The Perfect "Catch-All"...

I've just completed the first set of antique sewing machine drawers.

This is where I started...

The sides of the cabinets were in pretty rough shape... missing/peeling veneer, warping, and some slight water damage (I love the kids' drawings on the sides of the drawers...)

I clean the drawers and cabinet inside and out, then applied Danish Oil to the unpainted sections of the drawers.  It gives the wood a nice, natural finish without having to use stain.

I had my son make the "caps" for the top and bottom and stained them to match.

The set would be great used in an office for supplies (pens & pencils, ink cartridges, etc) or in the bathroom for additional storage (think brushes, curling irons, or even medications),  The uses are numerous!

I've been working on a "weathered" finish for the singles drawers.....

This finish works best on oak or similar woods with a distinctive grain.  I just watered down Paris Grey paint, applied it with a brush and wiped it off  almost immediately with a dry towel.  One coat of clear wax and call it a day.

I love the way the finish turned out.... but I'm still trying to decide on hardware.

These drawers came without the original pulls,,,, which is usually not a problem as all the ones I've gotten in the past were single knobs and easy to replace.  This had a pull of some kind and I can't find replacements that fit the width of the holes.  Looks like it's wood filler at this point....

The 3 drawer cabinet is listed on my website here and the 2 single drawers will be listed as soon as I've solved the knob issue!

Updated Bassett Dresser...

The client I painted the Lane cedar chest for (read the details here) was in the process of downsizing her home and gave me this dresser because she had no room or use for it (it came with all the drawers...this is just where I was when I remembered to take a picture).  She wouldn't let me pay for it so I offered to help her with setting up her new house when she was ready, or any other service I could offer, if she needed it.

It was an older Bassett dresser in mint condition, probably from the 60s or 70s.  Newer pieces have the logo stamped inside using an ink pad.  This piece had the actual raised emblem on the inside of one of the drawers (thank you for the tip RPK Interiors).

I wanted to paint it Paris Grey, but was out of it and too impatient to place an order.  Taking what I DID have, I blended French Linen, Old White and just a bit of Louis Blue.  The end result looked very much like Paris Grey, I was happy with the result, and I saved time and money in not having to order paint.

I painted all the details around the drawers in straight Old White as well as the inset of the top.

The bottom drawers only had one pull in the center of each drawer (which is the first time I've seen that) and the fixture itself was pretty large in that the holes for the screws on the back were set farther apart than standard pulls I've found.

Replacing the hardware was out, so I opted for my standard Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint. In my mind I was thinking that the dark color would look good against the light grey.  Uhh.. nope!  At least not to me.  It looked very Spanish Modern to me (anyone else's parents ever had a orange crushed velvet sectional with a rod iron table?  No? Lucky me!)

I couldn't paint them white fast enough!  Much better.

It will be making its way to my sister's house soon as a part of her bedroom makeover we'll be doing.  Can't wait to see it in place.

And the generous woman that gave it to me had fabric and wanted to recover her kitchen dinette chairs but had never done it before.  When my son & I delivered the cedar chest to her new house, I took the chair cushions with me a fixed them for her.  On the value scale, certainly not worth as much as a free fabulous dresser, but for her she got "new" kitchen chairs and was able to get rid of a dresser she didn't want without having to pay movers or storage, and my sister has a new piece of furniture.  Win/Win!

Updated Wash Stand...

This wash stand is probably one of the easiest and quickest updates I've ever done.  I found it on Craigs List a while back, and overall it was in pretty good condition.  The top just needed a little work.

(The drop down desk shown behind it is another piece finished that I'll share another time)

I usually don't go for pine or light colored furniture... I like it somewhat darker, but decided to wait to finish the top until I had painted the entire piece. I'm glad I did.

I painted it in ASCP Duck Egg Blue (with a little Old White, to lighten the color).  One coat of Light Oak on the top and clear wax, and the interior was cleaned and left in its original state.  The hardware was wiped down and left as is, too.

This is one of those pieces I wish I had kept, as I could see it in so many different rooms for different purposes.  I ended up selling it inside of 2 weeks after I took it to the shop.

Guess I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled for another one...

Lane Cedar Chest...

I know many of you are wondering why someone would paint a cedar chest (my 18 year old son, the wood worker, is one of them).  This was actually a job I did for a client (that's not to say, if it were mine I wouldn't paint it....).  She had previously bought a drop down desk and upholstered chair from me that I had listed on Craigslist and called me a few months later to see what I could do with this.

She was in the process of downsizing to a smaller home and wanted to use the chest in the spare room for her granddaughter when she visited.  It had some pretty deep gouges on the top, and she wanted an updated, fresher look for the new room.

She chose Duck Egg Blue (one of my favorites!) and wanted it very lightly distressed.  She left the finish up to me. This is after 2 coats of paint (and no, I did NOT paint the actual cedar interior- it was in mint condition).

I got all of the gouges smoothed out and distressed around the edge of the routed lip to make what was there less noticeable. (not sure what is up with the pinkish hue to this pic???)

