Yellow Sunburst Dresser

So, how do you like her?  Ain’t she a beauty?   I’m not shy!  I worked hard on this baby!  I wanted her to stand out! 

My before pictures stink, as always.  No need for e-mails or comments stating the obvious.  I always rush right in to get rid of the ugly.  It’s so hard to remember to document the ugly.  But here’s what evidence I have of the before.  Not bad… just old and brown.



But see those “indentations” around the knobs?  I loved those things!  They were screaming for attention!  So, I painted the body of the dresser with 2 coats of Annie Sloan’s Old White.  I painted the drawers with 2 coats of Annie Sloan’s Arles.  And I stalled… and waited… and searched Pinterest for inspiration.  Nothing.
I read a quote on Miss Mustard Seeds blog about this time that said
“there is almost always a point as I’m working on a piece of furniture when I hate it and want to haul it to the closest thrift store just to get it out of my sight. I resist that urge, though, knowing it’s going to look amazing in the end”
This was me at that moment!  But hey, if MMS didn’t give up, I certainly wasn’t going to!
I got out my sanding block and roughed up the edges of the body and drawers, which I will say brought me GREAT JOY!  This piece sanded so easily!  Mostly because of the chalk paint, but also because the piece is old and solid maple with no finish to speak of.  It was like butta…
I used Annie Sloan’s clear and dark wax on the body of the chest, and then I stared at those drawers….  I repainted the pulls with my trusty Oil Rubbed Bronze.  Can’ t live without that stuff!

Then I remembered that I have a Silhouette machine!  Hello???  I went into to the 99 cent Silhouette store and shopped ‘til my heart was content.  Well, I actually spent like $3.96, but I was sure that something I bought might work as a stencil on those drawer fronts.  I played around with sizing and cutting etc.  I finally found what I was looking for.  (Take THAT Bono!)  I cut it out on heavy cardstock and used it for a stencil.  I then spent the next 27 hours (more like 2 hrs, but my back was killing me), hand stenciling those “flowers” around the drawer pulls.  SO WORTH IT! 

To finish off I sanded the drawer fronts and flowers and sealed with dark and clear wax.

I’m in furniture love….


Hey! Don’t let that fabulous scale distract you from the dresser!  That’s for another post.  Stay innn the moment….



Now, I’m off to hate another piece of furniture ‘til I love it!  Honestly, that really is how it works.  For me and Miss Mustard Seed :) !  Catch you later.


 




Linking up to these great parties:
You are talking too much Meet Me Monday

Happy Hour at Crafty, Scrappy, Happy

Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed

Weekend bloggy reading at Serenity Now 
Inspiration Friday at The Picket Fence 
Whipperberry Friday Flair 
Sundae Scoop at I heart Naptime

The Beachy Blue Desk

I have painted a LOT of furniture in the last few months, and I have not blogged about hardly any of it.  Not only that, but I have been horrible about taking “before” pictures of my victims…  In the case of this desk makeover, I have only a couple of pictures, and for some reason, they are pictures of only half of the desk..?…  Don’t know why.  I picked up this desk at Goodwill.  I was immediately drawn to it because of these babies :)




Yes!  Glass pulls and knobs!  Actually I had to buy a badly damaged waterfall dresser and mirror along with the desk just to get this desk.  It was to be sold as a set at Goodwill, and they wouldn’t split it up.  Lord knows when I’ll get around to tackling the peeling veneer on that dresser!  But that’s another post.

The desk was painted an evil, horrible spearmint white with the drawer fronts a pale pepto pink.  It was not pretty; it was filthy.  But those glass handles…ahhh… they called out to me.




Here’s the half of the desk photo that I took.  Again, no idea why? As you use your imagination, you’ll guess that the other side of the desk is identical :)




So, I took off the precious hardware and scrubbed and scrubbed this baby 'til it hurt!  Then I decided to paint the base in Annie Sloan’s Old White and the drawer fronts in a mix of Old White and Duck Egg Blue.  You just can’t go wrong with that combination. 

Then the headaches started… The evil, horrible spearmint white that I pointed out earlier began to rear its ugly head!  The Old White gives great coverage, but honestly, that spearmint white wanted to be seen!  It’s hard painting “white over white”; at least it is for me.  It’s because you can’t see clearly if you’ve got really good coverage all over like you can if you are painting a light over a dark color.  But I digress…  After 2 coats and many touch ups and a very light distressing (because too much distressing revealed too much spearmint), I finally got the body like I wanted it.  the drawers were fun!  I just painted them Old White and dry brushed Duck Egg Blue over in one direction.  I just eye-balled it and did it however I liked it.




