Category

Furniture Projects

Removing Damaged Veneer

During one of my Estate Sale shopping trips I found an old Victrola record cabinet that needed some fixing up. About a quarter of the veneer on the top of the cabinet was missing. A chunk of wood was also missing on one of the doors on the front.

For the door I had to take out the old screw and add a longer one so it would connect from the bottom of the hinge into the wood that wasn’t damaged. My first attempt didn’t work but I eventually was able to get a long enough screw into place so whe door would open and close with the hinge.

I used wood putty and sanded it so I could paint over it.

Back to the veneer top. I’ve used wood putty to fix veneer before but this area was too big to fix so it needed to come off. I tried just scraping it but quickly realized that wasn’t going to work. So I did a quick search on Pinterest and found a solution.

I took an old towel and got it wet and laid it over the veneer I wanted to remove. Be careful not to get any veneer you don’t want to remove wet. You don’t want any warping on veneer you want to keep. I would scrape off the parts that would come off easily and then lay the towel back down and spray it with a water bottle to let it soak into the veneer. I had to do this a few times. The towel needs to be pretty wet, not dripping wet but almost. I would let it sit for about an hour to let it get into and under the veneer. The glue holding the veneer down will soften up making it easier to scrape off. You can see from the picture I just used a putty knife.

This method worked really well for me, and then I just needed to sand it down for a smooth finish and paint it!

I painted this one Annie Sloan Napoleonic Blue. I finished it with clear wax and added Annie Sloan Bright Silver Gilding Wax to some of the edges. I replaced the old pulls with small glass door pulls to finish the look I wanted.

The record player had been removed from the inside so it makes a great storage cabinet.

I love taking taking an old piece of furniture and fixing it up so it’s beautiful and ready to be used again.

Hope you find this helpful. And thanks for stopping by. If you want to see more transformations and helpful hints take a minute to sign up for my emails.

Cindy

Vintage Farmhouse Table, Chairs & Bench

This was a big project! I spend over a week working on this table. But it was more than just the time it took that made this a big project. Here’s what the table looked like when I started.

It only came with 4 chairs, 1was a captains chair. It also came with a leaf so it was big enough to seat 6.  I started searching for a bench to add more seating and also to add to the farmhouse look I wanted for this table. I couldn’t find one to refinish so I decided to have one made. Remember the Entryway Bench  I had someone make for me? I went back to my friend Colton and asked him to make me a bench. I sent him a picture and measurements and a few days later he delivered it! I have to say, I’m so impressed with anyone who can build something from scratch!

Time for stain! I sanded the table and leaf and noticed a few flaws in the wood top. The top of the table has a wood veneer and so it’s thin. Over time some of it chipped a bit on a few edges and in one area the wood deteriorated. So when I went over it with a sander it came right off. I really wanted to stain the top and not paint it so I went forward with that plan.

I picked Minwax Golden for the stain color. It’s a light stain but the table top came out darker than I expected. On the bench it was much lighter. So I had to pick a darker stain for the bench so it would match.

 

You can see the difference in the wood on the table and the bench with the Minwax Golden. With different wood you get a difference in color. I ended up using Minwax Dark Walnut on the bench. Much better match!

Next it was time to take the ugly, dirty seat covers off and recover them.

 

Recovering seats is usually pretty easy and this was no exception.  I’ve done this a few times now. You can see some of my other post where I reupholstered chairs: Chair makeover with ASCP Emperors silk and Rose back chair restyled and Antique or Vintage Chair Reupholstering  and Huge Reupholster Project Part 1 of 2  and Huge Reupholster Project Part 2 of 2

I took the staples out and found the original seat underneath. Someone added padding to the chairs previously so I kept it.  I added a layer of quilt batting because I think it makes a smoother look to the finished seat.

I stapled the batting on with a few staples to keep it in place and then stapled the material on. I picked an upholstery material that had a Grain Sack look and added the pattern to each chair. I measured and taped to make the pattern, then used Annie Sloan Graphite to paint the stripes.

Because I added the quilt batting I had to use longer nails to put the seats back on the chairs. Loving the grain sack look!! It’s simple but adds a lot to the overall look of the table.

