Old Ochre Nightstand

I finished up this lovely nightstand this week. It caught my eye in a thrift store a while back. I loved the curved legs, simple but lovely. I painted it in a creamy Old Ochre for a cozy feel. This will be for sale in my shop and would make a perfect nightstand or end table.

Jenine


Linking back to...
www.funkyjunkinteriors.net
missmustardseed.com
www.kammyskorner.com

Ornate Carved Coffee Table

Right now I'm just a little depressed. I see everyone decorating and getting ready for fall. Fall is my favorite season- the crisp air, the smell, the leaves... what's not to love? Here in Vegas we're having some record high temps; we're talking in the high 90's. I'm afraid I can't bring myself to break out the fall decor and get into the spirit. How I long for the cool falls, the boots and sweaters.

My husband came up with the brilliant idea for us to go up to the mountains about 30 minutes away and camp for the weekend. Just what I need, I cheap get away with some cooler temps. No fall leaves, but I'll settle for some greenery and pine trees.

Anyways, enough of my pity party and on to the good stuff. I came across this awesome table on Craigslist. Totally my style- over the top, elaborate, and ornate. I don't know why I'm drawn to this style, my home is very simple and country chic. I guess it's what I picture my home of the future to be like. My home is way too small for this kind of over-the-top table. It's a good thing or I'd have to keep all my fancy stuff :)

It was a very classic cream and gold, but that fake gold color hurts my eyes and I had to change it. The lady who sold it would probably very sad to hear I painted it.  I chose a classic Paris Grey and Old White. I dark waxed it with some black shoe polish and clear wax to bring out the carving. To me this coffee table screams furniture at its finest.

Jenine

Linking back to...
missmustardseed.com
romantichome.blogspot.com
www.funkyjunkinteriors.net
www.kammyskorner.com
www.savvysouthernstyle.net

Bar Cart Makeover

So I'm not a drinker myself, but if I was, I would definitely have had a hard time giving up this next project of mine.

The Before: A typical oak color, I love the wheels.

The After: I painted over the oak with Graphite and Old white. The wheels were not removable and made painting them quite difficult. I painted a "P" monogram to give it a little something extra and special. I dark waxed it and barely distressed the edges to finish it up.

Jenine

Linking back to...
missmustardseed.com
www.funkyjunkinteriors.net
www.kammyskorner.com

Antionette Sewing Table

Here's an easy, straight forward furniture makeover for ya this week. I see a lot of these fun sewing cabinets around still. I'm all about beautiful furniture with a function,  like hiding and storing your sewing machine. Just look at how this awesome table folds out for all that extra room and space for your projects. What a cool concept.

This one, however, will not be used for sewing, but as a beautiful table in a bedroom. The room is black and white with soft accents of pink. This is one of many I have done for one of my favorite clients :) I think I'm getting pretty close to having painted every piece of furniture in her home, ha ha. She has made a kind offer to let me come into her gorgeous home and take pictures when she's all finished. I think that sounds so fun.

This table was easy breeze, it was already restored and painted white, I simply applied the ballet slipper Antionette Chalk Paint. Once I had that color on I felt it needed some dark wax. It just felt like something for a little girls room. The dark wax brought age, patina, and some sophistication.

Jenine


Linking back to...
missmustardseed.com
www.funkyjunkinteriors.net

Distressing with Candle Wax Tutorial

I always check the "oops" paint rack whenever I go into Lowes. I don't know why, since I'm usually a chalk paint lover, but I can't help myself. I love a good bargain. I ran across this minty green color and loved it enough to buy.  I'm not opposed to painting with latex, it usually is just harder for me to achieve a time-worn look that I love, and takes a little more work.

Today I want to share with you an easy and quick way to achieve an old look. This is by no means a new method, many people write and talk about it and have it perfected. I definitely haven't used it enough to have it "perfected"

Supplies

• Candle wax (I used an old tea light I had around the house)

• Latex paint color of choice

• Sand paper about 120 grit, less (lower grit) if you want more distressing and a higher grit if you want less distressing

• Electric sander or sanding block

• Furniture wax or poly

• Dark wax if desired

I had a table in my garage I picked up for free that I thought would work nicely for latex paint. It was already sanded and stained and had no protective shiny coating.

