Antique Dresser for a Princess

I know this sweet, adorable, darling, and a tad bit precocious little girl.  She is a princess and I am lucky enough to call her my daughter.  When she comes to my shop and sees what I'm working on she inevitably asks, "Who's that for?"  I know what's behind that question. :)  She has no closet to call her own in her room (it's full of her dad's hunting stuff) so all of her toys are out in her room.  She's been wanting a piece of furniture that I've done for her own, but there just hasn't been any place to put it.  Finally I told her if she would clean out her room and get rid of some of her toys then we could repaint her room and I would do a piece of furniture for her.  What a trooper!  She went through every single toy in her room and ended up with with a 13 gallon garbage bag of stuff to get rid of and two 30 gallon totes of stuff to sell!  So, I found this dresser and told her it could be hers.

Before

I took her to my shop, showed her the dresser (when it looked like the before pic), and said. "This is your dresser honey!"  Bless her little heart, she said, "Oh."

After

You're getting to see the after before she does, so I hope she likes it a little better now! :)  She picked out the hardware for it (with just a tiny bit of persuasion on my part....just to point her in the right direction you know ;) ).

You know I love these feet!!

I showed her these jewel encrusted knobs and she immediately said, "I want those!"  She has good taste. ;)

So excited for her to see it (and I know what I will be painting tomorrow!).

color = Extra White SW

Stain = Espresso Minwax

knobs = Hobby Lobby

Kitchen Cabinet

This cabinet was just a run-of-the-mill (although it was custom built) kitchen cabinet. The owner wanted a pop of color in her kitchen so we decided on red (which I have been waiting to do for a long time now).  Well it's red!

Before

After

Primed in black, did 3-4 coats of the red, then glazed with straight stain.  The stain just gave the red a little more depth and toned it down a little. 

love the new hardware

color = Heartthrob SW (made him tint it a little darker)

stain = Special Walnut Minwax

Drop Leaf Side Table

This cute little drop leaf coffee table was painted to match this side table. 

Before

After

The top turned out so pretty on this--but there's a special place in my heart for dark wood. :)

Still love this color!

Side table

The chunky, curvy pedestal on this little side table is  right up my alley. :)  Was so excited to get my hands on this one!   

 Before

 After

Am so in love with this color right now! 

 You already know that I like heavy distressing and, lucky me, so does the fun gal that owns this little cutie! 

 

 I absolutely adore the worn feel of these "feet". 

 I sanded down the top and restained it dark--love how the stain picks up the grain in the top and how deep the end grain looks.

 Couldn't resist. :)

It looks amazing in its new home!

color = Moody Blue SW (but I made him play with it a little, so it's not exactly what's on the card)

stain = Espresso by Varathane

stain over paint = Special Walnut by Minwax

Cedar Chest III

I'm a sucker for a chest. :)  This one was in pretty rough shape--literally coming apart at the seams and the veneer was peeling.  I loved the legs and the inside was still in great condition.  Later the owner said it was destined for the garbage...so glad we could save her! :) 

Before

I ended up peeling all the veneer off the top and sending the top to a cabinet shop where they ran it through their overhead sander for me (to remove the sub layer under the veneer).  It turned out gorgeous and I didn't want to paint it. 

We also pulled the joints apart (thank goodness it was well made!), used wood glue, and then clamped them and let dry.

After

I love the contrast of the light wood tones with the black.  Very pretty.

I think the legs really make this piece.

I just left the top natural (no stain) and used a couple coats of poly.  

Sorry the pics aren't so great on this one...need to figure out how to take pics of the black pieces in natural light, or maybe I just need a new camera!

Dresser redo

Funny story--A couple of months ago a friend showed me a dresser she was interested in having me paint.  Fast forward to last week--I was on a Classified page on FB for my local area and see this dresser that I really liked.  I messaged the girl that had it listed and told her I was interested.  She told me how much she wanted for it and I hem hawed about it--told her I would love to get my hands on it, just didn't want to buy it for that much.  So, I get a message a little bit later that day from this friend who showed me her dresser  and she says, "Did you recognize the dresser you wanted to buy off Classifieds?"  It was the same dresser!--her friend accidently listed it.  So, happy ending!!, I got to do the dresser and didn't have to buy it! lol  Anyway....here it is....

Before

It was in very good shape, just needed updating.

After

 I was not a huge fan of the hardware on this piece (sorry!).  It was very dated, but she wanted to keep them, so we opted for painting them.  What a huge difference (you probably can't tell very well from the pics, but trust me!)!  I like the contrast of the black and then the pop of silver in the middle.

Love the curve of the bottom and the top.

I a

I really like how the distressing accentuates the clean lines, too. 

Chair redo

A friend wanted a makeover for this cute little chair so it would stand out a little more in her dining room.  It was funny because I noticed it right away (it has great lines!) but she thought the color was a little blah.  I consider this chair's paint job the equivalent of a little black dress. :) 

 Before

After

I just love that black dresses up any piece of furniture.

I didn't sand all the old color off so it would show under the black.  I like how you can see just bits of the soft beige underneath.