Herringbone Cabinet

I’m sharing my love for all things herringbone over at Perfectly Imperfect as my first post as a new contributing writer over there.  (If you are not already a follower of my pal Shaunna’s fantastic blog, I highly recommend popping over and giving it a look-see!)

You’ll remember I proudly professed my design crush with herringbone on my Metallic Herringbone Desk back in December, and the web echoed my cheers and took that little project to it’s heart.  It was even featured on Design Sponge!!

So I decided to delve into the herringbone craze yet again, this time on this maple cabinet.

 

This monstrously heavy maple behemoth of a cabinet was probably from the 40’s or 50’s based on the style. And I wanted to play up the mod style with the finished look.

I chose to paint the body a mid-toned gray in a semi-gloss, with the back of the cabinet in a mustard yellow. The gray and mustard color combo is super hot right now, and certainly kept with the edgy modern look I was going for.

I wanted the herringbone pattern on the drawer and cabinet fronts at the bottom of the piece, and had planned on masking and painting the pattern, but I happened to win a great giveaway from Royal Design Studio Stencils from I Heart Naptime, and guess what? They happened to have a fantastic herringbone style stencil! SCORE! So I got to skip the tedious process of masking and use their great stencil instead, which worked out swimmingly!

I just painted the stencil in one direction with a darker tone of my same gray paint, then washed off the stencil, flipped it over and went back in the next direction with a lighter tone of my same gray paint. The stencil had handy registration marks that helped to line everything up and keep your pattern on track. I’m in love with the finished piece!

I polished up the original brass knobs to pick up on the mustard yellow on the inside of the upper cabinet. Don’t they look fantastic?!?! I used my favorite metal polish, Brasso, to take them from bland to glam!

So, what do you think?  Is the herringbone trend here to stay, or here today, gone tomorrow?

DIY Chalk Paint Dresser

(I’m sharing this project as my first contributing post over at the SNAP! Blog.  Please hop on over and check out this great blog.  I’m going to be attending the SNAP! Conference for creative bloggers this April, and if it’s something you might be considering as well, I encourage you to register soon!  Tickets are selling quickly and are sure to sell out.  I’d love to see you there!)

 

I picked up this sturdy old dresser from the local Craigslist. It's mammoth weight and the dove-tail joints told me that despite it's ho-hum appearance, this piece was built to last and needed a fresh new look so it could be loved and enjoyed again.

DIY Chalk Paint Recipe

I've been hearing about different methods of making your own chalk paint at home. I'm always for ANYTHING that saves me moolah!! After some research and on the recommendation of some furniture refinishing friends, I settled on trying out this recipe:

(It actually ended up being way too much paint for the body of this dresser, and I would think a half recipe would cut it for most projects.)

I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed working with it! I've only had one experience with the pricey chalk paint (that shall remain nameless) so I don't have a lot to compare it to, but I applied the paint without priming or sanding and the adhesion was great!

A tip if you try this recipe out for yourself: Don't try and overwork the paint. Just lay it down and let it set. If you try to brush it on and keep brushing over, it will just lift up, and you'll get ticked off.

This beachy blue gray color (a mis-tint I picked up from the hardware store) took 2 coats to cover, each coat taking about 30 minutes to put down. Quick and easy!!

After the paint was set up, I did quite a bit of hand-distressing with some 120 grit sandpaper to give it a beachy kind of look. After that was done, I applied Minwax Paste Finishing Wax with a clean rag (I keep our old t-shirts around for just this purpose) and when that was set, buffed to a nice luster with another clean rag.

The original wood pulls got the same treatment as the dresser's body, but I wanted to bring in a natural wood treatment on the drawers for a two-tone look that is SUPER hot in design right now.

 

Weathering Wood with Tea and Rusty Vinegar

To achieve a time-worn, antique looking wood finish I tried another internet method that has intrigued me, and it was so fun and remarkably effective! Using just a strong brew of tea and a concoction of rusty vinegar, you can age any wood to weathered gray.

• First, fill a glass container with white vinegar, some fine steel wool, and something rusty. (I added the "something rusty" part. The online recipes I saw just said to put the steel wool in the vinegar and it would start to turn a dark brown, but after leaving it soak overnight, no such thing happened to mine. I'm not sure why. The next day, I decided I would try and put a rusty ol' valve that I had in there too, and that seemed to do the trick for me.)
• Brew a strong cup of tea (I used Lipton Black Tea, but I think just about anything you have that isn't an herbal tea would work.)
• Remove any finish that's on the wood with sandpaper.
• Paint on the tea and let it completely dry (about 20 minutes or so).
• Apply the rusty vinegar with your steel wool, then watch the magic happen as this dries! You'll end us with a nice weathered, gray wood!

With the addition of some Howard Feed-N-Wax, you can take the gray, weathered wood to a deep, natural brown that is stunning! This is life changing, people. I may never use stinky canned stains again. Who knew you could get this look completely naturally? I sure didn't.

