Monthly Archives: November 2016

TIP OF THE WEEK: November 12, 2016 – DIY ANTIQUING WAX

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For previous TIP OF THE WEEK click here.

Those who know us, know we recommend using toulene-free Briwax with Missouri Limestone Paint Company’s chalk-based paint.  It is so nice and buttery and goes on smoothly.  It rubs in well.  Then, with just a bit of buffing, you get a nice soft sheen.  Briwax does not take a lot of elbow grease and that’s always good.

Briwax does sell dark wax and we can and do get it.  It is great for a uniform color and if you have a very large project or do a lot of distressing with dark wax to get an antique look.  The consistency is a little different than the clear.  It goes into a liquid phase much quicker than the clear.  However, a few minutes in the refrigerator and you are back to a solid again.  This is normal, so don’t worry if your dark wax turns liquid.  Briwax also sells a liming wax.  I talked about liming wax in a previous Tip of the Week, when I did a tutorial on getting the restoration hardware look. Liming wax looks great over colors when you want to get that white washed beachy look.  I would not use it in bathrooms or kitchens, however.  For those areas, I would just thin down some white paint with water and do a wash.  Brush it on and wipe it off, then poly.

A good rule to follow when using any kind of antiquing wax – USE CLEAR WAX FIRST!  The reason is the clear wax base allows you to move the antiquing wax around more to get the look you want.  If you get too much just use a little more clear wax to wipe it off.  Without the clear wax, you won’t be able to work it as much and may not be happy with the final results.

Update:  It is very important to use Clear wax first on light colors.  On dark colors, however, I recently came across a tutorial in which clear wax isn’t applied first but in conjunction with the dark wax.  This produced beautiful results.  Keep in mind, you are still applying the clear wax before the dark wax has a chance to dry. https://sharsumpaint.com/2017/08/13/the-best-blackdark-wax-over-chalk-paint-tutorial-ever-by-jan-brown-kissick/

You also may not want to purchase a large can of dark wax or liming wax for just a small project or if you are experimenting with distressing techniques.  This is where this DIY tip comes in.  You can make your own antiquing wax with clear, toulene-free Briwax and any color of Missouri Limestone Painting Company (MLPC) paint you choose.  For liming wax I use “January” but I’ve made  antiquing wax with “French Roast” and “Grey Goose”, too. Can you use other waxes or paint?  I suppose, but I don’t sell those.  I stick to only what I like and use myself.

There is no scientific mix thing you need to know.  This is pretty simple.  I take about 2 Tablespoons of Briwax and mix in about 1 Tablespoon of MLPC.  Stir it well.  That’s it!  That’s all there is to it.  You can apply with a rag or brush. REMEMBER:  A clear coat of Briwax goes on first.  A tip I learned is to take one of the cheap chip brushes and cut about an inch off it.  You’ll then have a pretty sturdy, stumpy brush.  Applying your wax with this stumpy brush will let you dab it into all the nooks and crannies and move it around really well.  Make sure you don’t use too much and that you rub it in well.  You don’t want to have too much wax.  Let it dry for a bit and then buff.  Then apply your antiquing wax in the same way.  Work it around to get the look you are going for.  Then let it dry and buff.

That’s it!  This DIY tip is a great way for you to practice.  Go on….try it. It’s fun to distress with antiquing wax.

NOTE:  When using wax, you cannot seal it with poly after.  The poly does not work well on top of wax.  Remember the alphabet.  W is after P.  If you choose, you can apply a coat of wax over the poly.  Some people like to do that as wax helps repel dust.  But that is just a personal preference.  Poly is fine all by itself.

Electrical Spool Redefined as a Coffee Table/Bookcase

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We’ve all seen these…..those spools in the hardware store that hold electrical wiring, etc.  You may not realize that at stores like Lowe’s (at least in my town) you can put your name on a list to get one of these for next to nothing.

