Friday 30 January 2015

High Gloss White and a wacky story.

Some days I feel like my life is a soap opera. You know the TV shows that everyone's mom used to watch. 
Does anyone watch those things anymore? Are they even on TV anymore? 

I'm going to try to cut this story down a bit. But lets start with this. 
I bought this amazing mid century dresser at auction. (along with the matching tall boy...but lets focus here) 
I turned it into this. 
 Lovely right? So I posted it on kijiji and had a lot of responses for it. It sold.

Now this is where the story gets interesting. 
I always try to be nice when responding to people online. I hate hate hate when people respond to ads with one or two words or worse...don't respond at all when you are trying to buy something. 
So I have made it my goal to always respond and be totally honest with them. I had to let everyone know that it sold. 
One of the people that was interested recognized my name in a responding email. 
Turns out she is the..........ready for this?

She is the second wife of my husbands first wifes, second husband. 
Got that? 
Go ahead and scratch your head for a min. 
See we (hubby and I) are a blended family. We've both been married before. Now his ex wife got married again....and then divorced, and married again. 
The second ex husband married again...and it was this person who messaged me. 

All of these marriages and divorces were years ago, and honestly I don't think anyone cares anymore. I certainly don't. And "D" doesn't either. We don't all hang out or anything, but we all have one thing in common.....our son. Poor boy now has three sets of parents. 
Anyway. 
Back to my story. She knows what I do for a living and she asked me to keep my eyes open for a dresser...we talked and I had a pretty good idea of what she wanted. 
It didn't take long and I ran into this while looking for something totally different. 

 Phone pics suck....but it is real. I saw this in a thrift store and knew instantly that it belonged to "D"
Texts were exchanged and this was loaded up. 

She was planning on painting it herself but once they looked at it they decided to let me do it. 
Apparently it was just easier......go figure :) 
And here she is. 



This is going into the bedroom of her daughter. I have the matching bedside tables...but they are not quite done yet. 

I've always said that there is no such thing as a "normal" family. 
But now I'm beginning to think that I should change that to "everyone's family is a soap opera" 

Sharing:
Miss Mustard Seed
  



Thursday 29 January 2015

Tuxedo Dresser

I don't often name my dressers or any of my furniture. I've tried since I think it's oh so cute and cleaver. Sadly I'm not one of those bloggers that come up with all sorts of cutesie names. 

But I did today :) 

Check out the sweet dresser I found

 I know I know. My picture taking talent just amazes you. Trust me I'm amazed too! :)

Ceiling pics in the garage are my favorite. Don't you agree?

ok, enough of me making fun of myself. You came to see the finished product. 

 I wanted to do something I never do with a french provincial style dresser. 
Paint it BLACK!

 Who would have thought that it would look so ready for a night on the town?
 Pass by the next pic...my lack of a ceiling is almost starting to embarrass me.

 Lets just focus on the curves and oh so pretty details
And you know..I didn't glaze or distress this one even a little bit. She is perfect just as she is. :) 

Sharing: 
Miss Mustard Seed
  


Friday 23 January 2015

Great Junking weekend!

So it's been a while since I've been out actually looking for pieces. 
And it's been a bit accidental. 
I've been a part of a site called Varage. It's kinda like Craigslist or kijiji, but you have to be a member and it's more personal. 
It's free, which is always a bonus for me. I would hate to have to pay to offer or buy stuff. 
It started with me seeing this wonderful piece. 

 I had to have it.
Isn't it pretty? Now it was in Port Huron (that's in Michigan) and I'm in Ontario...that's in Canada. 
Now for those of you who think you can't bring things across the border. Fear not! I've done it dozens of times and have yet to have an issue. 

On my way back I decided to stop in at a few of the places I normally hit that carry good furniture at decent prices. 
The first few places were a bust. 
But then I hit my fav place and BINGO! 
I emptied my wallet...lol 
 First up is this wonderful Dresser. Great shape, needs updating, but it's going to be so well worth it.

Even the mirror is in exceptional condition. I love these pieces because they are generally very well made and very sturdy. Not a lot of repair is ever needed on them. 

 Then this wonderful Harvest table. I had a good look at it before I bought it and noticed the nails. If you have time, do a bit of research on nails. You can almost always find the age of a piece just by the shape of the nails. And trust me not all square nails are equal. I am going to date this piece to early to mid 1800's...just by the nails alone.
Isn't this drawer sweet? 

Finally this amazing desk. 
 Just the look of the desk is sweet....but what I found inside was something so unique I've never seen it before.
 That's a safe. It's built right into the desk. I need to get a picture of the back of this thing. There is the lock on the safe and then the doors also have locks. But on the back of the other side is a cheater hole that allows someone to get in and out without a key. Strangest thing I've ever seen.
So some great finds. 
A few small things, some drawers and lots of frames. 