Now for the painting! I stared by painting the chairs and legs Annie Sloan Louis Blue.

In my last post, Layering Annie Sloan Chalk Paint I layered 2 colors of paint. For this table and chairs I used 3 colors. After 1 coat of the Louis Blue I added bits of Graphite.

Then I used a chip brush to add a coat of Old White. I lightly sanded everything so the Graphite and Louis Blue would show through.

Layering paint gives the piece an aged look. I finished it off with General Finishes Top coat.

And this table was finally done!!

Perfect Farmhouse Table! You can see the blemish in the top of the table but I think it adds to the farmhouse aged look. And the wood on this table is so beautiful I’m glad I didn’t paint over it.

Lots of time went into this project. Sometimes big projects can feel tedious and a bit frustrating but when it’s done and it turns out how you imagined it, it’s all worth it!

And now it’s ready for someone to take it home, just in time for the holiday! 😃

Ok I want to hear your thoughts on this! Have you painted a tables and chairs before? What was your experience? Please leave a comment cuz I love hearing from everyone!! 😊

Thanks for stopping in to take a look at my latest post.

Cindy

Layering Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

Annie Sloan Duck Egg is a very popular color and you can see why. It’s a beautiful soft blue that is even more lovely with a coat of clear wax added. This is a unique and fun little dresser. Here it is before I painted it.

I used a layered paint technique for this piece. I started with 1 coat of Annie Sloan Coco.

Then I added 1 coat of Duck Egg Blue. I used a medium grit sandpaper to lightly distress the dresser and then I wet distressed over the sanded areas to show a little more of the Coco.

Now the original wood and hints of the Coco are showing. Then it was time for the clear wax. Annie Sloan Duck Egg takes on a slightly different shade when you apply clear wax. You can see it here.

Lovely!

A pretty addition addition to any room!

Thanks for stopping by to take a look

Cindy

Sweetwater Milk Paint makeover

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Ok so if it isn’t already obvious that I love this piece let me just say….I LOVE THIS PIECE!! I mean what’s not to love.

I bought this cabinet several months ago and it’s been sitting in my garage waiting for me to decide what color to paint it. The plan was to use Chalk Paint but the inspiration wasn’t happening. And then one day I had an epiphany….Milk Paint! Duh!

Sweet Pickins Sweetwater and Flour Sack is was!

When I bought this cabinet it was painted white and someone had added textured wall paper to the front of the drawers.

You can see the wall paper pealing off. But I wanted to keep it so I used Mod Podge to adhere it back down and secure it to the fronts of the drawers. I removed the handles and cleaned it to prepare it for the Milk Paint.

 

I wanted to make sure that whatever was used to antique the fronts of the drawers wouldn’t bleed through the Milk Paint so I used spray shellac to seal it. Then I painted 2 coats of Sweetwater on the body and 1 coat of Flour Sack on the drawer fronts and let the Milk Paint do its thing.

This piece didn’t chip a lot so I sanded a little extra to get the distressed look I wanted. One of the things I like about Milk Paint is how easy it is to work with. I feel like it goes on quicker than Chalk Paint. It dries quickly and the finish is smooth and easy to distress. I used the cream wax finish and it gives it a lovely velvety look.

Sweet Pickins Milk Paint is also priced well and easy to mix and use. So many colors to chose from as well. Definitely try it out if you have been thinking about using Milk Paint.

I’m so happy with the way this turned out. And these colors together are just lovely. Sweet Pickins Milk Paint was the right choice for this. Wishing I has somewhere in my home to put it. 🤔 But for now it’s in my booth ready for a new home.

Let me know if you have any questions about Milk Paint or any of the products I use to upcycle and refinish my projects.

And thanks for stopping by to read my blog. I appreciate it! 😃

Cindy

Spool Top Tables

Just wanted to do a quick post on a set of tables I put together recently. I am in love with these cool tables! I love the industrial look and I think these tables fit the bill.

I bought a few spool tops for projects but didn’t really have a plan for them. Then these amazing vintage table legs were up for sale and I knew right away they would be perfect for my spool tops. So I sanded them down to remove the rough edges and removed some of the screws that were sticking out. I decided to stain them to give them a more finished look. The wood soaked up the stain. I’m glad I decided on a light color stain so the stamps on these still showed through. I sealed them with several coats of polyurethane.