Then, once you have one…..what to do with it?  I recently, thanks to my son’s father-in-law, received one.  It was a smaller one, the perfect size!  I forgot to take a picture of mine before the redefine, but it looked similar to this one…especially the top.  The bottom had 4 holes around the perimeter that matched the 4 top holes.

electrical-spool2

A quick search on the internet “electrical spool DIY” produce quite a few results.  One of the ideas I ran across was to make a coffee table/bookcase.  I loved that idea.  I also knew I wanted to keep all the imperfections in the spool so I chose not to sand mine.  My project was going to be to redefine my spool into a shabby/chic coffeetable/bookcase perfect for a lake house.  Why not beach house?  We live closer to a lake rather than an ocean and I think one that says lake house would sell much better….more market for a lake house table.  LOL

It’s a little difficult to see from the photo above but there are 4 washers and screws on the top.  I also decided to leave them as is and not paint them.  I did clean them good as they were kind of oily.  Now, onto creating my table.  Here’s the inspiration piece I found.

spoolbookcase_inspiration

Off to Lowe’s we went to purchase dowel rods….oops…stumbling block.  They had the perfect size dowel rod, but at over $6 a rod and we need 4 of them, that meant over $24 just for the rods to create the bookcase part.  Nope….that wasn’t going to happen.  So, we put on our thinking caps and decided pvc pipe was the way to go and off to the plumbing department we went.  They had a long piece that would make 4 the size we needed for a little over $3 for the piece.  Yes…..pvc pipe it is.  However, there was printing in black up one side.  We knew from experience that wouldn’t wash off.  So, off to the paint department we went.  We found a can of spray paint for plastic for about $6.  I knew I would use this again, so we purchased it and were on our way home.

The first thing Danny (my handyman husband) did was cut the pvc into 4 pieces just about the right length and then sanded out the existing 4 holes around the edge so the pvc pipe would fit.  It was just a bit too snug.  It didn’t take long and soon our bookcase supports were in place.  He then sawed them off even with the top of the spool.  We took them out again and gave them one coat of the spray paint for plastic.  (I wanted to have that base coat so that the chalk-based paint I would be applying later would have a good bond).

While that paint was drying, Danny turned the table over and added some wood on the bottom to create a stable base.  There were washers and nuts on the bottom, too, so without that (or casters – which were more expensive than I wanted) this worked out fine.  He made kind of an X pattern with the wood that fit around the nuts and washers.  He made one long piece and then two shorter pieces that formed the X and screwed them in place.  He also added on each edge, those little things you put on the bottom of furniture to keep it from scratching floors.  The ones he used were round and had what looks like carpet pieces on them that you tap into place.

I was now ready to paint the spool and bookcase supports with Missouri LImestone Paint Company’s (MLPC) chalk-based paint – “Front Porch”.  We put the supports back in and for good measure, Danny added a small screw on the inside of each one to make sure they stayed in place.  But they were a good type fit as he pounded them in with a rubber hammer so I don’t think they were going to go anywhere. I gave the whole thing one coat, allowing a little of the wood to peek through if it wanted to.  On the supports I also only used one coat.  A lot of the white showed through, but I liked that.  It looked like the front page color was just a wash over them and it created a nice effect.

Note:  All the other hole in the top of the table we left open, including the pvc pipe holes.  In interesting thing to note is at the bottom of the spool column there is a little hoe shaped like an upside down U.  I saw one idea that someone draped white Christmas lights down the big middle hole.  The plug would easily come through that little upside down U hole and you could plug them in.  That would make a nice effect at night.

After the paint dried, I cut a stencil from my Silhouette machine and stenciled “Lake House” on the top using MLPC “Sunday Silver” color.

The final step was mixing up some liming wax by adding some MLPC “January” to some Briwax and giving the whole thing a coat of wax….let it dry for a bit and buffed it.  I loved the effect of the liming wax.  The redefine was complete.  We are taking it to our storage unit “PopUp Shop” this morning.  Fingers crossed that it sells!  If not, I’ve posted it on Facebook’s marketplace and several local facebook swap shops, so hopefully it will sell on one of those if not today.

spooltable

A Custom Painted Wardrobe & Dresser

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We purchased a Waterfall type wardrobe and dresser, but didn’t have a clue how we wanted to paint them.  I posted them on a couple of selling sites as is and offered to custom paint them.  Someone who had a vision loved them and knew exactly what she wanted them to look like.  And so the process to transform these pieces with good bones but needing a lot of work was begun.

wardrobeanddresseroriginal

She had seen a chest I had painted gray and with drawers left original.  The dresser drawers were in good enough shape that this would be possible to do.  So, we had a plan and started with that piece.