What have you found lately? 

Sharing:
36th Avenue
  

Tuesday 20 January 2015

A non boring entertainment unit.

When you say the words Entertainment Unit what comes to mind? 
Something like this? 
Yup..me too. A lot of people are moving away from things like this. We don't even have one. Our TV sits on the wall. Not that the tv ever goes on...but that's another story. 

I love that everyone seems to be thinking outside the box now when it comes to places to place their TV's. 
Last week I picked this up
I thought it would make a wonderful entertainment unit or buffet. Maybe it was the glass that got me. I just couldn't leave it. 
And it sold
Before I had the chance to paint it. Which is wonderful. That way it's not just my vision for a finished product...I get to have collaborators. :) 

We hashed out a few ideas and came up with something absolutely wonderful. 
What do you think? 
 I'm in love. I think I say that a lot. Maybe it's just an addiction to furniture. Either way I thought the finished product would be great in any home.
 You know how some pieces fit this style or that style...this one has it all.

 And if the new owner ever wants to change it out and make it into something else....perfect. It can become anything.

Can't wait for her to meet this piece in person next week. 
Till then I'm just going to enjoy looking at her. (and yes, in my mind this is a her) 

What would you have done with her? 

Sharing:
Savvy Southern Style
Miss Mustard Seed 
36 Avenue 
  

Monday 19 January 2015

The bed from HEdoubleLL

It's so pretty. 
So many nice details. 
BUT oh my oh my
I've come across the bed from mishap H.E. double L.L. 

It all started innocently enough. 
Found a wonderful antique bed and brought it home. 
 Obviously my taking pictures didn't work very well either. I know that somewhere in one of my thousands of albums there is a true "before pic" But really. This seems more appropriate.
They look fine don't they? 
But even getting them to this point was a chore. I sanded them down and as feared the dreaded bleed through happened. Not a big issue if you are painting it dark, but when you are using a cottage WHITE....it's a huge problem. 
Thankfully I knew what to do and these pics are after I fixed it. (hint, seal it with a poly, stain blocking primers do NOTHING!) 
With that taken care of it was time to get it really painted. 
Including the side rails. 
 Amazing right? Looks wonderful. All ready to go to a sweet little girl.
 Side rails are perfect. Everything is ready. So I thought, I'll put it together and take some pics.

 This is the kind of bed where there is a bolt that goes through the center and wood slides into the slots. But when I went to put it together..........it didn't fit! Panic mode. My client/friend was coming the next day to get it. Quickly I called hubby who ran to the basement to confirm my fears.....I had taken the wrong side rails. Run home and do it all over again.
 See the difference between the two ends? Look closely. The width between the wood slots is different.
But finally I got it done 
phew......kind of. 
The saga continued. 
When she got it home the bolt (which I KNOW came with this bed) didn't fit. 
She started calling it "Frustrating Friday" 
I ended up heading over to her place, just going there was so much easier than trying to explain what I wanted her to do. 
We ended up ripping the old nuts out, going and getting new nuts and bolts and putting it all together again. 
Today she sent me this. 
See the problem? The part on the side rails where the cross wood sits on? yup...on the floor. It fell off. 
This bed did not want to be messed with..it was perfectly happy sitting in my basement and being left alone. 
After all this kicking and screaming from one stubborn bed....it better start behaving!

Sigh..
I can't wait for the after pics when she is all set up and ready to actually be used. 

Ever have a project that just didn't want to behave? 

Sharing:
Domestically Speaking
Savvy Southern Style 
Miss Mustard Seed 
  

Saturday 17 January 2015

I'm BACK!!!!

The holidays are over and I've been busy.....working that is. 
But I've been lazy on this blog and I plan on fixing that. 
Lets hop right in and show you just what I've been up to. Oh my, this may take a while. One project at a time. 

First up......
This bedroom set. 
 I have no idea why these pics uploaded in a different order than I grabbed them. But it's early and I'm just going to go with it.
 Found this set at auction and I just couldn't resist. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the shape of the bed. Isn't it sweet? And did you see the legs? How could you miss it, first pic. :)

 Tall boy with so many possibilities.
I couldn't wait to get them home (to the studio) and start on them. Thankfully they were sold before I even started, so I had direction in what to do with them. 
Wanna see the after pics? 
Of course you do. 
Why read blogs if you only got the before pics? Right? 
 They were in such amazing condition I couldn't bring myself to paint the tops...so they were stripped and refinished. The rest was painted and glazed.


 And a bit of fun added to the inside.


 The legs turned out even more amazing than I pictured in my mind. (trust me I did a happy dance when I got the first one done...thankfully I was alone as I did my whoop dance)







Right now they are all covered up and waiting for the new owners to move into their new home. I can't wait to see what they look like all done up in an actual room..