Mariner's Compass Rose Tables ... All Finished!

These two tables came from Salvation Army months ago, and they were living in my garage (part of my stash of raw 'Before' projects), waiting for their turn at a make over.  Their shapes led me to add a bit of detail to their tops ... showed you how I painted the design in my last post.  Now it's time to show you the completed tables.

This is a good example of how well the Annie Sloan colors coordinate with each other.  We have Old Violet and a custom mix of Coco and Olive on the tables, with my Aubusson buffet in the background.

I didn't take any photos of the tables before I painted them, so you will have to use your imagination to picture what they looked like before their transformation.

Imagine this first table with a damaged-beyond-repair veneer top.  I removed the veneer and its underlayment, revealing the rough, pieced base of the top.  I scraped off the glue with my Bahco scraper, then used my orbital palm sander to sand it smooth.  The base of the table and the contrasting edge of the top is painted with Annie Sloan's 'Old Violet'.  The design on the top used 'Country Grey', 'Scandinavian Pink', and 'Chateau Grey'.

The base is lightly distressed and finished with clear wax.  The top received two coats of Minwax oil-based wipe-on polyurethane, for durability.  (I don't like living with waxed tops on furniture, and I don't think the people who buy my pieces should have to either.)

The left leg is waxed and buffed, and the right leg is next.

This table has a drawer.  I cleaned it up and lined it with some Waverly wallpaper that coordinates with the Scandinavian Pink on the top.  The original handle is in great shape, so all it needed was a quick wash and wipe before I reinstalled it.

Now let's look at the second table.  This one is held together with screws and bolts, and it was quick to disassemble it to make working on it easier.  The top came apart into two pieces, which meant that I didn't have to carefully cut in as I painted around the edge of the center contrasting part.

Notice how the compass point lines up with the applique on the side of the tabletop.

No 'Before' photo of this table either ... you'll have to imagine it with a big melted spot in the finish on top, where it looked like someone had set a leaky bottle of nail polish remover.  (That sanded out easily and you'll never find where it used to be.)  The base of the table and the outer portion of the top are painted with a custom mix of Annie Sloan's 'Coco' and 'Olive'.  The compass on top uses 'Country Grey', 'Old Violet', and 'Chateau Grey'.

Just like I did with the first table, the base of this one is lightly distressed and clear waxed, and the top is sealed with polyurethane.

These two tables are now part of the hoarder's stash of stuff being stored in my living room ... destined for the Luckett's Spring Market in May.

I hope these inspire you to take a second look at those less-than-perfect thrift store items you run across ... and I want you to think about other colors to use when remaking your own pieces.  There is a LOT more out there besides white, grey, and turquoise.

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On another subject .... I have told you before about our friends Jim and Dan in Maryland.  Today, Jim has a timely guest post on the Washington Gardener Blog about the Washington DC cherry trees.  Click HERE to read Jim's post ... and enjoy!

The Ugly Duckling Jelly Cupboard

A few months ago, I saw a truly ugly cupboard in a preview at Shumate's Auction in Warrenton.  I could tell that it was once a lovely little jelly cupboard, but a prior owner did some pretty awful things to it.  I have been looking for a jelly cupboard ... one on the smaller side ... and I knew I could transform this one into something special.

The other auction-goers must have been terrified of the awful appearance of this cupboard, despite its solid construction and great proportions, because I bid WAY less for it than the maximum that I had set for myself.

No one appeared to be willing to look past the horrible 70's green antiqued paint job.  The cupboard once had some sort of feet, which were long gone, and the glass in the doors was definitely not original.  (Notice that beaded detail in the drawer?  Remember it, because you will see it again in a minute.)

The first step in the cupboard's transformation was to scrape and sand the surface to get rid of the drips and debris that were in the green paint.

 

The olive green was a great starting point for my plan of multiple layers of color.

 

 

 

 

I painted the inside and the outside of the cupboard with a base coat of Annie Sloan's 'Country Grey'.  Once this was dry, the outside of the cupboard got a coat of 'Duck Egg'. 

I sanded the whole cupboard with my fine-grit sanding block, then heavily wet-distressed it with a Scotch Brite scrubbing pad ... just like I did to my brother's kitchen cabinets.  (Click HERE to see that project, if you missed it or need a reminder.)  Always remember that distressing replicates natural wear that a piece would have received over time!