 

I wasn’t sure how to attach the legs so I asked my husband to help me with this. He bought some long heavy duty screws and bolts and attached them through the holes already in the base tops of the legs. We added a few finishing nails to make them sturdy.

I thought long and hard about painting the legs, but in the end I couldn’t paint over the amazing original chippy paint. Once the legs were on I was glad I’d left them in their original state.

I love the uniqueness of these tables! Such a fun conversation piece to add to any room!

Hope this inspires your creative side 😃 Tell me what you think of this project! I would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for checking out my latest post. Hope you will stop by again!

Cindy 😊

Annie Sloan and General Finishes make over

I love to find great pieces of furniture to upcycle. Sometimes I find a piece and know right away what I want to do with it. Sometimes I think about it for a while before I start the make over. I spent some time thinking about this project and even thought I had a good idea of what I wanted the end result to be, this project changed several times during the process.

I started by sanding the tops of these tables in hopes of staining the wood inlay. I decided to try out a wood stripper for the edges of the top to remove all of the stain and polyurethane top coat.

The wood stripper worked great with a stiff nylon brush. It removed all of the original stain from the crevices, but it was really messy. Like REALLY messy. But by far better than trying to sand it out of the crevices. Unfortunately when I tried to stain the top, the stain was not even over the different wood inlays and the wood edge. Sigh 😔 So General Finishes Gel Stain to the rescue! You may remember my post Painting and Staining our stair railing part 2 , I used a mix of GF Nutmeg and Grey. For these tables I used the same mix and it covered the top beautifully.

With that disaster taken care of I painted the body of these tables Annie Sloan Paris Gray. I wanted to add some Pure White and Silver accents. I painted the cut outs on the legs with a small brush and originally I painted the drawers white as well as the corner cut outs. In my head that looked better. In reality it was too much white. So I painted over the drawer fronts and the corner cut outs with Paris Gray.

I distressed it, used a clear and dark wax and then highlighted the buttom edge of the table and legs with Annie Sloan Bright Silver Gilding Wax. This took a while. 😉 But completely worth the time. All of these products help to bring out the shape and character of this piece. The beautiful handles on the drawers got a coat of spray paint and these tables are done!

This wasn’t exactly what I envisioned when I started this project but I love the end product now that they are done.

 

It takes some time and sometimes several different products but getting to the end of a project is always satisfying. Don’t be afraid to change it up if it’s not working out as you want it to. There’s always a solution if you come across a hiccup.

Leave a comment or a question if you have one!

And as always, thanks for taking a look at my blog 😊

Cindy

Peacock Blue Serpentine Dresser

If you’re like me you love Pinterest. A while back I pinned a picture of a beautiful dresser painted in an ASCP custom mixed color and have been dying to try it. I found the recipe on thepurplepaintedlady.com and it’s called Peacock Blue. I found the perfect piece to try this amazing color on.

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Hello beautiful

This is my favorite piece to date! I absolutely love this color not to mention this amazing piece of furniture! I love this style but who doesn’t right. 😉

Ok here’s the recipe:

2 parts Napoleonic Blue 1 part Aubusson Blue and 1 part Antibes Green. There are so many possibilities with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and Pinterest is the perfect place to find examples of what you are looking for.

I started refinishing this Dixie Federal Style Serpentine dresser by sanding the top and putting a wood conditioner on the exposed wood to prepare it for stain.

Minwax wood conditioner is easy to use. Wood condition helps to give a more even coverage to the stain. I chose MinWax Jacobean and I put 2 coats on. I followed the instructions on the can and sanded between coats and the second coat came out nice and even. Tip: always use gloves when applying and wiping off the excess stain or you will also stain your hands. 😉 When it was dry I applied 3 coats of Semi-gloss polyurethane to seal it. You can use a brush for this but I used a foam brush and it worked well.

