Turquoise Sewing Cabinet Turned Polka Dot Beauty

Last fall while shopping at a local thrift store,  I came across a sad little sewing cabinet.  I almost left without buying it because I couldn't see what I would do with it.  Thankfully I went with my instincts and bought it!  

A few weeks ago while I was surfing Pinterest I saw a picture of a sewing table turned drink server. I remembered I had that little sewing cabinet in my garage!  I could use it for summer parties!  My little cabinet opened up just like the one I saw in the pictures, but upon further inspection my cabinet wouldn't work the same way.  The top that opened up was tilting downward and nothing I could do fixed it.  So I went to plan B!  

I'm having a Memorial Day get together and needed a place to put my drink dispensers.  I might not be able to use the whole cabinet, but I could definitely use it for a table!  A friend of mine is also having some parties so we decided we could share the cabinet.  We talked about ideas for color and decided on turquoise. 

Here is the little sewing cabinet before.....

Pretty beat up and definitely not cute!

I had some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint left over from another project that was the perfect color turquoise.  The color is a mix of Provence and Florence.  

I had recently purchased three stencils from Cutting Edge Stencils and the Polka Dot Allover Stencil I bought was ideal for the top of the cabinet.  I painted the polka dots using Annie Sloan Cream.  Then on the front I put a little of the Cream paint in the grooves.  I topped the whole cabinet off with Annie Sloan clear wax and a bit of distressing.

Here is the little sewing cabinet after....No more ugly duckling here!!!

I can't believe this little cabinet has been sitting in my garage waiting for me to give it some love.  I wish I would have done something with it earlier because I absolutely LOVE how it turned out!!!

The Cutting Edge Stencil worked great and was super easy to use.

The little door on the front of the cabinet I decided to screw closed from the back. It wasn't sitting right and kept flying open when I moved it.  Yes, there was a Singer sewing machine inside the cabinet, but I took it out.  I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it yet.  It still works, but this girl doesn't sew!  Some day I will take a sewing class.

This cute little cabinet will be a perfect place to put my drink dispensers for my first 2013 summer party.  Now I need the weather to cooperate.

After my last project it was great to have a quick, easy and straight forward project!  Hoping the next one goes just as smoothly.

Thank you for reading,

Melody

The Stenciled Dresser Challenge

Last summer I was searching all over for a French Provincial dresser.  I had this type of furniture in my bedroom when I was a child.  Growing up I had the typical children's twin canopy bed with the matching desk and tall dresser.  I was searching for a long nine drawer version when I finally found one on Facebook.  I swooped in and it was mine!  

Then it sat in my garage for almost a year.  It was originally going to be a custom job for someone, but with the weather this winter I wasn't able to work on it.  Then in an effort to clean out the garage I decided to sell it as-is.  When it didn't sell quickly I decided to dive-in and get it painted to sell.  I had a vision for the dresser.  I wanted to do a version of a dresser I refinished last year For the Love of Mahogany  A sweet woman named Emily bought this piece and I've since seen it in her home a few times.  It's one of my favorite dressers so why not try and recreate it a bit??  

Here is the dresser before....

One big difference between this dresser and the mahogany piece Emily bought was the top of this one is laminate.  I knew there was no way I could stain the top of this piece.  I decided to paint the body of the dresser in Annie Sloan French Linen, then do the drawers in Pure White.  I painted two coats then applied a coat of clear wax on the entire piece.  For the drawers I wanted them to stay bright white so I only used the Annie Sloan clear wax.  For the body and the top I applied some Annie Sloan dark wax.  

This picture shows how the paint looks after the clear wax is applied.  The wax gets worked into the paint which creates a smoother surface.  The paint before the wax feels chalky and has a bit of texture from the brush strokes.  

Here you can see how the wax deepens and darkens the color a bit.  The wax gives the paint a lot of depth.

Now, what you won't see in these pictures are the next step I attempted.  Adding the dark wax to the body and top of the dresser.  This is when everything went wrong.  The dark wax gave me major problems going on the top.  I've used this paint and these waxes a lot and I've never had such trouble.  No matter what I did the wax looked streaky and horrible.  It was then that I knew I had to redo the top.  