At first I put the desk in my booth with no chair.
No sell…



Then I added a chair from my out of control stash… Hey, DON'T JUDGE!



Muuuchhh better…


Please excuse the weird collage borders.  Pic Monkey and I are just now making friends!

Finally, I had the privilege of being in the shop when a very sweet lady came in and purchased my desk to put in her beach home.  She loved it, and I was happy to see it go to a place where it would fit right in.

 
image via





Here’s wishing you never find any spearmint white paint, but that you luck up and find some fabulous glass pulls…

   





Linking up at these great parties:

Happy Hour party at Crafty Scrappy Happy, Design, Dining, and Diapers, and Craftberry Bush

It’s been a while…Spring has Sprung

I haven’t written a blog post in over a month.  I can’t believe it’s been that long!  So many things have been going on, but I’ve had no time to blog about them, and some of them are just “life” and are not for blogging anyway.  I have missed being able to sit down and share thoughts and pictures with everyone though.

When I last posted, I was headed to the Southern Women’s Show in Savannah.  I had a great time and met some really wonderful bloggy friends.  I’ve kept in touch with a few of them and plan to continue those special relationships.  I even have some giveaways coming up along with highlights of some of the vendors from the show. 

I’ve really been working hard to update my booth for Spring.  You know, it's hard to blog and keep a booth running.  Anyone else find it difficult to balance?

Here’s what "Today is my Someday" looks like right now.
What do you think?  I need a round table in the middle?  Funny you should say that... I'm working on one right now!

This is a view from the front door.  All dressed up for Spring!
       
                  These are a few of my favorite fun new pieces!
                                     

The pictures are from my iPhone.  Hubby changed the settings on the “good” camera, so we could try out the Light Scoop that he got me for Christmas.  Well, we haven’t gotten around to going through the tutorial, and we can’t remember how to change it all back.  Yikes!



I love “before and after’s”.  So, I’ll leave you with a couple of  easy, fun makeover pictures to inspire you to paint or reupholster something of your own.

The cute yellow chair in the pictures above… I got it from a yard sale.  I don’t have a complete “before” shot, but I do have a picture of the BEAUTIFUL (insert sarcasm here) fabric that was on the seat.


Ick!
This fabric was on that sunny YELLOW chair with the beautiful curvy legs! 


Now that’s better!  Just a little fabric refresher and an attack of the palm sander, and she’s beautiful again!

Hope you are enjoying your Spring!

Directors Chairs- a quick before and after

I picked up 2 of these directors chairs at a yard sale last Spring.  It was late in the day, and they were leaning against the wall and folded with no seat or backs on them.  I had to ask the seller what they were.  She pulled out one ratty looking seat cover to show me what these were supposed to look like when assembled.  I took them home and planned to buy or make the seats and backs from canvas.  I found that the kits are sold at Pier One and World Market for $20 each, but I’m way too frugal to pay that much!  I held on to the chairs and hoped to have the time to make some myself.  But… months later, as I was browsing my local Habitat Home Restore, I came across 2 sets of these directors chair seats and backs!  I couldn’t believe my luck!  Sometimes, it pays just to wait for the right thing to come along…



So, I have just recently pulled these little guys out and cleaned them up.  They were made in the early 80’s, according to the tag underneath.  The hinges had some type of protective coating on them that had yellowed.  It was so difficult to remove, that I ended up sanding it off!  They were DIRTY too!  So, I cleaned, sanded some rough spots, and taped off all of the hardware.  I used spray paint,which I will NEVER do again on a project like this, but that’s another story.  It took many light coats to get the coverage I was looking for. 

Sadly, I was so into getting these chairs done that I forgot to take any pictures of the intermediate steps.  Sorry.  Once the paint was done, I sanded it lightly in the places that I thought would normally show wear.  I wanted them to look beachy and laid back- not perfectly crisp and white! 



Once I was ready to put the super duper cute canvas seats and backs on, I discovered, that they were not an exact fit for my chairs.  Uh oh…  Thank goodness my mom isn’t afraid of her sewing machine : )  Not saying I’m afraid of mine or anything…  She just hemmed both the seats and backs for me, and we were back in business!



Ta-da!  Aren’t they great?!?  I love the difference!  From drab to fab- for sure!



Here’s a little better shot of the seat.  I just love the bright colors!!

I already have some great furniture in my own sunroom, so these two went right up for sale.  I hope they’ll brighten up someone else’s space.

Happy Thursday to you!









Linking up to these great parties:

Weekend wrap up at Tatertots and Jello