Versatile Blogger Award!!

Jeanne from Perfect Imperfections gave me The Versatile Blogger Award!  Well, me and 14 other lovely ladies, but I'm pretty stoked at being acknowledged! I immediately went and changed out of my pj's, they just seemed too casual for accepting an award. Thank you Jeanne!!!  Sometimes you think you might be talking to yourself when you have a fairly new blog, so it is more fun than I can tell you to meet other bloggers out there and connect.  Jeanne does amazing work on furniture and my favorite project of hers is "The Beast".  Mostly because it is an awesome restyle and I am very familiar with furniture that I would also refer to as "Beasts".   I am very new to this award stuff, so I'll try to do this right.

As a recipient of The Versatile Blogger Award, there are 3 rules to follow…
1.  Thank the person who awarded you.
2.  Tell 7 things about yourself that your readers may not know.
3.  Award 15 other bloggers with this award.

Thank you again Jeanne,and here goes!
7 Things you might not know about me:
1.  God is an awesome presence in my life, and I hope I live and bring glory to him with my actions.
2.  I cry every time I hear the National Anthem...EVERY TIME. 
3.  I also cry during Hallmark commercials.
4.  I've moved homes 27 times in my lifetime. 
5.  I'm a bit of a homebody at times.  I find I get a bit cranky when we've been on the go,go,go too much with no down time.  Could be because of #4
6.  Fishing & Camping are my idea of a perfect vacation.  Unless we're talking Hawaii, and no tents please.
7.  I'm a bit of a weather nerd.  I find it all fascinating, and I like to be prepared for all the day may throw at me.

Now the hard part, because there are more than 15 blogs out there that I follow and am inspired by.  So, I'm trying to acknowledge all of those that helped me to decide that I could try my hand at the furniture restyling business. 
1.  Marian@Miss Mustard Seed
2.Cassie@Primitive & Proper
3.Flo@Go With the Flo
4.  Amy & Emily @Sisters of the Wild West
5.  Colleen@The Painted Turtle
6.  Sharon@Elizabeth and Company
7.  Katie@Wildwood Creek
8.  Beth@Unskinny Boppy
9.  Lesley@The Homeless Finch
10.  Amanda@The Ivy Cottage
11. Betsy@Betsy Speerts Blog
12.  Tammy@The Prairie Pixie
13.  Kathleen@Kathleen Creations
14.  Suzanne@S Robin Everyday
15.  Julie@The Painted Parlor

So, thanks again Jeanne!!  This has been fun.  Hope you'll all visit Jeanne and all these great ladies blogs.  I wish I could acknowledge all 30 or 40 that I follow almost every day!
There are so many truly inspiring people out here!
Deb

School Days

Happy Monday!  After an action packed weekend it is kind of nice to get back to the "normal grind" of a Monday.  And that is totally weird for me to admit!  I actually got a lot accomplished this weekend in the workshop (starting to feel a bit like Santa when I say that) thanks to some well timed help from the Mr.  Sometimes there are just some projects that just require more muscle (back) than I've got.  Thank you Mr.!

Here is a finish that didn't require any help at all.  Just a little time and patience cleaning up some rust and grime that comes from sitting around and not being useful anymore.  Some Annie Sloan chalk paint, and a bit more on one and here we go.  Back to school...

Artwork courtesy of my 6 yr. old Ellie!   My parents "picked" these chairs for me this summer.  I finished the 4 larger ones, and still have some of the smaller size to play with at a later date.  I used Annie Sloan's chalk paints in Duck Egg, Old Violet, Scandinavian Pink, and Provance colors.  I wanted each to be fun and unique and yet play together. 

On the smaller chair I had  fun with some atlas pages and adhered those to the wooden seat and back  parts since the wood was in less than ideal condition. 

Kind of fun to be sitting in the Atlantic Ocean!

Cutting out around those little rivets was a bit tricky.  This is not my original idea, but a take off from
http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/inspiration/map-chairroddy-ginger-150116
and from all the other wonderful map projects I've seen out there in blog land. 

The wood in the larger chairs has all been freshened up and resealed.  These chairs will be looking for a new home at the Prairie Pickers & Peddlers Market on Oct. 14/15! 
All the ladies are working furiously as we get "down to the wire" for Market time!  It's crazy, scrary, exciting, and all good!
Have a super  week!
Deb
Linking to:
http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/2011/09/piece-of-work-wednesday-furniture-link_27.html

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

Tick Tock, Tick Tock....

Do you hear that?  No, well it's the clock chipping away at all my remaining time to complete projects before Prairie Pickers & Peddlers Market!  WooHoo/Ackkkk!  I'm so excited I can hardly stand it one minute and scared spitless that I won't have everything ready to go the next. Or worse yet, we'll be ready and no one will show up!  I know, pessimism is sooo becoming.  I'm going with WooHoo!

