drawer bottoms were all patchworked together because the glides were all messed up.  The holes for the old, but not original, hardware were drilled at extremely odd angles and not level...at all.  And the legs had been cut off at some point in it's life.  At least they seemed level as it does not rock at all.  Well, all old pieces tell a story of sorts, and I loved finding an old political sign tacked up as a make-do drawer bottom.  I did not like that all the tiny nails someone had added in the feeble hope of keeping sketchy bottoms attached, but they missed the support wood completely and were lining the back of each drawer to make lock jaw seem like a given.  What I did think, once we removed all the tiny nails was that someone really loved this piece enough to try, despite maybe limited furniture repair skills, and hold this dresser together and make it last.  So to the young couple who receives this dresser, may you share many joys and, if there are rough spots, scratches, and dings along the way, may you use whatever means necessary to patch things up!  The truly good things are worth the work, the stories they tell are more interesting and appreciated.

When Lori and Patti commissioned this piece they gave me a lot of freedom.  Because this piece was quite old and had some oily spots that even my best primers couldn't quite kill I chose to blend 3 different colors for the base.  The movement would disguise any "freckles" that still wanted to bleed through.  And the oak was a bit rough and the graining opened up in some spots.  I used American Paint Company paints in Rushmore, Smoke Signal, and Plymouth Rock.  Just dipping and blending as I went.  It really seemed to soften up some of the rougher areas.

There was a lot of back and forth discussion on what kind of graphic to use on those nice flat drawers.  With the help of the Bride's Mother we were able to access some inspirational pins from the Bride's Pinterest Board.  Such a great idea!  Here is the one that I chose to use on this piece.  With some tiny pops of Peacock and Fireworks Red and Freedom Road for the lettering it all started coming together.

It's always a process with client pieces.  They wanted something bright and graphic and my first attempt didn't quite get it, but you just can't go wrong with Chevrons.  Especially chevrons in a nice happy yellow.  It's called A-Maize-ing, and it is!  We repaired all those wonky hardware holes and added new simple black pulls.    Sooo much better!

It's a good feeling to see this old but wonderful dresser writing a new chapter with a young couple writing their own new chapter!  Congratulations!  Wishing you all the Best!!

Deb

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