Then it was ready to be prepped for painting. I always wipe each piece down and remove all dust as well as any stickers or dirt, sticky spots, etc. This helps the paint go on smoothly and keeps anything from bleeding through. Chalk paint is very porous so cleaning before painting will keep that from happening. If you do end up with some bleed through that’s causing the color of the paint to change color, use some spray shellac over the area and repaint over it. Works like a charm.

I removed all the hardware and used wood filler in the areas that needed it. Some trim along the bottom was broken in places and needed to be removed. I sanded any areas that were ruff or uneven.

Spending a little time prepping a piece is important. In the end you will be glad you did. Next taping. I don’t love this part. It’s time consuming especially on a piece with lots of curves like this one. But you get clean lines and less mess so it’s worth it.

I painted this piece with 3 coats and didn’t do any distressing. I wanted good coverage on this so 3 coats were needed. Then I sealed it with clear wax and added black wax for an amazing finish.

You can see the difference the black wax makes in theses pictures. I painted this in my garage under florencent lights so the paint color looks a bit lighter in these pictures.

Annie Sloan recently came out with a line of gilding waxes and I purchased the Bright Silver to use on this dresser. I accented some of the detail as well as the hardware. This product is easy to use. I squeezed a little out on a paper plate and used my finger to apply most of it. For some of the areas I couldn’t cover with my finger (small crevices and hard to get to areas) I used a brush. The brush works well but using your finger is faster.

Using a gilding wax really brings out the small details and adds to the overall look of a piece. The black wax really adds another demention to the paint color as well as giving it an aged look.

I love how this turned out. I spend some considerable time trying to find a place for this in my home. 😉 But this beauty so is currently for sale in my booth. I may ask for visitation rights. 😂

I really want to hear your thoughts on this piece. What do you think of this color? Do you like the bright silver accents? Leave a comment below! 😃

Thanks so much for checking out my blog. I appreciate your interest in my project and what I do. 😊

Cindy

 

 

Antique or Vintage Chair Reupholstering

I picked this chair up at an estate sale a few months ago. I can’t say for sure it’s an antique but I know it’s old. When I bought this chair it had been recovered with a leather like material.

I decided to take it off right away and discovered what I believe to be the original seat cover underneath. I believe it was the original because it looked old, and was attached with nails.

As you can see from the picture the material looks pretty worn and aged and you can see the small flathead nails used to attach it. Underneath the chair you can also see the jute webbing. So I’m already feeling like this chair is fairly old but then I took a look at the inside of the padded seat.

Straw and horse hair! What!! I don’t have a lot of experience with antiques and vintage items so this was all brand new to me. I did a little research and horse hair and straw were used in the mid 1800’s and into the early 1900’s. I believe it was sometimes used into the mid 1900’s but not as often. Other than that I can’t seem to find any more information on this chair. There’s no manufacturers name or any info at all printed or attached to this chair. So I’m left to wonder.

I wanted to reupholster this chair but I didn’t want to remove any of the original seat cover or insides. Because I’m not sure of its age I just want to keep all the original parts intact. So I put the nails I pulled out back in and added some extra padding over the original material. Then stapled the new material over that. To give the seat a finished look I decided to add a little trim around the back and the arms. I measured each piece, cut it and used a hot glue gun to attach it.

I love the wood finish on this chair and the beautiful carved back. With the simple pattern on this material I think it’s the perfect accent chair for a farmhouse style home.

I would love to hear from anyone who knows anything about antique and vintage furniture. If you have an idea’s on the age of this chair or any advice on how to find out please leave a comment below.

 

Thanks for checking out my blog

Cindy 😊

 

Add a Stencil

Sometimes my vision for a piece doesn’t work out and I have to go in a different direction. This bench was going to get a lovely coat of dark stain with Old White legs but as you can see that didn’t happen. Here’s why:

I sanded the dark brown paint off the top of this bench and treated it with a wood conditioner. Then applied a dark stain to it. You can see the results. I’m not sure what kind of wood this is, possibly poplar, but parts of it weren’t taking the stain. So on to a new plan. General Finishes Gel Stain! I had just a small amount of the Grey left from a previous project but it didn’t take much to cover this. Once the gel stain was on I sealed it with one coat of polyurethane and started painting the legs Annie Sloan Old White. I wanted to add something to this piece to give it a little more character. So I pulled out my stencils.