I mixed my own "white wax" using ASCP in Old White and clear wax (about a 60-40 ratio) and layered that on top of a thin coat of plain clear wax.  She had intended to replace the hardware, but hadn't found anything she liked yet.  I went ahead and painted the existing hardware, and waxed with the white wax mix ...and she ended up leaving them in place.

It's hard to tell in the other pictures, but I lightly distressed the edges and around the feet.

I had some fabric in my stash that tied in with the paint, so I lined the inside drawer for her as a surprise when she opened it (underneath is the original baize green... like pool table felt).

She was so pleased when she saw it, she hired me to paint a dresser & night stand to go in the same room (I'll have to see if I can find the pictures of that).

I love the way it turned out and will definitely use the "white wax" again!

Master Bedroom Remake... The Bed

I have been wanting to makeover the master bedroom for years (when you see the "before" picture at the end of this post, you'll know why...) This is one of the afters...

About 4 years ago, I was cruising the isles of a furniture store...looking for ideas, and found the perfect set.  It was white with brown edging (later...after I crawled out of my rock, I realized it was distressed) on the dresser drawers, bed posts, etc.  The set included a bed frame with head & foot board, dresser with mirror and night stand.  On sale, the set cost over $1400... which in my mind at the time didn't seem that bad!

Two weeks later Hurricane Irene struck the Outer Banks, taking out the only road leading south to Hatteras Village, and leaving me unable to work for the rest of the season (a minor inconvenience compared to what was happening to the residents further south).

I ended up with a lot of time on my hands that winter... and not a whole lot of money.  I "window shopped" a lot during those months in every thrift and used furniture store around.  I came across an antique bed in excellent condition.

They were asking $150 for the set (including rails and slats) and the woman offered it to me for $100.  After an hour talking myself into it, I brought it home.

This was my first time using ASCP (Old White)... I knew nothing about "bleed through" or how to wax, or anything else.  But I had the internet, and a lot of help from people willing to share their projects.

I started with the foot board.  It took me a solid week and three coats of paint, but I never had problems with bleed through (thankfully, 'cause I wouldn't have know what it was or what to do).  I sanded the edges where I thought they should be sanded, and all around the spindles- just kinda' winging it while trying to remember what the $1400 bed looked like.

And the waxing?? I couldn't move my arms for days!  Still haven't found a short-cut for that process!

It took me over 2 weeks to finish it.  But I loved it... and I loved the process (even waxing).  It sat in the workshop for months, waiting for its new home.  I just couldn't bring up that beautiful bed and put it in that depressing bedroom.

It would be eight months before the room was done and the bed was brought up.  Many a night was spent sleeping on the mattress and box springs on the floor, with cardboard boxes for a night stand and a ladder to prop up the TV.

The wallpaper border had to be stripped, the walls primed and painted, I needed new dressers (I only had one, and it wasn't the right style), new curtains, new bedding, and the list just continued.  Did I mention I wasn't working? Yeah... a little bit of a roadblock, for sure!

I took my time (for once) and did basically everything myself.

The bed was the start...but there's a lot left to share.  

Here is where I started...

(Before photo... circa 1998...not much changed through 2003!)

And the After.... please check back next Wednesday for some of the details and sources.

Elizabeth & Co.

Dwellings...the Heart of Your Home

Finding Silver Pennies

Savvy Southern Style

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Sand and Sisal

This Silly Girl's Life

Cherished Handmade Treasures

Redoux Interiors

Miss Mustard Seed

The Shabby Nest

French Country Cottage

The Power of Paint

Console Table from Foot Board...

Several months ago I purchased an antique bedroom set (dresser, mirror, head & foot board with side rails) off of Craigs List for a very good price.  At the time, I really only wanted the dresser.... I didn't have a need for the bed.  But the price was right and the woman was selling both as a set (I basically got the bed for free).

I finished the dresser a while back (I'll show the pictures of that in another post).

This is a project we created using the antique head board....

You can read all of the details about it  here.

The foot board I kept in my stash, waiting for inspiration to strike.

Several months later, it struck! This is just after I'd removed the ruined veneer from the center. There was small beaded trim work that was broken in places and had to be removed.  I saved some of the larger "chunks" for another use down the road.  If you've ever shopped for trim pieces in the store, you'll know that stuff ain't cheap!

This was after sanding it to smooth out the surface.  You'll notice I've also removed the scroll work piece from the bottom.  I wanted a straight line on what would become the back of the table (the part against the wall or sofa).



At first my plan was to paint it in ASCP Old White.  This is after 2 coats.  Something about the ornate section at the top was buggin' me.  It looked odd to me I guess because the rest of the piece was pretty "plain".  And leaving it on, to me, made it look like exactly what it was.  Part of a bed....which would eventually be "stuck" on some legs and called a table.  Not the look I was going for. 

I ended up having my son cut the top off... and I changed the color, too.

And this is the end result.  My son routed the edge where we removed the scroll work and I ended up going with 2 coats of Graphite and clear wax. 

And the piece we cut off of the top...

...became this.  

Out of a bed I didn't need or want, I was able to make a custom sandwich board sign for the shop, a console table for someone's living room, and a unique towel/coat rack.  

Can't beat that with a stick!

Miss Mustard Seed

The Shabby Nest

What-About.co