You can see all three colors of paint, and a bit of raw wood, after the door is distressed.

The cupboard needed a bit of patina added to its new paint job.  With previous pieces, I have used clear and dark wax to achieve this.  One day recently I had a realization ... clear wax becomes part of the finish and is repairable and fairly permanent.  Dark wax, however, stays on top of the finish and can be removed.  (I'm not careful with my furniture, so I don't want anything that I may have to baby.)  To achieve the look on this cupboard, I thinned my custom-mixed chocolate brown chalk paint into a glaze, painted it onto the surface and quickly wiped it off.  The effect was perfect!

 

 

 

The beaded detail on the cupboard's drawer provided the perfect clue for me to replace the glass in the doors with beadboard.  I cut panels to size, painted them (using Olive for the first coat, since there was no ugly green paint to start with in this case).  This photo clearly shows the difference the glaze makes to the paint finish ... the door frame was glazed, the panel wasn't yet.

Replacing the missing feet on the cupboard was easy.  I bought four unfinished wood feet at Lowe's, and I went to work painting them to match the finish on the cupboard.  ('Olive', then 'Country Grey', then 'Duck Egg'.)  I distressed the feet very heavily, since feet on a piece of furniture receive lots of abuse from brooms, mops, vacuum cleaners, shoes, etc.

Painted foot on the right, distressed foot on the left.

 

Distressed and glazed foot on the left, and clear-waxed foot on the right.

For the hardware, I had the perfect antique knobs stashed away.  Why someone had globbed paint onto these beauties is a mystery.  It was a simple process to carefully loosen the paint by soaking them in hot water.  I picked the loosened paint off with my thumbnail, and polished the brass with 0000 steel wool.

Here is the finished cupboard:

Doesn't look like the same piece, does it?  I will always be amazed at the transformation power of a good paint finish. 

Shortly after I took the above photo in our dining room, I moved to cupboard to a better spot in our home office.  This new location is fairly dark and not so great for quality photography, but I couldn't resist snapping a shot of this little vignette of Alice posing by one of my husband's paintings.  (one day I will get around to actually attaching the painting to its new frame and hanging it on the wall ... not today, though.)

I hope the dramatic transformation of this cupboard will inspire you to take another look at those ugly-duckling items the next time you are at an auction or yard sale.  As long as the size is right, the proportions are pleasing, and the construction is solid, you can work miracles with a can of paint.

Dresser Project, Inspired by Wedgwood

It's been a while since I showed you the results of any of my furniture projects.  I've been working on them ... I just haven't been showing them. 

Since it's Friday, and I usually get the urge to show furniture on Fridays, here is one of my latest completed items.  Please allow me to introduce .....  The Wedgwood Dresser.

You may or may not remember this dresser's humble beginning.

It's a very solid, heavy, well-made dresser from a good maker.  It just has dated styling ... which makes it perfect for a beauty makeover with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.

I took my inspiration for this piece from the applied carvings on the drawer fronts.  They remind me of applied decorations on Wedgwood dishes and cameos, so it seemed natural to do this piece in ASCP Old White and Duck Egg ... perfect Wedgwood colors.

When I painted the first coat of Duck Egg on the carvings, the details didn't stand out quite like I wanted them to ... so I dry-brushed a bit of Old White onto them.  Now they're perfect!

The dresser had ALMOST all of its original hardware ... the only missing piece was ONE eye-bolt for one drawer handle.  (The handle that appears to be missing in the 'Before' photo was in one of the drawers.) 

I knew that I wanted to keep the original handles if I possibly could.  A quick trip to Lowes yielded some handles with eye-bolts that worked perfectly with the original handles.  I'll save the parts of the new handles that I didn't use for another project later.

I used a texture technique on the top of this dresser ... two coats of slightly-thickened Duck Egg ASCP ... then I waxed and sanded and and polished and waxed again ... and the effect has depth and a silky smooth, satiny shine!

(The paintbrush is in this photo to trick my camera's auto-focus function ... it couldn't focus on the shiny dresser top at the angle I wanted to shoot without it.  Oh, the things we have to do with these new-fangled cameras.)

On the body of the dresser, I lightly distressed corners and edges and feet to simulate a lifetime of use and care.  No fakey, patchy, random distressing for this girl ... every mark and wear spot can tell a story. 

