Busy week before Christmas

BEFORE

This week has been a busy one for me. This is a piece we just finished. Another Armoire This one needed a new back because the back had been cut out for a TV to fit through. Then we added a shelf to make it a nice linen press, or maybe a sweater cabinet.

AFTER

This is also the week that I took a class in Cabinet Finishes meaning mostly Kitchen cabinets, but furniture can't be that much different can it?

We did 5 different samples in one Day it wasn't a nice day here in Atlanta either so the products didn't dry as they should you will see what I mean in a couple of the samples.

The first one here is a metallic base which is very popular now. We put foil on the piece then put on crackle size waited for that to get tacky, then put on the crackle clear coat, this is where the humid misty day didn't help cause we couldn't put them out in the sun and it took a really long time to dry. After it was as dry as we could get it we put on a stain and rubbed it off. The parts that weren't quite dry rubbed off as well. boo.... lower left corner you can see what I am talking about, not much definition. Oh well you get the idea.

This next piece is very similar I tried to do a random crackle so I didn't put the crackle size all over. we let that get tacky then put the crackle medium all over it was clear and as it dried the cracks appeared. We then applied a stain different color from above. and wiped it off. Again the dry time was a problem. When I took it home there were no white areas around the crackle it was just two shades of brown. When it got home and really dried it continued to crack and the base coat which was off white came through. Not a look I like but interesting and it would be different if I would have been able to let it dry before I put the stain on it.


The one below is a sand stone finish. Could be used on columns or on a fireplace surround to get a stone look. It goes on in an almost white color when it is dry you sand it a bit to take off the sharp pieces. It gets a soft almost fur like feel. Also it is textured with pecan shells and the dark brown shells appear when you sand it, pretty cool. The instructor believed that we should stain this as well so this piece has two colors of stain. I would have left it the natural color.
The piece below is called embossed wood. We took a stencil and layed some Palette Deco in the stencil areas. Let that dry and then stained over it. I really liked the stain mixture we used for this piece the color was nice and the working time was great. I do believe I will be using this product again. The stain didn't really stick to the Palette Deco so it appears much lighter.The last piece we did was putting tissue paper over the wood then painting over that. Then when it was dry we dry brushed a silver over the top to catch in the folds of the paper. I had a bit of trouble understanding the instructions for the DRY brushing and made a few mistakes, in trying to fix them it just got worse!!! I get the idea but the sample is a bit of a mess. I will have to try it again and maybe stain over the top. I think it could look like leather. The top strip is painted red over the black and then silver dry brushed over that the next line is black with silver, the next one is plain red the next row is black with silver drybrushed over just the left side.



Perhaps the lunch I had with the other students was just as in lightening as the class. Two of the girls had their own business doing Faux Finishes. One does primarily murals and the other was doing kitchen Cabinets. Another gal did this as a hobby but had taken more classes and all were a wealth of information for internet sites to check out and places to buy things. I just learned so much. Thank you girls for all your sharing I spent the whole next day reading forums. I can't wait to get back to the shop and start using some of my new knowledge!!! It was a great early Christmas present !!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!!

twas just before christmas so the furniture had to be RED

My piece of the week. It is an old pine hutch two pieces. We did a bit of distressing before we even started. It had some nics and dings so a few more were called for, nothing like swinging a hammer to get the frustrations out!

As I stated its just before Christmas and the piece I did this week needed to be red. It seems to sell very well also. Heres hoping.

AFTER

We took the doors off of the top part it seemed a little dated with them on there. It really is a beautiful piece. Its painted red then we distressed it some more with sandpaper. Put a dark brown glaze over the red to tone down the brightness of the red, this also highlighted the sanded areas making them very dark almost black. We also painted the hardware to a dark oil rubbed bronze finish.

I am excited and I have to share.... as a Christmas present to myself, I am taking a faux painting class here in Atlanta this coming Friday. We are to learn different finishing techniques such as French antiquing, distressing and random crackle. I am looking forward to learning new things that I can bring back to the shop and to my clients.

Post Thanksgiving

This is the week after thanksgiving and I have a piece to show that was commissioned by a client :) Thats a good thing!
She had a mirror and a small bombay chest that she had found and wanted it to look like a picture she had found in a magazine. So with picture in hand I set out to make the change.

Before

Very Cute But not what she wanted.


After:

It was painted black and then tan at the corners sponge painted with two more colors a carmel and brown then I glazed the tan part. The mirror was black when I got it so I took the carved part and painted it tan and sponged and glazed the same as the chest.

Another piece that was finished is this one. It is a little hard to see cause it is wrapped in plastic. Thats how it arrived in the shop. But it is quite modern and in a blond finish.

Here is the after.

