A Lesson Learned

Happy Holidays everyone!  I hope you are all in the holiday spirit, I know I will be in about two more days. I've been working on a never ending custom job & it is nearly finished. Then I'll get into the Holiday swing.

Early in the spring a family friend gave us a very dated dining set. It was a table, four chairs & a buffet. I already showed you the buffet, you can read about it here.  The table is big & heavy & the chairs have that cane back. Two of the chairs had big holes punched in the caning.  Here is a picture of one of the chairs:

It was going to be impossible to repair & to expensive to replace, so I went with plan B.  I'm getting ahead of myself here, we first painted them Old White to match the buffet & did a clear wax on them. Here is the only before picture I have of the table (base), unfortunately I had already put one coat on it before I remembered to take the picture.

Now the dilemma with the chairs. I remembered Miss Mustard Seed had upholstered a caned back chair & used her tutorial as my guide, you can read about it here.  We went to our local upholstery shop & got some great advice on cost effective material & some tricks of the trade. My Mom & I plan on taking an upholstery class after the holidays, my hubby said he'd like to take it too. It'd be nice to know exactly what we are doing when it comes to this upholstery stuff.  Anyway, we used drop cloth fabric on the chairs. I of course had to add a graphic to the seat.  I seen the perfect one at The Graphics Fairy & added it to all four chairs. Here is how they turned out.



Front



Back

Don't you just love that scrolly detail.....

Compliments of The Graphics Fairy!

 All four in their new look....

I love the contrast of the white Gimp against the tan fabric, it really gives it that finished look.

One last look at all that hard work, approximately 25,000 staples & 500 glue sticks later....



Sold



Finally a complete set. They look pretty good together, don't you think!? We learned alot from doing this project. First, Don't be afraid of the unknown, do your homework & it's not so intimidating. Second, Get advice when you need it, makes the job so much easier. Third, once you've finished your project the next one will seem so do-able.  I hope this gives you some inspiration to give your scary project a try.  I'd love to hear about it.

 Thanks for visiting & take time to enjoy the Holidays!! Dee

One Ugly Buffet

In the last week we have had Summer, Fall & Winter here in Michigan. Just last Monday my Mom & I were painting in my driveway in beautiful Sunny 75 degree weather. Now as I look out my window at my driveway all I see is a windy rain/sleet/snow mix kind of day. Yuck! That's Michigan weather for you. I guess I'll have to go back to painting in the basement.

Early in the spring this year a family member gave us a Dining table, four chairs & one ugly buffet. Thanks Scott & Rhonda! They were elated to find someone to take it off their hands. This is not the most attractive dining set on the planet.  It's from the early 80's, maybe even the mid 70's. It's that very heavy, chunky real ornate style. This always looks better painted. We started with the buffet. Here is a before picture:

This is my Mom giving it a good cleaning. This buffet has a "Marble" like stone top that was very scratched & dull. Just look at those enormous handles. What were they thinking? They look big enough to open a twelve foot door! They are almost Gothic looking. We removed them & filled the holes, I figured anything I replaced them with would have to look better then this.

After a good cleaning we gave it two coats of Old White & two coats of clear wax. I wanted to brighten/lighten up this heavy look. Once the painting & waxing was done we had some primping still to do on this piece.  The top was scrubbed & polished clean. We went to Hobby Lobby & found the perfect knobs to replace the old Gothic ones.  Here is the after picture:



Available at Sassy Fabrics (V Trading) in Grand Blanc, MI



So much better! We distressed it to enhance all the detail. Here is a shot of the "Marble" top:

The inside got alittle attention too.

We decoupaged the inside of the drawer & the shelf...

This has become my go to alternative to contact paper. I love how it looks. It's a graphic of a Vintage French script from The Graphics Fairy. I printed it on stock paper & cut it to the size I needed. I've used it recently here on a desk we finished last month....

and on a mirror/key holder organizer..



Available at Collette's Vintage & Antique Mall in Burton, MI



This one I added some other graphics on top of the script. This is in our booth at Collette's Vintage & Antique Mall.

When I first seen this buffet I thought to myself "That is one ugly buffet". Now with a new paint job & hardware I think the buffet turned out beautiful. We also painted the table & chairs but I'll show you those later. The chairs need major upholstery work. 

I hope you enjoyed your visit. I love to read your comments. Have a Happy & Safe Halloween.  Dee



"Sandy" the Buffet

Last month I received an email from a very nice lady looking to have a buffet she just purchased painted. I was very excited because I knew the piece she was talking about. She purchased it from one of the places I consign with, Not 2 Shabby. I've been wanting to paint this style buffet for awhile now.

We decided on a beautiful butter yellow called "Wheatfield" by Benjamin Moore.  She wanted red, but after looking at the colors in her diningroom, we decided on a brighter color. Here's the before pictures:

 

You'll have to excuse my messy basement, it's to cold here in Michigan to paint outside or even in the garage. My basement is so small that it's hard to get a good picture down there let alone paint a piece this large.

Beautiful details.

I couldn't wait to get started. I mixed up my DIY chalk paint & got started.  Here she is with two fresh coats of paint.



I remembered to snap this shot right after I started glazing. I have this bottomless bucket of dark brown glaze leftover from my faux finishing days. You can see just a peek of it at the bottom of this picture.

 

Here you can see how nicely the glaze makes the details really pop.

Especially on the doors. Love that detail.



After the glaze had a couple of days to dry it was time to distress & wax. I did a couple of coats of clear wax, then buffed to perfection. 

I added the hardware. It also got a facelift.

I took several pictures of her in her new home, since my basement is to dark & small to get a decent picture.

Shabbylisious legs.

Sighhhhh............

My client was so happy with her new look & so am I. Have you painted one of these beautiful buffets? I would love to hear what color you painted yours.  Thanks for visiting & have a great day!  Dee