{Kristin's Hutch}

This hutch is a very solid, nicely constructed piece of furniture, but it needed a face lift.  The days of an Old American-like finish are over. Out with the blah, blah stained pieces and in with the new, painted, glazed (if you'd like), updated stuff.  

My great friend, Kristin, is a furniture pro herself, so with this redo came some anxiety.  It's like the music teacher teaching a composer's son, the hairdresser cutting her co-worker's hair, the mudder mudding his boss's house.  Pressure for perfection.  And lots of it.  

The results... Kristin's happy!  She didn't have to do all the work herself.  I'm happy!  Now I don't owe her piano lesson fees for a few months.  The hutch is the happiest though... people admire it and call it beautiful. (No, seriously, her 7 year-old son really did call it that!)  

before:

After the glaze was set in the cracks (such a difference!) :

before the glaze:

more finished product photos:

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{The Samantha Entry Way Bench}

Another wonderful client wanted the Samantha bench and shelf for her entry way.  I do build them, but encouraged them to do the building to save on cost, so that they did.  

They still wanted me to paint them though, so that I did. :)

I really do love this entry way system.  We have a bench that we use in our breakfast nook, which is great because I've had as many as 5 kids sitting on it on just one side of the table (when we have lots of friends over.)  It's pretty timeless, simple and convenient with how much storage it provides.  

I love the Varathane Satin sheen:

Here is the bench and the shelf in their home!  Looks fantastic guys!

Paint skinny:

Paint: Behr Ultra Cotton Whisper in Eggshell

Topcoat: Varathane in a satin sheen

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What I've Been Up to

Blogger has this new thing where when you log in, you can see how many hits your blog has had in the last few days... I just realized that I have still had quite an impressive number of people checking in here over the past few days.  And you've been disappointed.  

So I thought I would apologize with a few excuses for the lack of posts.

My garden:

Already have canned like 30 quarts of tomatoes this summer!

Home projects:

My dining room table often looks like this...

Basement:

We are finishing up the basement project (I will start working on a post).  Two weeks ago I finally built these shelves in.  I'm excited to have some kind of Q&A about basements to share everything that we have learned about framing, drywalling, mudding, painting, built ins, tiling etc...

Master Bath:

Painting it.

The summer was crazy for me.  And I assume for ya'll too.  I felt like people weren't very focused on decorating and redoing their furniture, or buying mine (I still have that gorg round end table for sale.) Maybe because everyone is outside. Or because kids are home and occupy all of our energy and time.  Or because people are out of town a lot (like me, driving 4,500 miles ALONE with my kids over 3 1/2 weeks across the country and back.) 

But, school is back in, so I'll have some beautiful treats for you all in the next few weeks.  Promise!

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Crabby Apple Console Table

I'm pretty sure there is a piece of furniture that I have painted in every room in J's lower level of her house... Just about. :)

This table was that orange-y, knotty pine style, but with way cute lines and lots of character.  It is SO cute now, adding the perfect pop of color just where J needed it.  

The skinny:

Paint: SW Crabby Apple Enamel
Top Coat: Varathane in Satin


Before:

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{The Clara Table} - FOR SALE

When I found this badly painted but absolutely darling side table, I knew it would completely stunning once I was through with it. I stripped the old sponged on pale yellow paint off of it, did quite a lot of sanding, more stripping and more sanding to get it ready to paint and stain.  

The top is a dark walnut color with a diamond hard satin Varathane top coat.  

The legs were done in a creamy white, moderately distressed, with Varathane as an ultra-durable top coat.  

The table measures 26in high and the top has a diameter of  24in.

I always have a hard time letting go of pieces like this!  I LOVE IT!  I'm sure you will too if it ends up in your living room, bedroom, foyer or office!

$85 - cash and credit cards accepted

You can't see the lovely paint job it had before in this pic! It was painted a white with yellow sponged on over it.  Bleh!

Here she is with some paint stripped off:

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Mum's Green Table, Compartment Chest and An Old Piano Bench

My mom loaded me up with 5 pieces of furniture to paint for her a few weeks ago.  I guess that's the benefit of having a daughter in the furniture business. You get the hook-up.  I'll post about the other two soon, one of which isn't quite done yet...  the disadvantage of having your own daughter redo your furniture... she knows you won't fire her for exceeding the promised finish date. :)

This cute compartment chest has been sitting in her basement, unassembled, in its box for years.  So, I whipped it together for her and painted it black.... annnddd didn't take an after picture...  stay tuned.  

Then there was this old piano bench... This baby had such cute lines. It almost doesn't look like a piano bench at all, but a bench that it meant for an entryway or the end of a bed.  I got it for free with a piano (that I got for free) from someone in my church.  The piano has a ridiculously ugly finish (I'll be painting it this winter!), but when the sweet lady asked me if I wanted the bench too (which was way too tall for the piano), I couldn't turn it down.  The hinges were broken, the top was abused.  But it wasn't anything that I couldn't fix.  And fix I did.  I hope you believe me because I don't have a pic of the finished product for this one either!  I swear!  All the furniture I did for my mom, I just let her walk away with it without having photo shoots.  Good thing she lives 12 minutes away.  I'll invade her house and snap some soon and post them!  

Next: The Green Table...

It has been known as "the green table" for an eternity.  My mom was ready for a new look for it, and I'm pretty sure I heard it crying for a refinish a few times as I was visiting her house.  

(horrible pics!)

