Friday 24 February 2012

Fun Blue Vanity and working with family.

Good Friday Morning :) 
We are getting hit with the biggest storm of the season right now. I'm waiting till later this morning to start shoveling the snow. So far it doesn't look nearly as bad as what they were predicting, and I'm hoping it doesn't get that bad. 
Gotta love life in Canada :) 

Last week my sister dropped off a coffee table made by my nephew for a high school project. He asked me to stain it for him. Not knowing what it looked like, I said sure. 
When she dropped it off I knew right away it would be a teaching project for my nephew. There were gaps between the wood and it wasn't properly sanded down. So I insisted that he come "help" If he wants to make furniture, he better learn how to finish it correctly. (I'm mean that way..lol)
So here is my nephew working away. I had gotten him to sand it down and fill in the gaps. 

It's going to look fantastic. Made of solid ash! He really did do a good job of building it. I think though that if he attempts to do another piece he will make sure there are no gaps..the sanding of all that wood fill can be brutal..lol He kept saying he's learning a lesson in all this. :) 
While he was doing that I was finishing up a vanity that I picked up and decided to go wild with. Well wild for me. 
 I am so bad at before pictures. 
I picked this piece up last weekend from a lovely lady who thanked me for responding to her kijiji ad. Her parents bought this for her brother back in the 1940's. Sweet, but I really don't see this as a guys piece...do you? 

 All chippy, so I removed the worst of it, and sanded it down nice and smooth, the way it was meant to be :)
 This thing was/is HEAVY. There was a double layer of veneer on the back that just broke off in less than two min. It covered solid wood, and not just any solid wood. One inch thick maple! No wonder it was heavy. 
Time to check on Zach (nephew)
After a ton of sanding he chose a stain, Best way to do that is to just open some different ones up, and do little test spots on the underside. Each wood accepts stain differently so even if you pick the same stain for two projects they might not look the same because of the wood. 
He chose a dark walnut.
And went to work after a brief lesson from me. 

I will share some more pics of this project, but he worked hard and got it all stained before he had to go home. Good job Zach! 
Ahhh back to my little beauty. 
 I painted the body an oops blue and the drawers and mirror a light cream. Then went to town distressing the drawers.
 I went over the whole thing (except drawers) with a black glaze that I mixed myself.

 I just love these original bakelite pulls. I wanted to keep them.

 See the cute little drawer in the middle? Should I lay down some material in them? Would you? They are in very clean very good shape.
 This is so very different for me. 
I love it, but not sure anyone else will. 

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