Happy Spring!

Well I'm back. I've not been lost in the winter void...or was I? OK, maybe I was a little. I have a few makeovers to show you today and hopefully you'll like at least one of them. ;p

Alright, so I guess I'll go backwards because that's how my memory is working today. This desk was neglected. Oh so neglected. It was covered in mold and was grimy and gross. The poor woman that owns it had sanded her heart out to try to get rid of the mold but all she needed to do was call me. Well, she did, but not before she wore her arms out, I'm sure. It just needed a litle TSP...or A LOT of TSP and A LOT of paper towels. Cleaning pieces is not my favorite part. Here is the before picture of the poor thing.

Some of the not white parts you see is wood grain but most of it, folks, is grimy white. Yeah...it was kinda bad. So she decided she wanted a Chinoiserie style and that's what I did. I painted the whole thing red, then black on top and distressed so that the red showed through. The hardware, which is obviously not shown, was painted gold. Now I do not normally like gold anything but it really popped against the black and I'm quite fond of how this desk turned out. Of course, I'm biased I suppose. I did paint the thing.

The pictures aren't great. It was too sunny, I think (aww, for shame). Great for painting, not for taking pictures. Anyway, you get the feel for it!

Let's see, this next one is pretty straight forward. We have a plain cedar chest and a side table. The side table had been painted previously and even looked like it had been antiqued but it looked more like a lot of stuff had been spilled on it and didn't get cleaned from the crevices. Yeesh...it looks much better after. She just wanted a clean, simple yellow for both.

OK, this last one was some work. I should have known better but apparently I didn't. It is a mahogany vanity. What does mahogany do? It bleeds. It bleeds like no other piece of furniture has bled before in the history of furniture. So I painted it white, la di da. I come back an hour later and the whole thing is pink. I go about things the stubborn and hard way and paint it white again. There, that should do it. Nope...it's just a little less pink. Oooooookkkkkk, fiiiiiiiiiine! I guess I'll get in my car and trek five whole miles to Lowes to get some shellac...what a burden!! So I do and then I shellac it, and then I paint it white. Lord knows it was better but gosh dang it if there weren't a few places with a delicate shade of pink. So I shellac it again....paint it white....again........and then put the poly on. OK, finally, it's white. The whole thing....Oh, and I gave it a new cushion and upholstery job. :) OK OK, here is the before and after.

I antiqued it a little bit to bring out the details which were lovely.

That's all folks! Now that I'm back in the game I'll be posting much more regularly. Hopefully weekly if business gets good! See you soon!

It's like a Fairy land!

This bedroom set I'm about to show you is so awesome! My client wanted her bedroom to feel like she'd stepped into a world of Fairies! After a lot of back and forth and lots of pictures we decided on what she wanted done and the colors. As she was dropping it off we talked a little more and she mentioned that some glitter on the hardware would rock her socks! I was so thrilled. Let me tell you about how awesome my job is. Everything I paint may not be something I'd like in my own home but it's certainly always fun to try new things and this particular one definitely brings out the little girl...you know the one that wears her princess costume around any time of the year, with the tall cone hat with sheer fabric flowing out of the top. Yeah.

This furniture had been her mother's and was then hers when she was younger. Now she's married with a child of her own and wanted something new and more her style! I used four different colors on it. Three I bought at Lowes and the fourth I custom mixed from the blue and green.

Ready? OK, here are the befores.

 

She actually did not already own the two nightstands. She found them at an antique store the same day she dropped off the furniture. Truly meant to be. Alright, enough talk and on to the after pics, right?

Disclaimer: These picture (OK, all my pictures) are taken with my iphone 5 and although pretty good it really doesn't pick up details like I would like. Hopefully you can still see all the pretty colors.

How perfect are they! I wish I could have picked up the gorgeous sparkle on the hardware but ya know. You'll have to use your imagination for that one. I have more furniture coming up VERY soon! Thanks for stopping by!

If you have a moment please stop by my Facebook page and give me a "Like". Word of mouth is all I've got, friends! I appreciate it so much! The Painted Cottage

FINALLY!!

I know it's been a while since I've posted but I have been a busy bee! I've been working on two nursery sets, a dresser and nighstand set, and a chair makeover. I have the chair after pic for you today (I forgot to take a before! :( ), and one of the nursery sets is complete and being picked up today.

First off I'll show you the chair. It was a Craigslist find by one of my clients. The entire chair was the same color as the seat to give you an idea of the before. I asked her to pick out a paint chip from Lowe's so we would know it would match and she dropped it off! She told me she wanted it lightly distressed but that her decor wasn't really cottage chic so not too much. I'm not much of a fan of heavy distressing myself, but a little light distressing really brings out the details sometimes.

I really love how it turned out! I do my best to only distress in areas that would naturally wear from use. I feel like anything more than that looks strange.

OK, now on to the BEFORE & AFTER of the first nursery set! Yay! I've not ever done this much furniture at once before and feel truly blessed. This client has a lot of future work for me and I can't wait to help her make over her home!

Before: It was a new set of furniture with some slight wear (her little girl is 11 months old) but she originally bought it thinking she was having a boy. When they discovered they were having a little girl she felt like this wasn't fitting. She wanted a super girly room for her princess. She actually found me via one of my Craigslist ads for a vanity I'd refinished and was selling and asked me to redo the rest of the furniture. Here are the before pics. The dresser and crib matched but she had a random side table she wanted painted so it fit better. I didn't take befores of the crib but you can get an idea.

She wanted me to paint the set white but didn't want it too white so I used a single layer of dark wax to darken and add some dimension. She also wanted more girly hardware. I knew EXACTLY what I was going to use. As a matter of fact I had already purchased a few for when I redo my own furniture...which is lucky because Hobby Lobby didn't have enough for this job so I ended up using them. Rest assured I will be getting more for myself when the time comes. ;) Anyway! Here are the after pics!

I love these knobs even more now getting to see them on a piece of furniture! That's all for now! But I will have another nursery set for you on Saturday or Sunday...or Monday. It's my husband's birthday weekend so I'm not sure how much time I'll have to blog but I promise it'll be less than a week! Later Gator!