I LOVE painting black over a previously painted color.  Even though this particular client doesn't prefer her furniture distressed very much, I had to get at least a little bit of that green peeking through.  

before: 

all scuffed up and ready to go!

For all these pieces, I used:

PAINT

Behr Ultra, eggshell in Black Suede

TOP COAT

Varathane Hard Floor Finish in Satin

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Intense Teal X Bench

I LOVE Ana White's website with free woodworking plans!  This bench was pretty simple to make, mostly because of the stellar and accurate plans that Ana wrote up.  My client wanted to use it as an entryway bench and wanted to incorporate turquoise into her home.  I think that it turned out SO cute in this gorgeous Sherwin Williams color!  

 

PAINT:
SW Intense Teal

TOP COAT:
Varathane in satin

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Custom Benches

I'm going to be making some of these benches this summer (plans courtesy of Ana-White.com) and painting them to sell.  If you are interested, contact me for more information.  

 

The V-lined Bench

$165 for length 30"- 42"

$190 for length 43"- 56"
Price includes handmade bench, painted with an ultra-durable clear top coat.

The Cute X Bench

$150 for length 30"- 42"

$175 for length 43"- 50"
Price includes handmade bench, painted with an ultra-durable clear top coat.

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{Look What I Found!} - SOLD

I do have to say, this was my greatest find to date.  I was on my way to a friend's house and stopped by a garage sale that I spotted.  (People were moving to FL and had to get rid of stuff!)  A soon as I saw this baby in the driveway I knew it had to be mine.  I bought it, loaded it and discovered after the fact that it was... you'll never guess.  I mean, seriously, You'll die.

 ETHAN ALLEN.

Dovetail joints, all hardwood.  This is an absolutely quality piece of furniture.  Most Ethan Allen buffets are about $2,000, give or take a couple hundred dollars.

Here's my plan:
I'm listing it for sale on craigslist just how it is. If it doesn't sell in the next week or two I will leave the top the way it is and paint the rest in Annie Sloan's Old White with moderate/heavy distressing to show off all of the hardwood detail.  It will have updated hardware as well and a clear Varathane top coat for maximum scratch protection.

Painted or not, it will be gorgeous in any dining room or entry way, or as a TV console.

If you love it and want it a different color, email or text me!

SOLD
As is: $400
Painted with stained top: $450

Dimensions: H 31" W 55" D 19"

 

 

 

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Black Nightstand - {A Custom Refinish}

Didn't take a before pic of this I guess!  :( Sorry, I know how everyone likes those before and after shots.

This was your typical BLAH nightstand.  Nothing to be excited about, nothing to show off, necessarily.  It had a medium stain on it with those specks of dark stain splattered on.  You know the look?  Not sure what those furniture makers back in the 90's were thinking!

But now? Looks shiny, chic and shabby.  Which is perfect.

My wonderful client will choose the new hardware for it and put them on herself (or have her hubby do it?)  :)   Because she wasn't sure if she wanted pulls or knobs, I filled the existing holes with spackling so she could choose whatever she liked most.

 

 

 

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Coming Soon!

Buffet?

TV Console?

Bedroom Dresser?

You choose! The empty spot right in the middle of it will fit two super cute 15-17 inch cube baskets (you can get these for $15-18 a piece at Target).  It is being painted black, will be moderately distressed with new hardware and a Varathane top coat for superb scratch protection.

It's about 64" long and 19" deep.

Stay tuned for the beautiful finished product!

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Carlee's Wingback Chair

Poor Carlee.  This chair was in a sad state.  It's home is a 1st grade classroom where 7 year-olds are always climbing on it.  Now, there are no rips, its so cute and all the other teachers are jealous.  

I thought this would only take 4-5 hours to re-cover.  Uh, no!  Way longer.  I bet there were about 400 staples holding all that old fabric and batting on there. And those staples were buggers to remove, let me tell you.  Like, 3/4 inch staples jabbed in to some hard wood.  By the time I got her all stripped down I had multiple hot spots on my hands from the pliers and screwdrivers.  Not complaining though.  Just sayin'!  If you wonder why professional re-upholsterers charge upwards from $300 to redo a chair like this one, that's why.  It's labor-intensive!  But oh, so worth it to have an updated, sturdy chair with fabric on it that you love!  

It's kind of my first one that I've done... I learned a ton by just taking the old materials off of it.  That's the key: if you want to attempt it yourself, when you're tearing it down pay attention to what order the different parts of the chair were originally covered in and observe the upholstery techniques that were used.  If you notice those details, and have some willpower, you can do it too!

Before

After

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The $24 mirror - {revamped}

I'm telling you, my husband knows me well.  For my birthday he bought me, along with a few other things, this large mirror from TJMaxx... oh my, is it cheap!  It's plastic, and although it's only 3 1/2 months old, the plastic coating was already beginning to peel off in places.  I knew it was cheap, but to really honest, I didn't care!  If fact, as soon as he gave it to me I said, "would you care if I paint it?"  Ha!  

Though I do like how the original plastic color kind of blends in with the fireplace, I just couldn't take the chinsiness of it's look anymore, and there's a lot of white furniture in my living room too, so it matches that beautifully.  Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, here we go...

If I would have built this house, the fireplace would have been painted white and not oak-stained-a-honey-color, but Adam won't let me paint it, and even if he would let me, I'm not sure I would dare since our house will be up for sale in 3 years!  

I love the mirror now, and I don't think that it looks like a cheap-o mirror anymore!

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