I used a sponge brush and added 5 of the same design to the top.

I sealed the top with about 4 more coats of semi gloss polyurethane then distressed the legs and also sealed the chalk paint with polyurethane.

Although this didn’t turn out as I visioned I am really happy with it. Stensiling is an easy way to add a little something to a piece you are painting.

I would love to hear what you think of this fun bench.

Thanks for taking a look at my blog!

Cindy

Milk Paint first impressions

I’m excited to tell you about my first experience with Milk Paint. I have been painting furniture with Chalk Paint for several years and I love it. But I decided it was time to try something new. Honestly I love the shabby chic look as well as the farm house style and Milk Paint fits the bill for both.

I have a booth at All Fixed Up in Lehi Utah where I sell my pieces and for a long time the store only sold Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and so we only painted pieces with ASCP. But several months ago the store started selling Sweet Pickins Milk Paint. So this week I brought home a sample of Sweet Pickins Sweetie Jane. This little shelf seemed the perfect candidate for a Milk Paint make over. Here’s the before picture.

I cleaned it up and started mixing the Milk Paint. It comes in a powder and needs to be mixed with equal parts water to powder. I read on the Sweet Pickins Furniture blog that warm water is best for mixing the paint.

This package had 2 oz of powder so I added 2 oz of water. This is my first try at Milk Paint so I wasn’t sure what to expect but it seemed a bit too thick to me so I added a few more drops of  water until it felt like the right consistency to me. It went on smoothly and I was comfortable with how it was spreading so I went with that. The 2 oz covered this piece with one coat and I had just a small amount left. I only planned to put on one coat because I wanted this piece to have minimal coverage but I wouldn’t have had enough to do another coat if I had wanted to. This is what it looked like with one coat.

Like Chalk Paint, one coat does not completely cover. You can still see the brown finish showing through. I left the house for a few hours after painting this and when I got home it looked like this.

Lots of chippy goodness! 😃 I used a fine sandpaper and started lightly sanding. I’m going to tell you right now I didn’t do enough sanding. I will get to the wax I used in a moment but when I started waxing this I was getting a lot of paint chips still coming off. I think this piece may be unique in the sense that the original finish was chipping a lot. It was pulling off with the Milk Paint and by its self. Milk Paint has a way of deciding where it wants to stick and where it doesn’t want to stick. I will do another post on Milk Paint after I do another project with it and tell you how that one goes compared to this one. I’m curious to see how it will react on a different finish.

Anyhoo I resanded using a lot more pressure and a lot more of the Milk Paint came off. Which was what I wanted. 😊 There is a learning process with this paint just as there is with Chalk Paint. But both paints are very forgiving so mistakes are easy to fix.

There are a few different kinds of Finishes you can use over Milk Paint. Sweet Pickins has an oil wax and a cream wax and a few other finish product but for this I chose the cream wax. The oil wax has a mildly unpleasant smell that goes away once it’s applied and buffed but the cream wax smells like a mix or citrus and bubble gum. It goes on easy and smoothly and buffs off easily as well.

I used a lint free rag to put it on and buff it. I let it sit for 10-15 min before buffing it off. I was still getting some paint chips but for the most part it was the brown finish coming off. But after buffing the cream wax the paint was nice and smooth and beautiful. I let it sit for 24 hours to finish setting and I LOVE it! 😍 And no more chipping paint!

This looks like it came right out of an old farmhouse. I love that in some areas the paint chipped completely off. It makes this cute little shelf all sorts of interesting! I’m loving Sweet Pickins Milk Paint and I already bought more and am ready to try it on another piece. I will do another post soon and tell you more about this product and what I have learned about it. But I can tell you right now that you should try this yourself. This was really easy to use. There are lots of colors to chose from and I would suggest going to Sweet Pickins Furniture and see what she has to offer. I think I may try the oil wax on my next piece so I will share my experience with that as well.

Have you used Milk Paint before? Please leave a comment below and tell me your experience and I’d love your advice. If you have any questions about this or any of my other posts please leave a question in the comments.

Thanks for taking a look at my latest post! Hope you have a great day!

Cindy