A Little White Desk

I recently finished this sweet little desk for a client, my cute friend Brooke.  I have a lot of cute friends :)  It started out a dated golden oak but had pretty lines and was nice and solid.

She wanted bright white, with just a little distressing and some dark glaze to add a little balance to a 12 year-old girl's bedroom with brand new, glossy white furniture and a shabby chandy.

 She'll add new hardware and a fun upholstered chair.

I also painted and glazed two of these shelves with stained pegs to hang above the desk.  (Sorry for my lack of good pictures.  This summer and fall seriously kicked my butt.  I'm hopeful the butt-kicking is mostly over.) 

Brooke has fabulous taste and is currently in the process of building up her design portfolio.  I hope this helps a little!  Thanks Brooke!

Can't Get Enough

More pink!  It seems when I did these tables, I may have created a very pink-very cute-monster.  But that's ok, I really like pink monsters.

Another project for my ever-adorable friend, miss Lindsey.  She had two matching twin beds from her childhood that she wanted to paint for her two equally-adorable little girls. Here is the before of one of them: 

The perfect shape, just a little flowery and beat up.  She wanted pink and cream with dark walnut stain and distressing again, to go with dresser that I recently refinished for her.

I may never get tired of this particular monster.  It is so very sweet.  Plus, keep in mind that when the bed is all made, with the box spring, mattress, duvet and pillows a lot of the pink on the headboard will be covered up.  I think that'll keep it from being too much.  You'll get just a hint, which is what we are going for.

The inside of the foot board, which again, will be mostly covered with bedding.  But I wanted the consistency.

Lindsey is going to tackle the other bed herself.  Last we talked the plan was gray where this bed is cream and cream where this bed is pink.  Won't that be gorgeous?!  I'm sure she'll do a fabulous job and I can't wait to see it!  Please send me some pics of both rooms when you get them put together, Lindsey!

Thanks! It is always so much fun to work with you!

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

Molly Tables

These tables are so Pretty in Pink I named them the Molly tables.

A matching set finished in gorgeous ballet slipper pink with cream tops, then distressed and rubbed all over with Dark Walnut stain; which completely and totally made the tables what they are today.  Thank you, Dark Walnut.  I am not a photographer and I never really think my pictures do the furniture justice.  The colors here are rich rich rich.  And of course they're topped off with polycrylic to ensure protection and no yellowing. 

Beautiful curvy lines and details.

 The before.  When I picked these up, I believe that they had been refinished already in a seafoam green with blue peeking through.  Cute enough, but the paint job was, in my humble opinion, sub-par and I don't think they were sanded or primed first, although I guess I'll never really know.  I immediately had visions

of rich pink and cream. 

If Zoe's room wasn't tiny and shared with a certain boy, they would definitely be living there.  Just in case you didn't catch it in my last post, I would go all out, over the top girly if I could while she is little and sweet and has no opinion on pretty rooms and such matters.  Alas, I can't do that to poor Ash, making my loss your gain.

The matching set of Molly tables is now for sell in my shop.  Check it out for all the details.

Linking up:

Thanks for stopping by!

Exciting Times

My super exciting news for today is that the beautiful and talented (and so very, very nice) Cassie of Primitive and Proper asked me to guest post!  I'll be there on Monday, May 16 and  I'm so excited, so please head over and check it out!  And while you're there, take a sec to look around at some of Cassie's awesome work, she's great! 

And now, a beauty: 

 A pretty little vintage four drawer dresser with details that almost make me want to lay down and die. Finished in my new favorite soft, subtle gray with slight distressing and no glaze or stain.  I wanted to keep this piece really light and I love how this gray is just a nice take on a typical white or cream.  Still so versatile. Topped off with paste wax for protection and beautiful luster. All new glass hardware.  Killer in an entry, as a buffet in a dining room, extra storage in a bath, or beautiful in a bedroom.

Of course there must always be a shocking before.  I had to admit to my husband that yes, I did pay actual money for this.  And not really just a little, either  But look at that top!  Those legs!  Those adorable, fantastic keyholes!  It took at lot of sanding, repairing and sanding some more.  But the after made all the effort so completely worth it.

 The keyholes had me at hello.

And the gorgeous moulding on the top.

 Beautiful turned legs.

 This beauty is now in my shop!   Check it out for all the details.

And I just couldn't resist a little sneak peak at my Primitive and Proper guest post!  Its a fun one!

Sharing my furniture:

  

And by the way, as I was perusing some linky party participants at the Feathered Nest Friday party, I came across The Shanty Girl. Do any of you wear aprons? I am sooo an apron girl and she makes absolutely gorgeous ones! Like, as in pretty sure I couldn't bring myself to wear to to do housework or cook dinner. She's having a givaway here. You should check it out!

Thanks for stopping by!

 Believe it or not, this desk is the bottom half of the duo from my last post.  I think there may have been a little Frankenstein match-up going on, because when I got the desk and hutch home I realized there was no way they were originally supposed to live together.  The angles were way off.  And it looked really top-heavy and leggy.  Which might be a good thing for a girl, but not so much for furniture.  So off with the hutch.  It is patiently waiting for just the right project.

 The pretty desk part got a complete overhaul: I filled cracks, sturdied the legs, and sanded, sanded, sanded.  The top was refinished in a Dark Walnut stain and the apron and legs got the most amazing gray paint I've ever found.  Spartacus by True Value. Its just barely, barely gray, almost a white but with nice cool undertones.  I love it with the Dark Walnut.  I know, my walls make it a hard to see the gray.  But its awesome.  Promise.  Then I rubbed the whole thing with the same stain and distressed just a little.

 The top got coated with polyurethane and the body got polycrylic so there will be no yellowing.

I'm excited that this will be for sale in my shop!  Check it out for all the details of the piece.  I've had a break in client projects and am finally getting time to fill it back up.  I've got a few other things in the works, the first of which should arrive in the shop by Tuesday, fingers crossed. 


Linking Up!

Thanks for stopping by!

Just because it seems like garbage to you...

Forward: I'm going to go ahead and assume you are poiletly ignoring my awesome garage.  Just like you've been doing  for the last few posts.  Thanks.

My nice grandpa noticed that his neighbors were getting ready to throw this away and rescued it for me.  People!  Please NEVER EVER put something like this in the actual trash.  Even if you think it seems like actual trash.  I promise that there will always be someone like me around who will be more than happy to take it off your hands in 2 seconds flat or faster. It's a little cracked and its a little rickety, but I can fix that.  Just wait.  I've got plans.  Its going to be a beaut.  People, you're going to want it back.

 I got started on it yesterday and I can't wait to put it in my shop.

Thanks Grandpa!  I love you!

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!

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 :)