I miss you, Dad

Today has been a bit of a blue day.  It's been 10 years since my father passed away.  My love for fine furniture came from him.  He and my grandfather opened their first furniture store in 1949.  I had the pleasure of working with my dad for 25 years.  I learned so much from him, and loved having that time with him.  He was a gentle and kind person.  Our business slogan was "Nice People, Nice Things".  Very hokie, eh?  That is who he was. 

I could write volumes on what he meant to me, but I'll keep it simple for now.  I miss you, Dad.

Ole WGP, Jr - March 12, 1923 - October 28, 2003

Layering, Distressing = Reloving

Veneer damage, carved out key holes and a marred, stained top were some of the scars left on this petite sized desk.

 She was old and looks like no one loved her for quite some time.  I’m never sure how I’ll transform a piece until I start to work.  The key holes had been deeply gauged and the locking mechanism was gone. I built up the holes with wood filler, deciding this would be a good location for the knobs.  I proceeded with some veneer repair, sanding, and cleaning.  By now, I have my vision. 

I’ve decided to give her some layers starting with a light coat of ASCP Old Ochre. 

You can see it is a thin coat…not intended to be full coverage.  I want some of the wood to come through.

I made sure to dry brush the legs and carved areas so that paint wouldn’t fill in the crevices.  Look at the fluting of the legs…no paint.  

The second coat was a mixture of Duck Egg, Paris Gray and Old Ochre.  Again, I didn’t apply this coat with a heavy hand.  I then distressed with 100 grit and 220 grit, depending on how rough or worn I wanted the area to look.

I applied a coat of clear wax and then some dark wax to show off the details.  I gave her a pair of crystal knobs…just to show she still has some sparkle!

I think using a few colors to layer really gave her such a lovely depth.   What technique do you use when applying multiple colors?  I’m always interested in learning from others, so I’ll hope you share!

Thank you for stopping by!

Robin

Linking up at:

Elizabeth & Co.

Redoux Interiors

Bassett French Chest

It's a new week and new project to share.  I apologize now for not having many "before" or "during" pictures.  I just get into the "zone" once I start and forget to grab my camera.  Forgive me, please?

This old gal appeared on CL and was currently residing in a thrift store in a rather low income part of town.  

Hmmm...a 30 minute ride to check out a French piece.  Let's go for it.  The faux painted finish was awful!  I'm not sure what your next steps are while inspecting a piece for purchase, but I go for the drawers...all four of them get yanked out.  Looking good:  dovetailed joints, wood on wood drawer guides.  I'm starting to warm up to the little lady.  Who made you?  

Ah...Old Bassett, not new Bassett.  RPK, what's the difference?  We carried 'old Bassett' in our family store back in the day.  Remember, I come from a furniture family...and quality was of the utmost importance to us.  We dropped the line in the early 70s as they started to take short cuts and their quality didn't meet our standards.  The red raised emblem is from "Old Bassett" when their quality was still good.

But as I am snooping through the drawers, there is tacky drawer liner glued down in some of the drawers.  And the little darling who owned this chest previously had a taken a magic marker and proclaimed her love to her boyfriends!  Yes, plural!  There were many "I love John, I love Bob, etc" notations on the inside of the drawers.  Oh my goodness.  And again, sorry about not having any pictures.  But you can imagine, right???

She was looking good...strong, good bones, so she came home with me.

The old hair dryer trick helped me remove the glued down drawer liner.  And Zip Strip, with some intense scrubbing helped remove all of "her proclaimed love"!  Ha!

I had been working with layering paints on other projects and decided to use a similar technique.  So after some serious sanding to smooth out the paint strokes from the tacky faux wood grain, my first layer was ASCP Old Ochre.  And then a custom mix of ASCP Duck Egg, Paris Gray, Old Ochre (ratio: 5:2:1).

Some distressing, clear wax...and enough chit chatting.  Let's get to the pictures!

This is the only shot I have of the drawers.  They cleaned up nicely...no more proclamation of love!

There she is all prettied up. Anna took her home and is awaiting for Baby to arrive!

Thanks for stopping by!

Robin

Linking up at:

Elizabeth & Co

Redoux Interiors

MissMustardseed

Finding Silver Pennies

Hepplewhite & Me

As I seek out classic pieces of furniture to relove, I occasionally bump into the beautiful style of Hepplewhite.  