If your piece of furniture has a shiny protective coating, you'll have to strip/sand it off first. The paint won't stick to a shiny surface. I don't apply a primer to my pieces when I'm going for a distressed look. I don't want the white primer showing through my distressed areas and I don't mind if the paint eventually chips off in a few places, that's kind of what I'm going for :)

Once your piece is ready, take your candle and rub it on the edges and anywhere the paint would wear off naturally. The candle wax keeps the paint from sticking and can be easily sanded off. It also helps give it a more natural distressed look. Once you have your wax on the piece, go ahead and paint it.  You can just distress it by plain old sanding without the wax first, but I've noticed when working with latex paint it doesn't look as natural, especially when you use an electric sander. If you just use a sanding block it takes a ton of elbow grease to sand down to the wood layer.  I used an electric sander with the candle wax and it worked out great.

(A note of advice I learned the hard way: don't put your wax on outside in the hot sun, it will melt)

I just love the way the dark stained wood shows through. The dark contrast against the minty green kind of reminds me of mint chocolate chip ice cream, but maybe that's just because it was 97 degrees outside while I was painting it :)

I used some cool tricks to age the top of this table. My younger brother works for a reclaimed wood company and shared some tips with me. I'll be trying them out a few more times before I share it with you all.

P.S. I'll be selling this table in my shop and Etsy page, just contact me using my contact page button and I'll get back to you.

Jenine


missmustardseed.com
romantichome.blogspot.com

Oversized Ruler Growth Chart Giveaway!!

Hi everyone! I have never done a giveaway before, so I decided it was time for me to give it a shot. Enjoy!

What am I giving away?

One six-foot oversized ruler growth chart and shipping.  The buyer can choose whether they want it stained or painted, and which color they would like, and also if they want it distressed or not.  

When is the giveaway?

It begins right now!  The end of the period to enter is 12:01am Eastern Time on Friday, September 29th 2012.  I will randomly choose a winner and notify them within 24 hours 

How do I enter?

There are two requirements:  1) You must either be a follower of my blog (click 'join this site' over in the right sidebar) or have 'liked' A Bit O' Whimsy on Facebook here.  2) Enter your name and email address into that little widget below (or login with your Facebook account), then click '+1 Do It!' and then click the little green 'Enter' box that shows up. Got it? Good.

A few terms:
I will ONLY use your name/email to notify you if you've won.  You won't be added to any mailing lists or anything, and the list of names and emails will be discarded when the winner has been chosen and contacted.  I'm very sorry, but you are only eligible to win if your shipping address is within the 48 contiguous states of the US.  I don't think I can afford to ship to Europe or Hawaii.      

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Eclectic Chair Reupholstery

I had the opportunity to try my hand at reupholstering a few chairs for someone. I have never done it for anyone but myself, so needless to say I was nervous. I did repeatedly remind her I've never done this except for my own couches.

She said she started the chairs about a year and a half ago and just wore herself out working on them. She had quite a bit done on them so I thought it'd be easy breezy :)

The frame of the chairs was beautiful and classic, they even had their own natural distressing on the wood frame from age. It looked like they had been black and someone along the way painted them with an oil-based white paint that was worn through. She picked out a bold eclectic fabric, the kind that you either love or hate instantly. I loved it and it reminded me of something you'd buy from Anthropologie.

You'll notice there's a ton of nailhead trim, great look but not so easy. I found it was more difficult to pick up where someone had left off than to have started the project myself from the beginning. The old fabric was so old, crispy and sun damaged that it was torn off without having removed any staples. I'm sure it seemed like a great idea and way easier than taking every staple out, but it came back to bite my in the butt when it was time to add the nailhead trim. Every time I went to pound a nailhead in, it would hit a staple and bend a crazy way. I'd say every for every five tries only one of them would end up working out. Thank heavens she left me a ton of nailheads.  FYI, nailhead can be purchased in a strip where you pound in only one every 3 or 5, or you can buy them individually. The individual way means you must get spacing between each one exact, uniform, and very straight. I had the individual nailheads to work with.

Since the fabric had been ripped off, I also didn't have the advantage of the the old fabric to use as a pattern when cutting out the new material. There's no way I could have done this without the old fabric if they weren't fairly simple chairs. However, it was still difficult when cutting the fabric where the legs, seat, and top met.

Considering all the obstacles while finishing these chairs I think they turned out nicely. I live and learn from my experiences everyday.

Jenine



Linking back to...
missmustardseed.com
romantichome.blogspot.com