Friday 31 October 2014

Mail box transformation

Lesson for today. 
Don't throw out or walk by that old office mail box. 
Even if you don't need one of these in your home. They can be transformed into so much more. 

I had a client drop this off (not the one pictured above...but since I didn't take a before picture, I nabbed one off google) 

Lots of little cubby holes. The possibilities are endless.
She wanted it converted to a shoe rack with legs (so the dogs can't reach) 

This is what I came up with, and she loved it :) 





 Legs and trim..tedious work but well worth it.

Now she has a place for her shoes. Everyone is happy :) 

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Miss Mustard Seed
36th Avenue 
Coastal Charm 
The Dedicated House 
  

Thursday 30 October 2014

The couch set is done!

It's DONE!

And it's gone home.......to it's new home. 

I've been told that the background on this material looks white and have had questions as to why I would choose a tan material for the seat. 
The background on this material is actually tan as well. The pictures obviously don't show what it looks like in real life. The colour is just about identical. 

I bought this set a couple of months ago and spent a lot of time ripping it apart and rebuilding it. 
You can read about that Here and Here

I had a LOT of interest in this set. Including my daughter wanting it. 
I really wasn't sure what I was going to do. Picking someone was soooo hard. I wanted it to go to the right home. 
And each person that asked would have been perfect. 
Then I met "the" person. 
Her story touched me. 
And I knew. 
See the single long cushion? That was her idea, her need. I had already had the cushions done. Two of them. But she asked, begged me to redo them. See she has several elderly aunts that would be using it and since they have trouble sitting and getting up, she wanted something that would be easier for them. She wasn't thinking of herself, just her family. So it was redone.....again. 





And the matching chair. 




I'm so happy with how it turned out. 
And I've told my other clients that yes...I will be doing more. Actually going to pick up another set this weekend. 
So from this.

To this

Now to get my fingers working again so I can paint.... :) 

Every have that project you love doing, hate doing, can't wait to get it done and want to do all over again? 

Yup....this was one of them. 

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Tuesday 21 October 2014

The Broken Beauty gets a makeover.

Last week I shared the story of the Broken Beauty
Go have a peek I can wait..............

Done? 
Well she is fixed. 
And tonight she went home, with a very happy owner. 

The broken leg had a steel pin surgically inserted (by my wonderful surgeon extraordinaire, aka hubby) glued and wood filled. 
Everything was stripped down and scrubbed with bleach, then recreated. 


 She had bought a coffee table from me in this yellow and wanted the same look. Seriously though the yellow is not as bright as it appears in these pictures.






 Two leaves makes this table actually rather large.
  And for those that didn't go back and read the story behind this table..
The before picture. 
And the after :) 
Well worth all the work that went into it. 

How she is something to treasure for many years to come :) 

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Miss Mustard Seed
  




Monday 20 October 2014

End tables and the story behind them.

I'm working with a client who loves colour. And she loves to give. 

She was given this set of end tables. 

She wanted to give them to her aunt. 

Now for the story. 
She had a couch in her basement she was gifting to her aunt. So the two of them decided to haul it up by themselves. Now picture two middle aged women, both under 5 feet tall trying to move a bulky couch up a set of old stairs. 
Fun right? 
Then the couch get stuck. 
When I say stuck....I mean, my client started jumping on it to get it unstuck. 
It wouldn't budge. 
Sooooooooooo
What do these women decide to do? 
Cut the couch in half of course. 
When she was telling me this, I started to laugh. And told her I could just picture her with a saw going through the couch. 
She quickly corrected me
No ordinary saw was used. She brought out a chainsaw! 
My jaw dropped. OH MY GOODNESS! 
It was her turn to laugh. Her aunt loved having two smaller couches now. Had them redone as two. One redone in Blue, and the other in green. 
Could I make these end tables match the two couches? Make them industrial at the same time? 
You bet! 
 She didn't want knobs added. I do have to find some funky hooks to add to the sides so that her aunt can use them to hang "stuff" on. 
Will do that before she comes back to pick them up.

 Casters were added...although I didn't dust them off.


Cool end tables, for a very cool lady with an even cooler aunt. 

I love people :)

PS......she has to replace her banister, apparently the chainsaw did damage to that too. 

Oh my!

Sunday 19 October 2014

A dresser worth the wait.

Before I start I have to apologize for the poor pic. 

I snapped this pic with my phone and sent the dresser off to my booth as I had room for it to go. 

The next day I was called and told that it sold, but there was a twist. 

The person who bought it, had an identical one that she wanted me to paint to match. How cool is that. She bought hers 3 years ago, the left it in her closet, crossing her fingers that one day she would come across it's twin. 

She told me that she didn't actually believe it would be found. 
 I know you must be thinking that the colours are totally different. But remember my apology about poor pics? phone cam is much to dark to show the real colour. 
 I fell in love with the curved top of this dresser. As I'm sure Lyn did.

She had the handles for hers, so I didn't worry about that part. 
The two will be used as bedside tables in her master and she couldn't be more thrilled. 
She did promise me pictures when she gets it all set up. 

I can't wait. 
I love when there is a happy ending to a long search :) 

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Miss Mustard Seed
  

Wednesday 15 October 2014

Broken beauty

If you read all the wonderful blogs around the web describing how to or showing off wonderful pieces of furniture. You know that most of the people pouring their hearts and souls into this wonderful craft do an AWESOME job! 

But then there are others who "think" they know what they are doing. 
I understand there is a learning curve for redoing furniture. 
I get that. 
And I know the quality of my own work has improved over the years. 

But when people sell unsuspecting customers extremely poor quality work it ticks me off! 

 Wonderful Gate-Leg table right? I mean who doesn't love the scooped edges and the spindle legs.
 It's perfect..............well kind of.
 The seller loaded it in the truck for the new owner and neglected to mention this break. I think this was dirty and underhanded.
My client brought it to me, hoping I could fix it. When I bent down to check it out..an odour hit me full on! Mold! 

My client was just about in tears wondering if she should just toss it out. I told her I would work on it and keep her up to date. 

And as she was leaving, I vowed to myself..........No matter how bad the news, I would be honest with those I deal with. I would not try to hide a problem, and I know I can trust people to hear the truth and work with me in fixing it.....and fixing it correctly! 

Now to get to work. 

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Miss Mustard Seed