I decided to try sanding the top a bit.  That didn't work.  Then I thought I could darken the top with some stain after I put mineral spirits on to take off the wax....didn't work.  Then I figured why not just try white-washing the top with some of the Pure White.....didn't work.  Oh did I forget to mention this dresser is about 6 feet long??  All these changes and attempts to save this piece from the dumpster each took me several hours.  My 'final' solution for the top was to paint it out in Pure White.

In this picture you can see the newest paint.  It's still a bit wet in the picture.

I painted three coats of Annie Sloan Pure White on the top, then after it was all dry I applied the clear wax.  I was finished!  Or so I thought.  I stood in front of the dresser and then I realized the paint on the dresser and the paint on the drawers looked a few shades off.  The top was stark and bright while the drawers were creamy and softer.  I sat down on a chair I have in the garage that's waiting to be reupholstered and cried.  I knew I was going to have to paint the top again.  I had spent so many hours working on this dresser that all the fun was gone.  I was out of ideas, out of inspiration and I was now questioning any talent or ability I thought I might have had.  

I decided to turn my attention to the drawers.  After I removed the hardware I lightly spray painted it all with Oil Rubbed Bronze by Rustoleum.  Then I distressed the edges of each of the nine drawers and put the hardware back on.  At least I had a bit of skill left in me!  :-)

At the same time I was working on this dresser I was working at my friends house reupholstering and painting her dining room table and chairs.  It was a fun project and my friend was a huge help, but it meant I didn't have a lot of time to work on the dresser.  In hindsight this was all for the best.  It was a perfect distraction.  Had I not been working on her project I know I would have taken a sledgehammer to this dresser.....or maybe thrown it off a cliff or even set it on fire.  Yep that's how frustrated I was.  

I was trying to sleep one night and then it hit me (why can't my mind work like this during the day?!) I had a solution for the dresser!!!!  I had recently purchased 3 stencils from Cutting Edge Stencils.  One of the stencils I bought was the Zamira stencil.  I thought this would be beautiful on the top of this piece.  The only thing I couldn't decide on was color.  I had also recently bought a can of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Aubusson Blue.  It's one of my favorite Annie Sloan colors.  My friend Emily, yes the same one who bought my mahogany dresser, had sent me a picture of a mirror she had painted in Aubusson.  That's when it hit me what color I wanted to use!!  I could see the finished piece!  I knew it would be amazing.  

I have never used a Cutting Edge Stencil before.  You can find their website here www.cuttingedgestencils.com  They have lots of stencils to choose from.  I quickly read the directions that came with the stencil then went to their site and watched a few videos.  I was ready to start!  

All I had to do was paint another coat or two of paint on the top of the dresser again.  Yes, at this point I've lost track of how much paint I've used on this piece!

 This is a picture of my first few sections.  They were perfect!  However, as I went down the 6 foot span I must have started getting sloppy.  I had some bleed through and for someone who is a perfectionist like me that's a huge problem.  I just kept going thinking I could fix it after.

 On the left you can see one of my HUGE mistakes.  I have no idea what happened.  This is not Cutting Edge Stencil's problem this was a Melody problem.  After 24 hours of working on this dresser (yes I kept track) I just wanted to be done and didn't have as much patience as I needed.  The stencil is easy to use and they work great, but you need patience to make sure you're not making a mess like I did.  I think I didn't wipe off enough excess paint from my foam roller.  Then one time I laid the stencil in the wet paint.  You get the picture!  The stencil is easy to use and a high quality stencil....just make sure you're patient and paying attention unlike I did!

Here is the stenciled top all done.  You can see it's pretty dark out.  In this light it looked amazing.  Fast forward to the next afternoon....all the imperfections I saw made me cry yet again.  When I went to wax the top all the blue smeared into the white.  It made a huge mess and I couldn't fix it.

I did everything I could to try and fix the spots I could see.  I couldn't get past the fact it wasn't perfect.  Some people can put paint on a piece and be happy with it.  Not me!  I can't be happy with it until in my mind it's perfect.  (That's another post!)   I think at this point I had spent so much time on this dresser that no matter what I did I wouldn't have been 100% thrilled.  So I did the only thing I could think of and got out my sand paper.  I had lightly distressed the rest of the dresser and the drawers so why not distress the top too?  I 'finished' and put a final coat of clear wax on the top and walked away disgusted.

The Hubby was away for the week on business so when he got home I asked him to take the ugly dresser outside with me to take some pictures in front of the tree.  I ran around the house pulling what I wanted for staging, while thinking about what a waste of time it was.  I disliked this dresser so why even bother?