All the original pulls were there but they needed some restoration. I had found a product I loved called Rub n Buff.  I chose to use Antique Copper on the hardware and the result was amazing! This is a good video tutorial on Rub n Buff.  After  I buffed the dresser hardware, I sealed it with a couple of coats of water-based polyurethane to keep them looking good.rubnbuffhardware

Then came the transformation of the dresser.  I used Missouri Limestone Paint Company’s chalk-based paint “Gray Goose” on the base.  Due to the dark color and the old wood, I chose to then use a couple of coats of Minwax’s Sanding Sealer, sanding in between coats to even out the finish.  I applied 3 coats of Varanthane’s water-based satin polyurethane to seal and the finish dresseroriginalwas smooth as glass.

For the mirror and drawers I was able to keep the original wood.  I brought out the beauty of the wood with a couple of coats of Varathane’s water-based stain and sealer.  They turned out beautiful.

dresserfinished

Next up was the wardrobe.  My customer found an awesome inspiration piece on Pinterest.  I painted the outside of the wardrobe and the drawer fronts with Missouri Limestone Paint’s chalk-based paint with “Trading Post”, a beautiful turquoise.  The drawers and the inside of the wardrobe were painted with “Field Corn”, a bright yellow.

The inside of the inspiration piece had a dandelion decal.  We were able to find the same exact decal on Amazon.  I researched and found it was best to seal the decal with Modpodge.  I used two coats of Modpodge on the decals then sealed everything with 3 coats of Varathane’s water-based satin polyurethane.  I did not use the sanding sealer on the lighter color paint.  I also used Rub n Buff on the hardware.

This before awardrobeoriginalnd after restoration project is absolutely stunning.  This one is going to its new home today and now I can’t wait to start a new project.
wardrobefinished

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

wardrobefinished1

TIP OF THE WEEK: November 3, 2016 – Steampunk Decor – Who Knew?

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For previous TIP OF THE WEEK click here.

I have to admit, before I started painting furniture I had never heard of Steampunk or Steampunk Decor.

steam·punk
ˈstēmˌpəNGk/
noun
a genre of science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery rather than advanced technology.

Steampunk incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk decor will then have elements of machinery and the elegance of 19th century design.

I found this article does a great job of explaining Steampunk and Steampunk Decor.

http://www.impressiveinteriordesign.com/steampunk-interior-design-style-decorating-ideas/

Here’s what came up with a Google Search on Steampunk Decor.  Browse through some of these links to get an idea of the look.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=steampunk%20decor 

For previous TIP OF THE WEEK, click here.

Why am I so interested in learning more about this unusual interior design? I have a customer who really likes this and looks for pieces that will fit. So, I made it my business to find out…and you know what? It’s pretty fascinating stuff.

I’ve done a couple of pieces now for him. I call it a Steampunk type look. Not exactly the real deal, but reminiscent of true Steampunk.

The first piece was a marble top coffee table. The middle piece of marble was missing and had been replaced with glass. I painted the table black and bought a piece of fabric from Jo-Ann’s which featured some of the colors of Steampunk and included images of a map, post office stamps, etc. I covered a thin board and stapled it on the back. I put it under the glass (it fit fine as with the board and the glass, the width was just about the same as the original marble and ended up with a cool, Steampunk look coffee table.

steampunktablesteampunktable11

Then, this cool clock came to me through a friend and I thought it would really be a statement piece. I painted it black and an out of date nautical clock has now been elevated to a Steampunk look. My customer loved it and purchased it on the spot.
nautical-clock

I’m kind of liking this Steampunk Decor.