Now that this dresser is finished, it's in the pile of things that are staged to go with me to the Luckett's Spring Market, May 19 and 20.  I have one more project to finish, then I'll have everything ready for the show ... all I will have to do is decide how to arrange everything into my 10 x 10 foot space.

The Big Blue Buffet

When evaluating furniture to refinish, there's a fine line between 'Classic' and 'Dated'.  This latest project of mine started out just over the line in "Dated' territory.  After a dose of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, I think it now sits squarely in the "Classic" category.  Let's see if you agree.

When I saw this piece at Salvation Army, I knew that it would be a beauty when I finished with it.  The body is solid maple, and the innerds are solid plywood ... this piece is HEAVY.  It's from a great maker, and is well worth the effort needed to bring it back to life.

The first thing I did when I got it home was to pull out my heat gun and strip the dated lacquer finish off the top.  Two coats of Rustoleum 'Kona' stain, and two coats of polyurethane, and the top was beautiful.  I waited until this point to choose the color for the body ... because I wasn't exactly sure what color the maple top would end up.  As I hoped, it was a perfect compliment for a coat of my favorite ASCP color ... Aubusson Blue!

Even though I stripped and sanded and refinished the top to make it practically pristine, I wanted to acknowledge and honor the age on rest of the buffet.  In places, it had the most wonderful wear in the finish ... which I left in place and accentuated with some careful distressing.

Speaking of distressing, the rest of the buffet got quite a workout with my sandpaper and sanding block.  As I was doing it, I was imagining all the hands that have touched the hardware, opening the drawers and doors, and all the feet and brooms and vacuums that have run into the skirt and feet.

Bottom drawer, before distressing and clear wax.  Top drawer, after.  (The color in this photo is off, way too yellow, and I couldn't fix it to my satisfaction.)

Up until now, I have always replaced these 'bat wing' colonial-style drawer pulls.  In this case, the style is a little different and I loved the wear on them ... so I gave them a spritz of oil-rubbed bronze spray paint to update the color a bit.  I think they're perfect.

This buffet is now ready for its new home.  I wish that could be here, because I have the PERFECT spot for it in our dining room.

Unlike other pieces, this one is not heading for my shop.  It's the first piece that I have finished specifically for the Lucketts Spring Market.  I'm so excited to be a vendor there this year!!!  It's unfortunate that this is happening during my busiest nursery season ... but I'm balancing things pretty well so far. 

Can't rest on my laurels, though ... I have work to do.

As the magician said, "... and now for my next trick ..."

Wait till you see what I'm going to do with this one!

Making Room in the Workshop

For the past few weeks, I haven't had a whole lot of free space in my basement workshop.  This latest project of mine is so big ... it was in the way of everything.  Now that I'm finished, and I had The Husband's help to load it up and move it to my shop, the workshop seems so much bigger now!

What was once a dated, but hefty, solid wood dining hutch ... is now a stylish, colorful flat-screen TV cabinet.  (The TV in our family room sits in a converted hutch.  You can see it HERE.)

I knew from the moment I saw this hutch sitting on the sidewalk at Goodwill that it would be perfect for a TV cabinet ... but it's classic, 1970s style wasn't part of the picture.

The doors were the first thing to go.  I installed trim to cover where the hinges had been.  New wood panels fill the sides where glass was originally.

With these modifications made, now what color should it be?  I knew that I wanted to use two colors of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, so I stared at my handy color chart for inspiration.  (seen in THIS post)  Initially, I was drawn to Chateau Grey and Duck Egg ... but my new can of Olive was the winner.  I am continually amazed at how much I love the way ASCP colors combine with each other.  (I don't think I've found a bad combination yet.)

The original door pulls look like door knockers from a medieval castle ... they're gone now, too.  In their place, I found knobs at Hobby Lobby that are perfect!  Look how well they coordinate with the Duck Egg.

Inside those doors are two drawers and LOTS of storage space.  Everything in this hutch shows quality materials and construction ... dovetailed drawers!

At the shop, The Husband and I rearranged a few things to make this baby fit.  As tall as it is (7 feet!) the footprint is surprisingly small ... four feet wide.  That's a lot of function in a relatively small space.  The TV space is wide enough to easily fit a 42" television.

Why settle for ordinary television furniture?