Here is the finished dresser.....

OK so funny thing happened once I took it out for pictures and staged it.....I fell in love.  

I think it's beautiful now.  The contrast between the three colors, the stencil combined with the curves of the dresser and the drawer hardware all work together.  

I love the top distressed.  It gives it more dimension and fits in perfectly with the other distressed parts of the dresser.  

This dresser pushed me and my anxieties to the brink.  I honestly felt while I was working on this piece that I didn't have any talent, abilities or vision.  I kept telling myself I shouldn't even be allowed to use Annie Sloan's amazing paints or pick up a paint brush.  I posted a quick picture of the dresser on my Facebook group page and a status update about how I was feeling.  It was nice to read the comments everyone made and the encouragement they gave me.  

Looking at this piece now I can admire it and appreciate its beauty.  I had initially started this piece to get it out of my garage and into someone else's home, but now this one needs to stay with me.  It's my reminder to NEVER give up.  I've had lots of times in my life where I wanted to give up, but not as much as with this dresser.  Now this all might sound so dramatic, but there have been a lot of things going on in the background besides the dresser that I don't write about.   Lots of 'stuff' going on right now.   I hope sometime soon I will be able to share a bit of the 'stuff' with you.   

Some wonderful friends of mine had a Stella and Dot party a couple of weeks ago.  I bought a necklace that has a tree of life charm.  In the box there is a quote that says "Stay firmly planted, but always reach for the sky"  I've been thinking about these words a lot lately.  These words were just the reminder I needed to keep pushing and keep reaching.  

Thank you for reading,

Melody

Updated Entertainment Cabinet

I posted this week about the Happy Camper Buffet that I refinished for a friend.  Unfortunately for my friend the buffet didn't work in her space so it went to a new home.  After seeing how the buffet looked in her family room, it dawned on me that all her current entertainment cabinet needed was a bit of a face lift!  Her Hubby unloaded all their stuff from it and we loaded it in my car.  I brought the cabinet home and put it in the garage where it sat for a few weeks while I went on vacation and got sidetracked with other things.  That seems to happen a lot around here!  Thankfully my friend and her Hubby were very patient with me!

Here is the before picture of her entertainment center

It had a lot of great detailing that went unnoticed the way it was.

  

I knew the cabinet would be gorgeous painted in Annie Sloan Old White.  Before I went on vacation, I started painting the cabinet, but then I realized it was going to be a lot more work than I had time for that week.  I  thought the inside where the doors cover wouldn't need to be painted, but there was no way to stop and start the paint without making a mess.  I took the doors and back off and took the shelves out to make it easier to paint.  I only got about about 3/4 done with my first coat before I had to leave on vacation.  I do NOT like leaving projects undone.  It drives me crazy not to finish when I start something. I thought about that cabinet every day while I was on vacation!

Today the weather was gorgeous and I was able to work outside which meant I had a lot more room to work!  Plus I get to listen to the birds chirp and get some Vitamin D while I work.  Of course I forgot to take any pictures as I went along.  I was way too focussed on getting this piece done so my friend could get her cable box and DVD player off her Family Room floor!

  Here is the finished cabinet....

I think it's stunning now!

I painted two coats of Old White on the whole cabinet, then distressed and finished it with a couple coats of clear wax.  It's amazing what a bit of paint can do isn't it?!

I had some brass hardware leftover from a dresser I refinished in the fall that I knew would look great on the cabinet doors.  I didn't like the way the brass looked so I put a bit of Old White paint on them and dabbed some off while it was still wet.  I think they add a bit of interest without taking away from the other details on the cabinet.

It doesn't matter how many pieces of furniture I refinish, I'm always surprised at what a huge difference paint can make.  My friend was ready to part with this piece and find something new.  Now this entertainment cabinet has a new look and will be stunning back in it's old space in my friend's Family Room.  

If you have an old piece of furniture you're thinking about getting rid of, why not give it a few coats of paint and see if you can resurrect it?  

Melody

Happy Camper Buffet

I know I've been absent from blogging for a bit!  It seems the blog is always the thing that gets pushed aside when I'm busy.  I got a bit overwhelmed with projects and then we went on vacation for 9 days.  We got back on Saturday and I'm still not back in the swing of things.  Some day I will be able to balance it all.  Not sure how people manage to post so often and get everything done.  I think I need some tips!  Anyway, on to the post.....

My most popular post is my White And Neglected Craigslist Dresser Makeover.  I get a lot of emails about the color and the homemade chalk paint I used on the dresser.  The color green is one of my favorites and I'm not normally fond of green.  The color is called Happy Camper by Behr and it really does make me happy when I see it.  I loved it so much I even painted my Kitchen Table in Happy Camper!  So a few weeks ago when I found a buffet for sale on Craigslist for a friend of mine I kept coming back to that same happy green.  

Here is the buffet before

It was missing some trim pieces that had broken off and the top was a scratched mess.  I was drawn to the detailing on the drawers, the edges and the legs.  I LOVE the legs!  Plus the hardware is one of my favorite vintage styles. 

To start off I stripped and sanded the top.  I then used a combination of Kona and Dark Walnut stains.  It took a few coats with some sanding in between until I got the color I was looking for.  

Here you can see what the wood looked like before I stained it.  I had to quickly stop and take a picture when I realized I had forgotten to take one after sanding!

I also learned a very valuable lesson.....I don't like spray on Polycryllc!  Once I had the top completely done I decided to try using the poly in a spray can.  I read the directions and then started spraying the top.  It was a bumpy, awful mess.  After a few choice words (sorry neighbors) I came to the realization that I was going to have to sand off the poly.  I wasn't exactly thrilled about this, but I got to work and a couple of hours later the top was sanded and re-stained.  I decided to finish it off with a few coats of Annie Sloan dark wax instead of attempting anymore poly finishes.  

Next step was fixing the trim that was broken.  I searched Home Depot and Lowes for trim to match the trim on the buffet, but I couldn't find an exact match.  Instead I removed the trim pieces along the bottom and moved them to the top.  Then once that was done I used wood filler and sanded again. 

Next it was time for paint!  I painted the body of the buffet in Annie Sloan Pure White and the doors and drawers in Happy Camper.

Here are the drawers and doors after one coat of Happy Camper.  I have to point out here as well that I didn't make homemade chalk paint this time out of the Happy Camper.  I just used flat latex paint instead.  I wasn't thrilled with the homemade version and I was really happy with how the flat latex went on after some sanding.  

After two coats of paint I let it dry for a day and went back and distressed a bit with some 220 grit sandpaper.  As a last step I put on a coat of Annie Sloan dark wax.  

These pictures are after a bit of distressing and before I applied the dark wax.

For the body of the buffet I used two coats of Annie Sloan Pure White, then distressed and finished with a coat of Annie Sloan clear wax.

Look how all the details pop now!  They weren't as noticeable before the paint.

If you're a regular follower of my blog you'll know I love to take pictures of my furniture pieces outside in front of our tree in the yard.  I had every intention of doing this, but Mother Nature had other plans.  It snowed and there was no way I was going to be able to get outside pictures before my friend's Hubby picked up the buffet.  

I finished the waxing in the living room so that's where the pictures ended up being taken.  The lighting is horrible in there which meant the pictures turned out nowhere near what I would like them to be!  I didn't take very many pictures too because I thought I was moving the piece outside for staging.  

Here is the finished buffet.

The lighting gives it a yellow tinge, but the paint is definitely white and the green not so yellowy!

For the hardware I cleaned and scrubbed it with a mixture of vinegar and baking soda.  I let it soak for a bit in the vinegar then scrubbed it with baking soda and a brush.  I love how coppery they were after a good cleaning.  I had originally planned on spraying them, but they worked perfectly with the green paint.  

Once the buffet was delivered to my friends house, we decided it wasn't going to work for a media cabinet.  It was too high and just didn't look right.  I'm a firm believer in things happening for a reason.  I listed the buffet and it quickly sold to Mandy, who I did some custom work for in the summer.  She was the lucky person who bought the beautiful Creamy Yellow Empire Dressers.  She had the perfect place for this gorgeous and happy buffet.

Mandy took a picture of the buffet in its new home and posted it on my Facebook page.  It looks like the buffet was made for her entryway!

Although my friend was really sad to see the happy green and white buffet go, it all worked out in the end.  I'm happy it went to a great home with someone I worked with before.  Now I'm working on my friend's entertainment center and giving it a makeover.  Everyone is happy!  :-)

Melody