Working on an Art Deco Dresser

We’ve been working on an Art Deco dresser. Danny has taken it all apart and is rebuilding it. It is going to be beautiful! The detail is so pretty! But the drawer pulls are spectacular! They were so worn and discolored but still all in one piece. The red Bakelite inserts are in perfect shape and by themselves are valuable. I cleaned them, scrubbed them with Bar Keepers Friend, then waxed them and applied gold leaf RubnBuff. They are amazing!

The dresser had been painted in an earlier life. The only thing now is to decide what color to paint it. My thought right now is to paint it a bluish green color with our Missouri Limestone Paint Company chalk paint color we named “Something Blue”. Then highlight the details on the front, the trim on the back of the top, and the feet with gold leaf RubnBuff.

Projects in January – 1st through the 20th, 2023

Still busy creating so I haven’t had time to post how we did some of these projects. Here they are, though, for inspiration for you.

This is a vignette I put together for winter decor. I had a Christmas transfer on one side of this pitcher and a winter one on the other. I turned it around and added some branches from a tree in my yard then added lights. I made the snowman last year and added the Winter sign I’ve had for a long time.

Danny cut this cute gnome out of a scrap piece of plywood, drew the details and painted and sealed him. He added some stakes so we can put him in the pot’s dirt.

I crocheted another bunch of hats to sell to a friend’s daughter. She adds them to the baskets of herbal remedies she sells.

And more crochet… which begat more crochet that I’m still working on. I made a couple of gnome towel rings. I had made some boho type ones for a couple of friends and then decided to find a pattern for making more. I’ve sold 10 so far of them.

And then I saw a post for a group called Random Acts of Crochet Kindness and cute little worry worms to make and spread around town so I had to make some of those. I plan on making more later on. But I figured out a way to make a cute Valentine one for kids and ended up with 86 orders. Still working on those.

Then my cousin sent me a video of someone crocheting a woven heart. I had to find the tutorial and make one. Then I saw a video on making a heart with wine corks so I had to do that, too. And then someone else told me about decoupaging on a candle with wax paper. Yep! I had to do that, too. I’ve used the hot iron method with parchment paper before, but not on a candle. Worked like a charm. And the little tag- I wrote love on it with a s or h marker and burned it and then painted it. That worked, too.

Whew! I’m getting tired just typing all we’ve done so far this month. But wait! There’s more!

And then came a couple of jewelry boxes. I have a huge stash of them but haven’t painted any in awhile. These sold quickly so plan on painting ring more soon.

I saw an idea for a date night jar on Pinterest. This is my version. Jar from Dollar Tree. I painted the glass lid. If you spray glass with a clear sealer first, chalk paint will adhere well.

I don’t have staged pics of this beautiful library table. It is going to one of our booths this week. Danny sanded the top. I stained it with a w at teenaged stain. It has five coats of Varathane Crystal Clear Water based polyurethane in matte finish. The rest is painted with our Missouri Limestone Paint Company “Cupboard Green” and sealed. I love how it turned out.

Danny created this white washed hanging rack from a vintage ladder.

Another project is this gorgeous half table console. This is a long description but hopefully will inspire those who like boho with some ideas. I think this is one of my most favorite projects ever. I had so much fun with it.

We’ve had this table (and matching lamps) since soon after we built our house in 1985. Holy cow! That was 38 years ago!! The other day, I decided we didn’t need them anymore so decided to paint them. Danny suggested painting the top with our Missouri Limestone Paint Company “Bourbon Street”, a dark teal color. I thought Rustoleum metallic gold on the metal legs would look good with the teal. I also painted the metal on the lamps with it. They all turned out gorgeous!

Then, when I showed the table to a friend, she said I should style it as a boho piece. I agreed.

