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  There was VERY outdated engraving in the headboard...not the kind of engraving that you could sand out...I'm talking engraved into the wood about 1/2 an inch.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  Goodbye funky outdated design!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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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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Dining Set Gets a Face Lift

Today was back to business.  Took the little puppy on a run this morning and unpacked some from my trip.  I worked at the thrift store then took both of our vehicles for major exterior cleanings and waxings.  I normally do this myself, but the last few weeks and the upcoming weeks are pretty jam-packed and the vehicles were in desperate need of attention.  I came home and trimmed a couple trees in the front yard and then mowed everything...also in desperate need.  Why is it that the more I do, the more my list grows.  I get to check off mowing, but then as I'm mowing I realize that the yard needs a weed, fertilizer, and ant treatment.  I also need to weed eat, then fix the gutter that fell apart while I was mowing.  Oh, and I also saw multiple bushes that need trimmed (I feel like I just did this last week).  And I need to fix a couple of the lights in the flower bed, and weed the flower bed, and trim the sago palm that sprouts new growth at an insane rate.  I've tried to kill this thing...it keeps coming back.  I seriously did everything I mentioned within the last 2 months and now it's time again.  Oh well, I guess that's life.

Tonight I'm sharing a table that I recently worked on for a client.  We were giving this piece an updated look.  Warning: I don't have any fabulous before or after pictures of the entire set because I didn't have anyone to help me haul this beast out to the yard to take a picture...so we're working with what we got...okie dokie?  Here's a few before pics and "in-the-works" pics:

 Here's the table with the two additional leaves added in and the top sanded down.  I used my orbital sander with 120 grit and lots of elbow grease.  I had to be careful because this table top was a veneer overlay that was extremely thin.  I was afraid that at any moment I would create a blemish...thankfully, I did not.

 These are the chair frames that go with the table.  In the picture the color looks good, but in actuality they were finished in a whitish, yellowish, goldish finish that was begging to be refreshed.

 My client wanted the table base and the chairs to have a bit of a taupe look, but then darkened up, also with a bit of depth and texture to it.  So, I started with Annie Sloan's Old Ochre and added a bit of some brown acrylic paint to try to darken it slightly.

Here's a super bright picture of a chair with the old ochre on it:

 

 I then added some dark wax to the chairs using the Annie Sloan soft wax.  I dipped a bit out onto a disposable plate and applied it with a wax brush.

 This picture shows the beginning of the transformation:

 This is the top of the table after I sanded it with a 220 grit paper and then steel wool.  It was stained with Minwax stain in Dark Walnut.  I added three good coats of clear wax.

 Here's the table base after the dark wax was applied.  In person, it gave it a bit of a restoration hardware look.  I was super excited.

 After my client saw everything, they wanted to darken it a bit more.  I was hesitant to continue layering the dark wax, because of the tackiness it would have to it.  So, I opted for dark walnut stain.  I then added 2 coats of dark walnut stain and used a dry rag to wipe it back off slightly.

 Although the pictures don't do it justice, I think it turned out really well.  I absolutely loved the base and the chairs and my client loved the variations you could see in her table top.  The entire piece felt like it had been revived.  We are working on fabric for the chairs now.  Once everything is set up in her home, I'll try to snap a final picture.

Thanks for hanging with me! JUNKtion out!