It is a very striking piece, painted brown then stenciled with pale blue up one side across the top and down the other side. Then the drawers have a raised center so we started the stencil on the raised part of the top drawer and moved it down at each raised part. the two doors used only the center of the stencil. The outer edge of the drawers were painted with the blue then glazed with a brown.

Thats it for this week. Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving

This is the project for last week. It took most of the week. The piece was not too pretty when it came in but I think we fixed it up pretty nicely.

This is the before.

This is after.

This is the close up of the cool knobs that we found at Hobby Lobby.

This week, being a short week I am doing a special project for a client and will post that picture soon.

Some odds and ends

This week has been very busy and not just with the shop and painting furniture. My mom has come to spend the winter with us. I have a new helper at the shop to paint the furniture with me, and I had some women from a church craft booth at the shop to learn how to paint the furniture.

Here are a couple of pieces that did manage to get done.

This is part of an old wardrobe closet. The poor piece practically fell apart. We still have the top and bottom waiting for inspiration to strike. It had two mirrored doors, one was damaged beyond repair. This is the other one as you can see in the above picture it also needed some love. ie: glue and a couple of clamps. We painted it off white and distressed it. I love the little keyhole on the one side.

This piece is a cute little desk. Very nice in oak and all but it didn't sell. Till we painted it then we couldn't get it on the floor fast enough. Everyone who saw it as I was painting it wanted it. Including me!

We added glass knobs to it to make it more dainty. It sold very quickly.

This one almost did me in

This set includes a hutch, 6 chairs and a table with a leaf. It is what we would call Blonde about 30 years ago. I think it is that old too. It is in very good shape though and the hutch has a light with two glass shelves.
As you can see below in the after picture,
we painted it yellow then distressed it a bit and glazed it.

In this picture above you can see the two back legs have already been painted yellow, it is actually not a very attractive color yellow when it is first painted kind of harsh. We didn't do anything to the top of the table. Unfortunately the colors didn't turn out very accurate it does actually all match. The color of the hutch is more of an accurate color than the after picture below of the table and chairs which is already out on the floor.

We found some awesome fabric at Hobby Lobby to recover the chair seats as well.
I do not believe I will be doing a large project such as this for a very long time, I can't even tell you how many hours I put in on it. I am glad it is done.
There are about 6 pieces in the back room waiting to be done, we have Lots of Ideas for each and everyone!! Can't wait.

Update of the sad Armoire

Just an update and some pictures.

The Black Armoire Sold today!! Yippie I was excited.

I am working on a huge project last week and this week. Table, chairs, and a hutch. No pictures yet of those.

But I have another picture of the green bedroom set. We had a decorator come into the shop and "arranged some things" It looks amazing.

Then there is this picture of the most recent table and chairs. Didn't have a before picture of any of it. But I bet you can guess it was a cherry table and chairs. The table top was painted yellow and then glazed, we had a wonderful woman volunteer to redo the seat cushions as well.

The 5 piece Bedroom Set

This bedroom set, Dresser, 2 nightstands, headboard and mirror were donated to our little establishment, Treasures. If you look at it closely you may see why........
Notice the Yellow tinge to all the pieces... yup its cigarette smoke it was just covered with it. One night stand in particular was just solid must have been the side the smoker slept on. Can you imagine. Well we cleaned it up then painted it a nice sage green. Antiqued it with colored wax and.............

We are quite proud of the outcome.

Three different people have put it on hold but no takers so far.

Sold in 5 hours!!!

This weary piece was found at our local thrift store for 35 dollars. It had wonderful potential and is solid mahogany.
I cleaned it up and glued some areas. Then painted the case a very dark brown, the drawers and a part of the top aqua blue. When that was dry I stenciled with a tan and Ivory overlay.
When the stenciling was dry I put a glaze over the top. Waxed it and put the hardware back on. This a picture of it out on the floor. We put it out at noon and it sold for 495.00 by 5pm the same day!!! It is a beautiful piece and I hope the people that bought it enjoy it as much as I enjoyed painting it. What a wonderful way to give an old piece a whole new life.

The sad "big" Armoire

Here is a very sad piece of furniture we salvaged from our local Goodwill store. As you can see it is missing a knob and face plate on the lower right hand door. What you can't see is that its crown molding on the upper left is off but still there and one of the drawers behind the lower doors has completely come apart.


Here is the after. We repaired all the broken pieces, replaced the upper back because of the hole. Left the pole for the hanging of clothes, left the shelf if someone wanted it, and then wallpapered the interior. I used the original knobs without the face plates and painted them oil rubbed bronze. We had another knob at the shop for the missing one! How convenient!!

Its now on the store floor for sale. Very Happy indeed it fits right in with our other items on the floor.

Hutch Redesign

Before:

After: