furniture redo — pleasure in simple things

Tag: furniture redo

family heirloom redo

May

I’m usually not one to post a painting project until I can share both the before and after photos.

I am breaking that practice today by showing you a couple ‘in process’ photos of a current project for today’s Friday field trip.For a friend, I am painting the only piece of furniture she kept from her childhood home after her mom passed away.

The old buffet gave me some issues right from the start…take my advice, and don’t ever paint a piece that sustained constant smoke for 60+ years! Anyway, I am getting down to the home stretch with this project . Here is a little peek. The photo below is the old and new hardware. I special ordered new pulls. Aren’t they nice? And, I think the knobs I bought look great as well!

The base color of the piece is Annie Sloan Old Ochre. After I had already painted a first coat on the entire piece, I decided I needed to strip and sand down the top of the piece. Here is a peek of it with the new finish. It felt great to get rid of that old orangey yellow finish!

I will share all the ‘after’ photos soon – once I have the piece completely finished!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope I have inspired you to look at an old piece of furniture in a new way!

Have a great weekend and remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

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before & after with napoleonic blue

October

You know I love my neutrals! So you will understand why my last furniture redo took me out of my comfort zone. I painted it in Annie Sloan Napoleonic Blue! Yes, a deep blue! Why? When I saw the piece, I just thought it needed blue!

I didn’t leave it straight blue though. I added a wash to tone it down a bit and add some texture.

I thought it was a lovely piece. I did some minor repairs to it and cleaned it up a bit. Then, I started by painting it in two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Napoleonic Blue.

My next step was to add a wash of Country Grey. I chose Country Grey because I wanted a vintage look and I thought a white or beige would be too bright to give the look I was trying to achieve. I mixed water with the Country Grey in a disposable pan – probably a 60/40 mix; using 60% water. I brushed on the wash and quickly wiped it off with a piece of cheesecloth to get my desired texture.

After letting it sit a couple days, I added a coat of Annie Sloan clear wax. I let it cure for a few days and then did some light distressing before adding a second coat of clear wax.

I found some great knobs in Home Goods that coordinate perfectly with the piece and look the same as the knobs in a pricier store!

I think it is a wonderful transformation and a great result for my first time blue project!

Now I need to get rid of a couple pieces to make space for some new projects! I am excited to start my next project – a family heirloom for a friend that will serve as a lasting reminder of a special family member…can’t wait to start it!

Thanks for stopping by! Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

P.S. If you would like to see instructions on how to make my velvet pumpkins like the ones pictured, click here for a tutorial!

1 comment » | diy, inspiration, style

poetic chest before and after

July

This piece was part of a larger piece that was left out on the curb at a beachfront home. I instantly fell in love with it, because I knew the details would look awesome as a painted piece. It was a really large piece and I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend the time on it that it needed. It ended up I couldn’t resist it. After having a heck of a time getting it home, I ended up taking the top piece to the dump and started working on the bottom piece.

First, I used a sealer on it because I feared some of the stain may bleed through the paint. I decided Old White and Duck Egg would look really great on this piece, even though I was very tempted to use my favorite French Linen.

This piece would find its home in a commercial retail space that had something of a poetry theme, so I had the idea to paint the inside of the drawers and add some pages of a poetry book; roughing them up some to make them look vintage. And, because of the poetry theme, I departed from my standard coastal town name and named the piece T.S.

This redo had to be one of my toughest ever because so much of the work was done on the hottest, muggiest days we have had this summer. And, believe me; I am not exaggerating…the weather was so bad that the drawers had swollen and wouldn’t fit back into the piece when it was completed! It wasn’t until T.S. was in its new home, in air conditioning for 24 hours, that I was able to put the piece back together – and, even then, I didn’t want anyone to touch it for a while because I feared the wax wasn’t set. (The reason there are no great after photos! That and the fact that the retail space hadn’t opened yet!)

I ended up really happy with the result and I think the details are just lovely. Here is how T.S. came to be:

• 2 coats of Annie Sloan Old White on the main part of the piece
• 2 coats of Annie Sloan Duck Egg on the doors and drawers
• 1 coat of Annie Sloan Old White and water wash (50/50) on the doors and drawers – applied with a cloth
• 1 coat of Annie Sloan clear wax over everything
• Some distressing
• 1 coat Annie Sloan dark wax

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Have a wonderful weekend and remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

2 comments » | field trips, inspiration, style

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Tag: furniture redo

family heirloom redo

before & after with napoleonic blue

poetic chest before and after