Headboard / Footboard Bench

Hello My Blog Friends!!  I've been keeping busy, so I'm trying to squeeze in some time to share a project or two with you.  The weather here has been all over the place, so I'm trying to take advantage of each sunshine moment I can that I'm not at work to try to crank out some furniture.  I gave you a sneak peek of this bench a little while back, but never got a chance to share the details.

This piece was for a local Florida client.  She rescued this headboard and footboard from a family member who had destined it for the dump.  I know, GASP!  But, if you had seen a true before (which of course I don't have -- big surprise!), you would be more understanding.  There was VERY outdated engraving in the headboard...not the kind of engraving that you could sand out...I'm talking engraved into the wood about 1/2 an inch.  So, I took the headboard to a friend of mine to have it planed.  We shaved off a 1/2 inch of wood from the top of the headboard.  Goodbye funky outdated design!

Then, in the very end we were left with this, but I'll share how we got to this point:

 

The slats used for the original bed frame were what became the "seat" of the bench.  Building the bench will have to be another post, but I did have to solicit some assistance on this one.  Here's what it looked like when it was first transformed to a bench.

I did a lot of sanding with my orbital sander to smooth everything up.  I started with a 120 grit paper and worked up to a 220 grit before painting.  I used a dry brush technique to brush on "Alligator Green" from Benjamin Moore.  Dry brushing (this technique is explained here) uses just a little paint to give a very feathered look.

 The "Alligator Green" was followed with Graphite from Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  This was also applied with a dry brush technique.

After all of the painting, I sanded it some using 220 grit, just to help everything blend well.

Here's another before and after glimpse:

 This piece was going to be used on a patio by my client for an outdoor table, so I gave it three coats of polyurethane once the paint dried.

It's not shown in this picture, but we also added some vintage casters to this piece to it would be easy to move around on the patio.

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Dark Wax Video Tutorial

Hey Guys!  Yesterday, I shared a post with you about using dark wax to change the tone of furniture.  In that post, I mentioned that I would TRY to make a video tutorial.  Well, I did.  I look scary and sound like a country bumpkin in the video, but since both of those are my reality, we'll just roll with it.  Thanks to my neighbor who put her videoing skills to work in this very unedited, low-tech video tutorial!

Hopefully it will help you get an idea though.  I sorta liked doing a video.  Maybe there will be more to come!!??!!??

Just a reminder, here's the furniture we're working with.  These are two pieces out of a set of six that I'm doing for a client.  Here's the before pics:

Let's just get started with the how-to video and then I can show you some more pictures below:

Here's a "during" shot.  The drawers on the left are before any waxing and the drawers on the right are after the dark wax.  The client wanted to pull these pieces into more of the brown tones and move away slightly from the yellowish tone.

 Here's and after of the tall chest, but the lighting is bad...still looks yellow in these pics, but truly it's not.  Again, I will show pics of all of this once it's completed and set up in the clients home.

Here's a side-by-side of the yellow versus the brown:

I'll pin this video to my "completed furniture and projects" board on Pinterest in case you want to view it there.

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The Difference Dark Wax Makes

Hey Friends!  Hope your weekend was great. We had some cool weather here in Florida, but thankfully we had lots of sunshine to go with it.  My weekend was filled with lots of painting, more painting, and a bit more painting.  I did manage to squeeze in dinner with neighbors and friends.  Went to church this morning, and even snuck in a little nap this afternoon.  Gauge has been helping me hold down the fort.  I was able to finish up a couple of clients projects this weekend, and thought I'd share a little sneak peak.

I'm mainly showing you this to show you the difference that Annie Sloan dark wax can make on a piece.  This triple dresser is part of a 6-piece set that I'm redoing for a client.  They had originally decided to use ASCP in Provence (which is a beautiful turquoise-ish color), so we did that on two nightstands, as you'll see further in the post.  They loved that, but thought it might be a little too much on the entire set.  So, as you can see here, we kept the original color, but toned it down a bit to bring it more int the brown family instead of the yellow family.  The drawers on the left side are before I did anything, while the drawers on the right are after wax.

 Here's the entire yellow dresser before:

 I wished I had an entire after, but I sent this to my clients home before I snapped a pic, but they are going to send me one once it's all finished.  It's amazing the difference that the wax can make.  For this piece I simply brushed on Annie Sloan's dark wax.  To do this, I take a glob (yes, glob is a very professional word) of wax out of the can and put it in a paper bowl or on a paper plate.  I personally think that the wax brush is a must for this type of project.  But at $55/brush, it's a bit of investment.  Well worth it my opinion, but if you can't make the splurge, I would recommend chip brushes that you can pick up at Wal-Mart or your local hardware store.  I dip the brush in the wax glob and then use the clean portion of the plate or bowl to kinda rub it into the brush and help distribute the wax on all the bristles.  I grasp the brush with my fist and move it in strokes the direction of the grain onto the piece working it in as I go.  I work in circles where there is detailing to really get it into the crevices and highlight the details.  I use a dry clean rag/cloth to wipe off excess and blend it in.  For this particular piece I did not use clear wax before or after the dark wax, like I sometimes talk about doing.  Just a little wax goes a long way.  And as you can see in this picture makes a big difference.  I'm going to work on another piece out of this set this week and I'll try to make a video tutorial to explain what the heck I babbling on about in this post.