What to do?  How to relove?  What’s my vision?  My best tool for thinking through a project is Pinterest.  I create boards based on the style of the item I’ve acquired.  It helps me start to visualize what might be. I got my inspiration from PB. 

This classic styled chest has a fresh updated look.  Love it.

I do have a passion for the beautiful grain of wood, especially mahogany.   I decided to strip the tops of these pieces and stain them with dark walnut.  Fortunately, I had all of the original hardware.  Old White base, some light distressing and MMS wax.  No dark wax…

Love the serpentine front and curved base.

How could I not try to save this top?  I think the wood is so beautiful.

The matching chest.

I had a similarly styled night stand in my stock.  You wanna see a before picture???

Not only was the tan paint color yucky, do you think it had enough stickers on it?  Check out the beautiful red drawer that came with it!

You wanna see the after???  

I couldn't get the drawers as pristine as I'd like, so I lined it with some lovely French script paper from FrenchCharmed.

I've enjoyed transforming these Hepplewhite pieces.  There were a few more dressers that came my way.  We became friends as I gave them my full RPK love, and have found them loving homes.

Thanks for stopping by.

Robin

Linking at:

Elizabeth & Co.

Redoux Interiors

MissMustardseed

Finding Silver Pennies

Stretching Beyond Your Comfort Zone

You are never too old to learn!  I started painting furniture not quite a year ago.  Since then, I have learned what blogs are, joined Facebook (yes, you read that correctly!  I just joined FB in April and have 170 Likes!  Ha!), tried to learn how to use a camera and I just got my first smart phone! WooHoo!  My brain is soooo stretched, but my hubby and two adult children have been amazing support and encouragement. I so appreciate all of their help!

Anyway, moving right along!  While a client was looking through my inventory, she fell in love with this older Thomasville buffet.

I’ve shied away from ‘custom’ work, but when she started discussing her vision for the piece, it was clearly in sync with mine.  She requested a bit of contrast around the doors, which is what took me out of my comfort zone.  I thought “Why not?”  What’s a little more stretching?????

After stripping the top, I could see it was in great shape and would be beautiful with a dark walnut stain.  For the base, I made a custom mix of ASCP Coco, Paris Gray and a smidge of an oops of Graphite and Coco leftover from another project.  Two coats took care of the base.  I used a wash of Old White all over to add a bit of depth and also used Old White in the inset of the doors and carved areas around the legs.  It really wasn’t that difficult painting the contrast.  It is more in the planning than the execution.

A coat of MissMustardSeed Clear Wax (and I’ll say it again…I love this wax!) and then a second coat of clear & dark wax mixed together.

This late 1950s/early 1960s buffet has now started its second life with a great young couple who are expecting their first child in a few months. 

Reloving furniture has brought so many young couples into my life…as they start their families, looking to create their first homes.  It has brought old & tired, classic pieces of furniture into my life…looking for a second start.  And it has brought a lot of new “firsts” into my life over the past year….and hopefully there will be lots more stretching. :)

When I began this journey, my slogan was “Breathing new life into old treasures”.  Little did I know then that I was the old treasure who would get a new life!

Thanks for stopping by!

Robin

Linking at:

Elizabeth & Co.

StoneGable

MissMustardSeed

Finding Silver Pennies

Layering Paint Colors

I’ve used washes to create depth, but this was my first attempt at using layers.  I’ve had this chest for a long time.  It was spray painted in white in the early 90s.  I loved the shabby /cottage look, even back then!  Ha!  However, it has been stored in our attic for many years.  After seeing so many lovely pieces painted with multiple layers, I thought this piece made a good candidate for trying that technique.

The original coat was white and in good condition (sorry no before pictures).  I added a base coat of Old Ochre (ASCP) and then a mixture of Provence/Florence with a smidge of Old White to soften the value.  A coat of clear wax (btw, I am loving MMS wax...so much easier than ASCP to apply and so silky smooth!) and then some highlights with dark wax.

There were so many pretty details brought out by painting this in multiple colors:

It didn't have the original hardware so I thought crystal knobs would add a bit of glam to this pretty lady.

I think it turned out well.  It was adopted in just a few days and now lives by the bay with Miriam 

Thanks for stopping by!

Robin

Linking up at:

StoneGable

MissMustardSeed

Redoux Interiors

Pretty French Buffet

I can't resist these buffets.  Old White, dark walnut stained top = lovely.

Not much to say about this one, but ah...so pretty.

Thanks for stopping by.

Robin