Updating a Family Buffet

I refinished this buffet as a commission for a new client. I met Linda's daughter at the Cole Harbour Harvest Festival last month, where she had bought one of my pieces. Linda got in touch with me and wanted me to refinish a buffet she had. Originally she planned on doing it herself; as you can see in the before picture, she had already started to sand the top half.

We decided to paint the buffet, since there were a lot of tones and different grain lines on the piece. I layered a lighter grey over a darker grey, and distressed the whole piece so the base colour could show through. After using dark paste wax to seal in the paint, I sprayed the existing handles an heirloom white.

The grey colour really gives the buffet an updated, modern look, yet the wax and distressing still give it a little bit of old charm. I really love how this turned out, and I'm even happier that Linda loves it too.

Farm House Table

I have seen a few Farm House table tutorials online and in magazines, and really wanted to give it a try! I've had this table for about a year; it's been sitting in my basement, begging to be refinished.

First, I unscrewed the original top from the table base. The top had been covered in mactac, so it was left in pretty hard shape. I painted the entire base in a white, which I mixed into chalk paint (see DIY tab for recipe). After lightly distressing it, I used a dark paste wax to give it that antique look.

For the top, I went to my local building supply retailer and purchased 2 1x6x10' pieces of cheap lumber. I even went so far as to search through the pile to find pieces that had knots, cool grain lines, and even some that had bark left on it. I had them cut into 30" pieces, knowing that I wanted the overall table top to be a square. After connecting them with 2 small pieces of 3" wide slats and finishing nails, I stained the whole thing in Minwax Jacobean. The colour is PERFECT! It looks old, rustic, and well lived in.

 
Overall I love how this turned out! I think I might re-do my dining table in this same look. Stayed tuned!

Back in Black

Today I was at the Cole Harbour Harvest Festival with a selection of my furniture for sale. We sold two pieces and gave away tones of business cards! It's always nice to hear comments from people on your work; it's motivating at the very least! Here is the latest dresser I finished! I loved the rounded mirror and the waterfall style top. I decided I wanted to try a 'pottery barn' type of finish on this piece since it was a lighter colour wood. After painting the entire dresser black with chalk paint, I distressed and waxed it with Minwax Dark Paste Wax. The reason I decided to wax instead of polyurethane, was so that it was left with a very vintage, flat finish. It turned out great! After spray painting the two handles, and adding two crystal knobs for the top, it was ready for sale!

Obsessed with Distressed!

If you haven't noticed already, I am OBSESSED with distressed and antiqued furniture. There's something about layered, chippy paint that is so delicious; I want to make every piece look old and something that has a history. This latest dresser highlights my love for this effect.

My Mom found this at HomeSense last summer and it has been sitting in her shed ever since. On the weekend I finally went and got it, knowing it would be perfect for a new painting technique I've been dying to try!

First I painted the whole dresser in a rustic red, knowing that this was going to be the colour of the paint to show through. After two coats of that went on, I then rubbed petroleum jelly over all the places I wanted the top colour to chip off of. As you can see, I went a little nuts with this step. I really wanted it to be heavily distressed, so I put the jelly along a lot of the edges, corners, and on the drawer facings.

After letting the jelly dry for about a hour, I applied two coats of the creamy white, with golden tones painted throughout. Once everything was dry (I waited overnight), I took 200 grit sandpaper and lightly sanded the entire piece. It was amazing how well the creamy white paint came off, revealing the red underneath. In some places I sanded through the red as well to show off the original dark brown of the dresser. A little antiquing wax later and this dresser was transformed from boring to truly unique! I LOVE how it turned out and can't wait to try this technique again!

Antique Lilac Blue Dresser

WOW! It's been so long since my last post! I've had a lot of other things going on since last summer, but that's still no excuse for neglecting my blog. I'm officially back at re-finishing furniture and am so excited to get this going again! My Mom recently found a fabulous antique dresser for me, which was in pretty hard shape. I was so pumped to re-finish this piece that I had it done, from start to finish, in about 2 days.

I wish I had of taken a before picture of it (sorry Mom!). It must have been stained quite a few times over the years, because the finish was so thick, it look me 3 tries to strip the stain and poly off the top. I re-stained the top in a natural oak (B-UTIFUL!), and painted the body of the dresser in a shade I call Lilac Blue. After shading and waxing, the piece looks amazing! SO shabby chic!

There will be much more to come, I'll keep you posted!