Prettier in Pink

Yes, long time no blog. What can I say- sometimes life takes you by surprise and plans change. So I was so happy when my super cute cousin called.  She is having her first baby girl! Yay! When Kellie asked if some of her boys' nursery furniture could be done to look like this dresser and the Molly tables, I was so excited!  I'm loving how they turned out. Without further ado...

The crib:

You would never know that this crib used to be chocolate brown and live in big brother's room.  White with pink accents and a dark walnut stain-nothing brother about it now! 

With no dust ruffle, the under bed storage trundle will be getting the spotlight.  I added a pretty little applique for another fun touch of pink.

 After all the painting and staining was said and done, I distressed, distressed, distressed.  But don't worry- all that chippy goodness is completely baby-proofed and sealed in with a clear polycrylic.

 Just love.

 Kellie also brought me this adorable bookshelf and hutch that was hers as a little girl.  It was all white and in good condition, but I just had to add some fun to pink it up a little more.

 I added my favorite pattern on the back panels, then stained and distressed the whole thing.

She plans on adding pink glass knobs like those I used on Lindsey's dresser. 

In real life the pink is softer than in the pics.  I amped it up just a little to make it easier to see on a screen.

Kellie, thank you so much!  I hope that you and baby girl love it!  And I wouldn't hate some pictures of it all put together sometime, either :)

The Dresser That Goes

A few weeks ago my cute friend Lindsey took one of the Molly Tables home to live in the room shared by her two little girlies.  She mentioned that they were also sharing a dresser that had belonged to her husband as a little boy, and that she'd like to it have refinished to match the table.  Remember how the Molly Tables were all pink and cream and girly curves?  Well, a few days later she dropped off this dresser:

Can you say Total Opposite of pink and cream and girly curves?  And then she said something along the lines of, "Oh, just do whatever you think will make it look good with the table." Hmm.  It took a few days of contemplation.  Here is what I came up with:

 I thought about white with pink drawers, pink with white drawers, white top, pink bottom you name it.  None of it seemed right for this piece. Because the dresser has a completely different shape than the tables, I didn't want to do an exact replica of their paint job. I decided it would be best to keep a simple dresser  simple and do something that would just "go".  Besides, its not really chic for everything to be exactly matchy anyway.  At least I'm pretty sure I've heard that around:)

So I painted the whole thing the same white as the tables, distressed it, stained it with the same Dark Walnut, and coated it in polycrylic.

To bring in the pink and a touch of  girliness I played around with a bunch of appliques and ended up again keeping it pretty simple by adding just one, similar to those on the tables, painted that sweet Ballet Slipper Pink and stained.

  For fun and just a tiny bit of curve I added feet, and painted just the balls of them pink as well.

 

 And of course pink glass knobs, the perfect finishing touch. Larger roses on the top three drawers and smaller round knobs on the rest.

Can you picture them living in a room together?  I hope so.

 Thanks Lindsey!  I hope you love it!

Linking up to Cassie's party :)

And

And

Sometimes I don't know what I'm talking about.  When Kristen first contacted me about refinishing her desk, I told her I don't strip and re-stain pieces. Its really time consuming and hard to get it right.  I tried to talk her into staining just the top and painting the apron and legs.  But this desk is special to her and she knew what she wanted.  She stuck to her guns and I'm so glad she did!  I think it turned out beautifully.

Before

 She wanted it re-stained either the color it originally was- a light cherry- or darker.  I took it a few steps darker but stayed in the cherry family.  The stain I used was called Black Cherry.

 I highlighted the details with some black glaze and added poly for protection as always.

Thanks for the challenge Kristen!  I hope you love it!

Birthday Suit

Remember the client project from my last post?  Well, thanks to my new sander love and my best friend The Stripper, its nekked.  I usually love paint, but all this bare wood is so pretty it might be hard to be a little hard to cover up.



Stay tuned!

And Part Two

The rest of the Nicest Client stuff

As I communicated with Vanessa about what she had in mind for her furniture she expressed very clear ideas about her wants for everything but this little garage sale bookcase. She just didn't want it exactly the same as everything else. When I suggested the idea of grassy/Kelly green I was picturing glossy and clean with no distressing. Ha. This is a great example of how furniture sometimes has something else in mind. It's solid wood and very cute, but not in great shape. The glossy, clean paint really highlighted the imperfections. So, I went vintage with it, but with a little bit of an updated feel. And I'm loving how it turned out.

The before thumbnail

Took off the pieced-together, rusty-nailed back- and replaced it with something a little cuter by making myself a pattern, tracing it onto the backing, and painting it in by hand. (Kind of like this at Jones Design Company) I also worked on a side table for her family room which was done to match a piece that she recently purchased, as well as a nightstand done to match the bedroom set I just finished. And last but of course not least, a coffe table also finished to match the new piece.

Coffee table before. She's trying to phase out the red/warm tones in her family room.

Again, thank you so much! I'm so very glad to hear that you are happy with everything!

Can't wait to see some pictures of everything put together :)

Part One

This is Part One of a big project that I've been working on for possibly the nicest client ever. Really. She actually contacted me a while ago about refinishing some furniture but I was pregnant and had to turn her down. Fast forward a whole year and here we are. She called me again! How great is that?! She had a whole list of pieces that she wanted done, starting with her bedroom furniture.

This is the before of the dresser that she sent me. It was quite a pretty dresser in great shape, she just didn't like the stain.

And after.

Please excuse the not great pictures. They were sort of a quick afterthought this time.

She expressed an affinity for distressed black furniture and wanted everything in her bedroom to match, so that's what I did. Black with a lot of distressing, a khaki glaze, and poly for shine and protection.

A thumbnail of the bed before. She had actually painted it herself in a flat black finish and was unhappy with the outcome.

So I redid it.

Also there's a Sad Headboard Story-right before she came to pick it up it tipped over and SPLIT. Crap! I might have said a swear word. But just a little one. I hate it when things like that happen-swear words and splits. I felt so terrible and she was so very gracious about it.


Foot board


Working on pieces that belong to someone else is both highly fun and highly stressful. After spending so much time and energy on something I'm always afraid that it won't be what the client is expecting, or that some part of it won't meet their expectations. I love doing this, but I often doubt myself. I want so much for clients to be happy with my work. So thank you so much, Vanessa, for being so awesome to work with! I'm beyond thrilled that you and your husband were excited with the end result.



Now on to part two, after which I hope you will be equally happy:)

Thank you!

A Cute Girl's Dresser :)

My adorable friend asked me to redo her dresser and night stand. Here is a before of the awesome, solid wood pieces. Notice the used-to-be awesome flowers:
She wanted an antique white finish with glaze and distressing. This is what she got:

As aways, I feel like the pictures don't do the furniture justice. The glaze and distressing don't show up a ton in them, but I really thought they turned out beautifully. I used a gloss poly to give them some sparkle, which I like a lot with a distressed piece. She wanted to pick out some new hardware and I can't wait to see a picture with it, hint hint!

Thanks Rachelle and Cody! I hope you love it!