Monday, November 28, 2011

The Adventure Continues …The Big Reveal

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, now finally for the Big Reveal!

Here is the third installment of my wonderful Client and her big ideas for me….  The big reveal after the presentation. 
She had a small table she had bought ..where else but at our resale consignment store.  (she shops there a-lot!)  She thought it would be a great before and after for her group to actually see a piece of furniture all done.  I agreed and brought it home to work my magic. 
Here is the before..yes I did remember to take one because she wanted big pictures to pass around so everyone could see the piece before it was painted.
DonnaConroystable9WDonnastable11wIt really was lovely just wasn’t right for her decor she wanted this piece white, distressed and waxed to highlight all the detail of the piece. 
Here she is on top of my assistant being painted and just spinning for all she is worth..
assistant2
Here she is under-wraps so to speak  she is that big yellow blob at the end of the table.
photo(8)
Here she is all done.
DConroys TAbleW
Donnas table W
I did not get a picture of the big reveal at the presentation, but here she is in all her glory at her final destination..

after4w
another view..
after5w
The end of the big adventure, until she comes up with another piece for me to paint, which she has already hinted at ..
Until next time have a great week!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

The Adventure Continues….

My client wanted me to present a program to her women's group about how to paint furniture.  As I mentioned in the previous post I usually do a presentation where I actually do the work and you watch.  Which takes 2 hours and they didn’t have that much time.  So when I said I would do this I knew I needed props to show just what each step looked like with out the mess. 
My idea was to get picture frames from the thrift stores, hopefully ones that had some lots of detail to them.  I would take out the glass or mirror which ever they came with and paint that with chalkboard paint.  Then I would tape off one corner of each frame so they could see what it started out as.  I had 5 frames.  I did each step on one and displayed them on picture easels.  I set them up on the table with the products right behind each step so as I talked about the step I could show the result and show the product that I use.  The cleaner, The deglosser,   How one coat looks apposed to two…(hint better :)
photo(6)
The Distressing with Sander and sand paper, The clear and dark wax,photo(5) 
The glaze,  and the Polyurethane, I also showed on the smaller frame in front how to not distress if the underneath was not attractive and use Rub ‘n Buff instead to highlight.photo(2)
I also brought along my different color samples that are my go to basic colors. The small samples are my Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Colors. 
photo(10) Here it is all together. 
photo(8)
There were 28 people there and they served a fantastic lunch before hand.  If any of them are reading this I do Thank you for the lunch, it was some of the best food ever, all in one place!

Notice the yellow round thing draped a the end,  that is my “ assistant” holding up what my client thought would be a GREAT before and after.  A table that she provided me with to paint and distress….. more of that next time…

Sunday, November 13, 2011

The Start of an Adventure

I have started work for a very interesting client.  She is a wonderful lady with so many ideas, she is a whirlwind and takes you along for the ride. 
We have a history that I was not quite aware of, she is a client at the store where I volunteer.  She has purchased quite a few of my painted pieces from the store. But when she called me to paint her kitchen cabinets I said no. That was a few months ago.  She called again a couple of weeks ago and asked If I would paint her kitchen Island.  Well I have done a few bathroom vanities' and it wasn’t so bad ( the whole kitchen  is too much work for me) I said I would come look at it, give her a price and help her pick a color. 
Here is the before picture…I had samples of a green, yellow, white, red, and black.  We at first thought black would be too much because her appliances were black, and we were leaning towards the green.
Dconroys islandw
In the end she picked black (which in hindsight was the correct choice) and wanted it distressed.  So off to work I went.  I cleaned, I deglossed then I painted two coats of Behr Premium “Black (Forever).  I took the doors and drawers home with me gave them two coats and did the distressing and waxing at my house.  I took them back and put them back on the island and here is the result.

island picw
I have recently seen another blogger who did her island, it had so much more detail because she had the door fronts all around.  My project looks rather plain in comparison, but I does look really good in my clients  kitchen,  It makes the island stand out and be different.  Don’t you love her knobs.  She does love the glitz.  :)

The reason I said in the beginning that she takes you on a ride is because when I was at her house working, she mentioned that she belongs to  a women's group that meets once a month and she was in charge of the program for Nov.   Would I come and give a presentation on how to paint furniture.  hmmmm  I have done this at the store a few times but it is a program where I actually do the work and you would watch.  That takes about 2 hours.  They didn’t have that much time so a 45 min short version would be in order. 
I know that is the BEST and cheapest way to market yourself so I said I would do it…..

Stay tuned for the presentation…

Friday, November 4, 2011

Fit For Royalty

I found these two chairs at Goodwill.  I was really excited about them I thought they had real potential.  I had an idea of what I wanted them to look like, it took me awhile to find just the right fabric.
DSC05602w
Here is what they started out as…….Gold with Black embossed fabric, very faded.

Italian Chair before W
Here it is after I took off all the upholstery.  I can not tell you how many staples were in this chair it took hours to get them all out. 

Italian Chair mid W
Now I was ready to paint.  First I painted them Annie Slones Louis Blue that I had cut 50/50 with white. Then I painted them with Annie Sloans Old White.  Distressed them down to the gold showing through and Glazed them with a brown glaze.

DSC05616W

DSC05607w

DSC05615w
DSC05609w
Now for the unexpected………

DSC05603w   
Yes that is right a little leopard print on the back!

DSC05604w

DSC05602w
There you have it the King and Queen Chairs! 

Have a Great Weekend Everyone!



Linking up here:
Friday Redoux
Furniture Feature Friday 
Funky Junk Interiors SNS Party 
Sunday Blog Love 
Best of the Best Weekend roundup 
Sew Darn Crafty Party 
Mod Mix Monday
 Meet me on Mondays
Weekend Warrior Link Party
Sunday Showcase Party
Shades of Amber Chalk Paint Party

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Dresser and Nightstands

DSC05521
This dresser along with two nightstands again was found at another thrift store in my area.  I tell you I have one day a week that I go out and the thrift stores are in about a 5 mile stretch down one highway I start on my right and hit two then go a bit further south and turn into one on the left then come back up the highway and hit two more!  Very convenient of them I must say to put them all in a row for me. ;)

The furniture started out like this:

photo(7)
photo(6)
Pretty  awful I might say.  The tops were really bad.  It is the same brand as the one I did for my neighbor you can see here.  The top of that one was really messed up too.  I sanded them all really good and then went to work painting them Black my go to Behr Premium with the Primer already in it. Called Black (Forever).  It goes on almost a navy blue but dries the truest black I have ever seen.

DSC05521watermark
DSC05522watermark
Hope you enjoyed my project of the week