So, without further ado, and no properly staged photos, I give you my latest completion (happy sigh inserted here).  You saw this sneak peak last week I believe.

This is part of a set that I found on CL a couple of month's back.  There will be a table and 6 chairs painted to coordinate sometime in the near future.  I used ASCP "Old Ochre" this time.  This 1930's era buffet was in pretty good condition.  Some scratches, and part of the pretty scroll was broken off, but we had all the pieces and repairs went smoothly.  It is a heavy, heavy solid piece, with lovely turned legs and some neat detailing on the drawers and door fronts.  Want to see it all dolled up again?

Sorry for the non-beauty shots, but twilight was upon us and I needed to get this big girl finished up and drop clothed to join her ghostly friends so I could start work on the next piece. 

Some of the original hardware was broken so we decided to go with all new, though I'm hanging onto the old stuff to hopefully use on some other projects.  I picked out these cute little leaf drop pulls because I think it will look kind of cool with the table and chair set when I get those chairs reupholstered in the retro vibe fabric I've chosen. And they mimic the beautiful leaf carvings in the backboard.  Want to see even more detail work on the fronts?

Lovely huh?  I thought about pulling out the dark wax to highlight these features, but opted instead to keep the paint lighter and unmuddied (is that a word), so I lightly sanded the raised edges to create an outline effect.

So now she'll join her shrouded friends for a month until the Big Event!  In the meantime you'll find me covered in paint mishaps and sanding dust working on another big gal.  Keep checking back because I hope to be rolling these out pretty fast here!
Linking to:
http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/2011/09/piece-of-work-wednesday-furniture-link_13.html
http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/2011/09/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-link_15.html
Have a wonderful, blessed week!
Deb

Hello Cupcake

Actually, I think this latest dresser reminds me more of a girly layer cake.  I know this will STUN you, but I actually do have a before photo of the dresser.  Probably because it was one of the first pieces I went out and purchased specifically for the purpose of restyling and selling it.  Anyway, here it is in all it's former glory.

I never said it was a good photo, just that I actually had one.  I fell in love with it's chest on chest style, and the rather feminie wavy trim on the top.  To me it seemed like the frosting on a cupcake.  I'm guessing this piece dates back to the 40's or 50's, maybe early 60's.

This is a horrible photo, but I have to say I am just so swamped right now that I don't have time to stop and stage, or sometimes even move things outside for a phot.  See those legs in the background?  Those are projects waiting to go in the workshop.  So sorry, but here is Cupcake, or really Girly Layer Cake since I decided to add more frosting in between the drawers and on the bottom.  Wouldn't she be perfect for a nursery, or little girls room?

Here is a slightly better picture that shows her pale pink cuteness and creamy white frosting.  She is complete and will be for sale at The Prairie Pickers & Peddlers Market, Oct. 14 & 15.  Now I'm off to work on this...

and this pile...

So much to do, so little time!

Happy Hump Day!
Deb
Linking to
http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/2011/09/piece-of-work-wednesday-furniture-link.html

Stylish Serpentine Dresser

Back when I picked up the Mahogany Vanity and Dresser set I also found this lovely Mahogany serpentine dresser.  It was funny because as I scrolled down CL and responded to the ads it finally dawned on me that the same house had lots of "my kind of stuff" items listed and I finally just said, "can I come look at anything you have listed today?"  Thus I ended up with several lovely pieces that had been in their family for many years.  This dresser had been through many a military move, and being retired military I could definitely understand it's condition.  Lots of veneer chipped off to include one rather large corner.  The finish on the drawer fronts was really rough, possibly from extreme heat in storage??  At any rate it is just a classic, beautiful piece of furniture and I couldn't wait to return it to glory.  I know this is a shocker, but I forgot to take before photos.  I don't hold out much hope of improving on that front, but I'll try.

I would have staged this pretty gal, but I threw my back out yesterday so there was no lifting this off the cart.  You'll just have to imagine it all dolled up!  Since I liked the idea of it relating to the vanity and dresser you saw here, vanity and dresser, I chose to again base coat it in ASCP Old Violet.  This time though I used a wash technique with the second coat in ASCP Paris Gray.

I love the way it almost shimmers on there.  It reminds me of soft waves on water.  I have to say, I'm really loving Paris Gray.  To me it seems to have an irredescent quality. 

 Distressing on this piece happened naturally as the saturated washed areas were wiped down some edges of the mahogany were revealed.  I used a hammered espresso spray to freshen up the original hardware.  All drawers are dovetailed and open smoothly.  They don't make dressers like this one any longer.  I hope my poor photos do it some justice!

Have a super weekend!  Go Huskers!  (couldn't resist :-))

I'm linking up to:
http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/2011/09/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-link.html

Deb