Painted Stereo Cabinet

This had already been stripped of its stereo and speaker when I got ahold of it. It was solid, had wheels, and would make great storage.

I used flat black exterior paint watered down so that the finish would be as smooth as possible.

There were some major lessons learned with this piece. I sanded but didn't use really high grit paper. I stopped at 120. This may not have been a problem, except that I thinned the paint. The paint didn't seal the grain. I applied the paste wax and when I buffed it, I discovered that wax had settled into the grain leaving white film and spots over the entire surface.

My mom suggested using
a hair dryer to melt the wax. I melted and buffed and it looked beautiful.

The doors were stenciled and I didn't think they would hold up to bugging.i used spray acrylic just on the doors.

On the bottom, I recovered the old speaker front with black burlap and spray painted the rusted grate gold to match the stenciled doors. It really turned out to be a great piece.

Painted Desk

This pine desk was in pretty bad shape. Overall the construction had held up but the finish was worn and the top was pretty dirty.

A few months ago I found a stack of vintage 70's wrapping paper. I matched up paint I had on hand with this floral print paper.

I've begun watering down my paint just a little so I can do multiple coats without flops and clumps. I lined the drawers with the paper and put it on accent areas.

I used spray adhesive on the back of the paper then pressed it into place. The paper is coated with polycrylic but the paint is coated with paste wax. I

The paste wax dulled the color a bit, but it ended up matching the paper even more.

I'm proud to say that it sold within hours of being on the floor!

Measure Twice Cut Once

I got lazy and ruined a coffee table.  

Although I sanded the top, I didn't sand the base or legs. 

 The paint peeled.

 It looked so good from far away, but the peeling paint looked terrible and the paper I'd put on top wasn't quite right because I'd rushed the process.

So, after acknowledging my weaknesses I made two purchases.  

 This is Zinsser 1-2-3 made my Rust-oleum it is awesome for two reasons

1. It is water based.  I don't even want to mess with oil based products right now.
2. You can paint it over a glossy surface and go straight to painting!  No Sanding!!!


My second purchase was a Purdy Paint Brush

A proper paint brush makes the difference between slopping paint and applying paint.  Brush marks are easier to avoid with the thin flexible bristles and the brush cleans up quick without even using soap. 

I've started a few new projects using these two new tools.  They've already saved me time and the painting looks really smooth and even.

The table isn't a total loss, the cat loves it and it fits an under the window spot we were having problems finding furniture for.  

Vanity Before and After Part 3

Part 3 of the vanity before and after...

Really I tried to make it masculine or unisex at least.

I've been saving this tissue paper from the Swell line by Cynthia Rowley and Ilene Rosenzweig that Target sold nearly 10 years ago.

Initally I bought the tissue paper because it was the one thing from the line I could afford.  For years I waited for an opportunity to use it and  this is the time. So, to the soundtrack of a Mimosa tree (my favorite tree) being cut down by a jerk that kept bullying his helper, I applied spray adhesive to the drawer fronts and patched together the tissue paper.

To clean up the edges, I cut the paper as close as possible and then pulled a sanding block straight down (not back and forth) from the edge of the drawer front.

It cleaned up perfectly.

I applied a couple of coats of polycrylic and then realized the hardware I bought was a little too small for the already drilled holes.  These handles have a back plate (awesome!) which covers up the origional holes.  I painted them white which looked terrible because they were too bright so I went over that with a very light pink and that didn't work either so I sprayed them gold.

 Periwinkle highlights were added to pull out the flowers even more.

So here is the before and the after

The Big Spill

Mixin colors with the broken antenna.

 The brick red just wasn't working.  I wanted something lighter.  Not pink, just lighter than brick red.  I used some Sherwin-Williams Color to Go mini jugs that I got for $1 each at an estate sale!   The little jugs are great for storage and you don't have to pry them open or hammer them shut.

I kinda like this color, it looks pretty in this glass jar.

Much better than the brick red.

 It turned out great, I mixed too much and had to put it in a loaf pan.  For some reason we have tons of these things.  After painting, I poured the paint back into the mason jar.

Apparently you aren't supposed to store paint in glass jars.

This morning, I started moving stuff around on my work bench and discovered you can't store paint in a glass jar.  Why? I don't know! Just don't.  The paint got everywhere.  It sucked.  So I guess I should add some of those empty paint cans to the shopping list. 

Old Vanities Are a Hard Sell

I watch the beautiful old vanities coming in for market, some painted and some natural.  Huge mirrors, lots of drawers for lady stuff, glass tops, mirrored tops all very feminine.  It's sad to watch the wallflowers waiting for someone to decide that they may have a use for an old vanity.

Who uses a vanity as a vanity anymore? While the big mirrors are nice, they are very difficult to sit at to get ready.  You can't really get close enough to the mirror for makeup application, there isn't enough light unless you take up the top with lamps or resort to a industrial clap lamp.  I found a really interesting article at HowToSpendIt.com It takes a second to get the hang of the site but the article is really informative.  Now I want to line the drawers with suede!

As I've been working with this rather plain vanity, I've been thinking about what it could be used for.  I decided to leave off the mirror. I've also been trying to come up with an accent color for this brick red. I really don't want to use cream, but everything else looks to masculine. 

It seems to be the perfect size for a kids desk or a entry table. Still not sure how it will turn out.

Vintage Tins, Odds and Ends

 Before I began selling vintage stuff, I would pass up all these beautiful little tins because I didn't know what to do with the ones I already had.  Now I scoop them up. I've seen them repurposed in so many different ways.  One idea I saw recently was a table top made of flatened olive oil cans.  It was beautiful BUT these are huge and I can't imagine how long it would take to empty 6 or so gallon sized cans. 

This site intimateweddings.com has a few incredibly sweet and inexpensive ideas for tin uses.
I've seen them made into planters and pincushions and seen magnets glued to them to make pen cups for the fridge. Artofmanliness.com has gathered 22 uses for an Altoid tin. 

 

Groupon.com offered a deal for the local DAV thrift store, which lead me to this amazing creature.  How could I leave the store without him?