 Here's the nightstands that go with this set.  Done in Provence with clear and dark wax on as a sealer and for antiquing. 

 As usual, Provence never photographs for me true to color.

 This is a little closer to the real life color of these nightstands.

To be continued (with additional pieces, and hopefully a video tutorial)...

Old Buffet Becomes "Old"

Allergies are kicking my tail.  It poured rain here all day.  I'm exhausted and I don't have much productivity to show for my day.  So, here's a before and after I did a few weeks ago for a client.

After:

Before:

During:

 

 During:

 After:

After:

Old Cabinet Makeover and a Tiny Glaze Tutorial

Hi everyone, it's a dreary day in Florida today.  I'm holed up in the office trying to get some stuff together for taxes.  I'm off work today and we have 100% rain chances all day, so there's not much painting getting done.  Instead, I'll share with you a makeover from earlier this week.

This was for a client who had an old oak, welsh cabinet that she wanted refreshed.  The pic on the left below is the after picture.  The one on the right is the before.

As you can see this was originally a tan-ish, brown-ish, grey-ish color before.  The piece itself was really cute, but the paint job made me cringe...layers of thick gloppy paint slapped on.  It's like fingernails on a chalkboard when I see a paint job like that.  This client wanted a bit of a gray finish to this and wanted it to feel refreshed.  Another before:

 She had seen some work of mine done with a custom grey color that I created and then had color matched through Benjamin Moore.  To get started, I sanded this piece down REALLY well.  With all the crevices on this one, I opted for my paint sprayer.  I gave it a coat of primer (tinted to match the paint) and two coats of paint.  That was followed by distressing to bring through some of the natural wood and just a hint of an old paint layer in yellow.  Next was glazing.  Glazing can have different effects.  It can be used to really make certain details pop (like on the drawer detail below) and it can also take on the appearance of a shadowy antiqued look when used where two pieces meet up (like on the bottom doors below).  I used a tintable glaze by Valspar.  I tinted it with 75% brown and 25% black acrylic paint...the cheap stuff.  No need for paying lots for the paint used to go in the glaze.  I use a foam brush and really work the glaze into the crevices of the piece I'm working on:

 Then I use a dry rag to wipe off the majority of the excess glaze.  I follow that by using a damp rag to really manipulate the glaze and blend it in in certain areas and remove more of the glaze in some areas.  I do this until I've achieved the look I'm going for.

 After paint, distressing, and glazing, this piece got a good coat of clear wax for durability and protection.  It also just gives it a perfectly polished sheen look!

I hope my client loves this one as much as I do!

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More Graphite Love

It's been a busy week here.  However, I've had some AMAZING painting weather--thank you Jesus!!  Just a quick little before and after for you.  Well, technically, you're seeing the after then the before.  Good thing we're not getting technical here!

This wardrobe came in the base thrift/consignment store I work at.  This is a pretty nice piece for what we usually get in there, but sometimes I get lucky and get something great like this.  Also, I'm typically not drawn to lighter color pieces like this.  But, I remembered a chest and nightstand that I had done in Graphite for a customer that turned out really great.  So, that was my inspiration for this piece.  The Annie Sloan Graphite seems to work really well against this color of finish.

 Thanks to ASCP, this piece required no sanding.  Also a bonus for me...this piece was clean to start with.  All I did is give it a light wipe down with damp rag to get started.

 I did two coats of paint.  I often get asked if I paint by hand or use a sprayer...the answer is both! Generally it depends on my mood and the finish that I'm going for or the piece itself, but this piece was so square/flat/straight lined so I hand painted it.  I really enjoy painting by hand...kinda therapeutic for me.  I know, crazy, right?  I suppose it's a good thing I enjoy it since it's sorta the business I'm in!!

 After the two coats of paint, I used my electric sander with 220 grit paper to distress the edges of this piece.  I then lightly sanded all the flat surfaces (also with my electric sander) for that silky smooth feel that this paint gives you.  My usual warning:  at this step, if you're a newbie to this paint, you'll likely think you've messed up and ruined the whole thing.  The color will change.  The texture will change.  And you'll be scared.  No worries...the wax will fix it all!

 The entire piece got a coat of clear wax and then I buffed it by hand.  This piece only lasted about a day until it got a new home...I just love it when pieces move that fast!

I'll leave you with a picture of me and my assistant with our sad/poutty faces on because we are missing the man of the house.  Deployments stink!

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