So pretty much all day today, I have been creating items for it to sell from things I have in my supplies:

1) Picture frame: gifted by a neighbor- funny thing, my mom had our pictures in frames almost exactly like this growing up. The back is velvet. It can still stand up, but it makes a great tray, too. This frame is old!
2) This awesome fabric which was once valances with bead trim, was gifted by a friend. I’ve already used it as a curtain, as you can see, to hide Danny’s power tools and to create a little boho hanging. Lol I simply put a piece of the fabric under the glass of the picture frame for an instant boho tray!
3) A bowl of boho goodness. I had all the ingredients including this cute wood bowl I thrifted. I just added the beads around it for a true boho style. It took me a good bit to figure out how to do it to look finished, then decided to rip it out (it was sewn in with nylon thread). But when I got it all out, it was attached to this beautiful piece of fabric tape in this awesome color! I just hot glued it around the bowl!
4) Picture frame: gifted by the same neighbor: I did a line drawing on the glass of similar leaves in the table and put a piece of scrapbook paper behind it in a coordinating color and now have a boho print!
5) Bottle of peacock feathers: the bottle I think came with fragrance oil and bamboo sticks at some point. I did paint the lid that sits around it metallic gold this morning. I’m pretty sure I picked up the peacock feathers at a yard sale.

And then, we came up with a few more boho accessories.

And when we found this mirror shopping, we knew we had to get it! Danny painstakingly covered all the mirrors. I painted it metallic gold and then he removed all the tape. I cleaned it and….it is just stunning!

We also found this cute little kid’s drawing table. We added a couple of stools to it and took it to our booth at Sweet Repeats in Sullivan.

The wood base on this candle holder is a bed riser I turned upside down and painted. the dish for the candle is a vintage ashtray.

Coming up…. Danny is working on a new project. We are busy figuring out a way to make a table top for it. Stay tuned!

You probably wouldn’t want to use both lamps on the table, but maybe in the same room would be perfect!

Saving an Awesome Coffee Table from the Dead

What a makeover! This awesome slate topped huge coffee table was a custom job. We brought it back from the dead as it was in pretty rough shape with a finish that was the old thick rough and nasty varnish. Prepping is definitely the key! Quite the project, right? But once we finish, it will be perfect in the young person’s apartment (once moving day occurs). For now, it will go in mom and dad’s basement family room and still be used by young people. 🙂

The first thing you need to do is spend some time contemplating how to remove the top. Oh, and to find a place to store the slate top until needed again. No problem, it resided under our living room couch until needed. 🙂

It looks like there are screws. I think we will remove the top to make it easier to paint and to see if any repairs are needed. After many minutes of contemplating, the screws were removed. The only repair needed actually was one section on the bottom needed some glue.

The top sanded easily to get it smooth enough to paint. A good cleaning and two coats of our Missouri Limestone Paint Company chalk-style paint “Coal Shovel” and two coats of Varathane Crystal clear water based polyurethane in satin finish later, it was ready for curing.

The top is looking great!

Sanding the bottom piece wasn’t working at all. Danny got a good amount off with stripper, then I did another round of stripping with mineral spirits mixed in. That helped a lot. Then another round of mineral spirits. Cleaned well them sanded again. Used a tack cloth to get rid of any sanding dust. Then cleaned really well again. That finally got it smooth enough for painting.

Whoever says you don’t need to prep if you use chalk-style paint doesn’t know what they are talking about. It was definitely a process on this bottom piece!

Painted with two coats of Missouri Limestone Paint Company chalk-style paint “Coal Shovel” (https://sharsumpaint.com/missouri-limestone-paint-company-colors/) and sealed with two coats of Varathane water based polyurethane in satin finish. This table is now ready to be put back together!

What an amazing difference!

Now came the task of lining the top and bottom holes for screwing it back together.

Bamboo skewers to the rescue! All holes are now lined up perfectly!

The beautiful slate top was rescued from under the couch and got a good drink of Wise Owl Lemon Verbena Salve. What a difference that made! It smells good now, too!

So happy how it turned out. This table is eventually going in a young person’s apartment. I can just see a group of young people gathered around it. Sitting on colorful pillows that could easily be stored underneath.

There will be a lot of fun times gathered around this coffee table! This is one sturdy, beautiful table now!
Love the black rippled slate top!

A Custom Painted Wardrobe & Dresser

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