And here are the beauty shots. I could totally see this piece is a little boys room, or a beachy guest room. TONS of great storage!

On an unrelated note, take a quick look at the weeping willow tree in our backyard...

Yep! Those are buds! Spring is just around the corner!

(Our early springs and late falls in Arizona might make you in colder regions jealous, but you'll be laughing at me come mid-summer when it's as hot as the lowest setting on your kitchen oven!)

Linking to:

Finding Fabulous, 5 Days 5 Ways, Miss Mustard Seed

The Hob Knobery

I introduced you to my Etsy shop, The Hob Knobery, back at it’s launch in late July (right before the birth of my 4th child.)

I’ve been blown away by the response and want to thank all of you that have made purchases! 

One of my staple products has been the Vintage Salvage Water Valve Knobs. 

I create them to order and have been putting together fun sets of these valve knobs for a variety of buyers since the shop’s launch.  Last week I had the privilege  of putting together a set of 50 to be used as coat hooks at a new bar in New York with a decidedly industrial feel.

You’ll remember, I used them on this fun red dresser (an Ikea hack) a while back.

Hop on over to the shop!  I’d love to put together a custom set for your project! Remember, I always offer a 15% discount on purchases of 10 or more custom knobs!

Another one of my shop staples is the line of natural gemstone knobs.  There’s lots of great stone/color options, or if you have something particular in mind, I can always try and accommodate special requests.  They’re available on either Oil Rubbed Bronze or Satin Nickel bases.

I’m running a special right now on both the Milky Quartz and Rose Quartz knobs.  Regularly $8 per knob, on sale for $6 per knob while supplies last!  (Cannot offer the 15% bulk buy discount on the sale items, but if you order more that 10 knobs, you can still get the 15% discount on non-sale knobs.  Just message me at the shop and I can put together a reserved custom listing for you.)

Thanks again for your business, and I’d love to hear your ideas for new knobs you’d like to see me make or carry.

Faux Zinc Topped French Side Tables

I picked up a cute little pair of French, two-tier side tables from my very favorite thrift store a while ago.  (Yes, the same favorite thrift store I bought this headboard at.  Stay away!!)

They were leather topped, but the leather had seen far better days.  I knew I had to do something about them.  I formulated the plan to prime the whole of the tables with gray primer, including the leather tops.  Then I went back and painted the tops with some Mirrored Silver Metallic Spray Paint I bought from Ace Hardware.  I really loved the stuff!!  I think it’s going to be my go-to silver from now on.  Fabulous stuff!

Once the silver dried, I went back with some black craft paint that I watered down into a glaze, painted it on and dabbed it off with a piece of paper towel.  It turned out looking just like zinc, with the texture from the leather!  I love it!

Then I masked off the table tops and sprayed the body of the tables ivory.  After that had thoroughly dried, I hand-distressed with some fine sandpaper until some of the gray primer showed through in places and on the edges.

Some of the silver spray paint and black glazing tied in the original brass handles, and I called ‘em done!

     

Speaking of my very favorite thrift shop, guess what I picked up there day before yesterday.  Check this awesomeness…

I’ve wanted to do an antique sideboard for about as long as I’ve been refinishing furniture, so I’m on cloud nine to find such an awesome one for a great price!  What should I do to it?  It has to live up to it’s potential.  ;) 

Happy weekend!!

Fabric Winner, Chicken Dinner!

I forgot to draw a winner of the adorable Moda “It’s a Hoot” fabric that I had left over from my dresser redo!

The winner is Jenni from The Roseland Family!!

Congratulations Jenni!

My New Toy, An HVLP Paint Sprayer

I told you guys my Christmas gift to myself this year was a new-to-me Canon Rebel.  I’m very excited to delve deeper into the realm of photography!  But it’s like learning a whole new language; It’s gonna take some time, for sure!

But another Christmas gift also brought a little pitter pat to my heart, and that was a new HVLP paint sprayer from my wonderful in-laws!!  I’d been eyeing this HVLP unit from Rockler for a while now.

At just $99, it’s an extremely thrifty option that I just had to share with you!  It has really good reviews on Rockler’s website, and I have to say that my experience with it so far has also been really good as well.  It lays down a very nice and extremely FAST finish. 

The keys to working with this (and all other) HVLP paint sprayers is getting your paint to the right consistency (not too runny, but not too thick), and adjusting your flow knob so that you’re laying down just the right volume of paint.  (I have mine set to just about the lowest volume, which makes it a little bit slower, but will keep me from getting the dreaded drippys.  When in doubt, always err on the side of more, thinner coats rather than trying to cover in one coat.)  Both of these aspects take some trial and error, but once you hone in on the right paint consistency and the right volume of paint passing through the sprayer, you’re going to get great results time after time, whether you’re painting pieces for your own home or trying to step up your professional refinishing game.

I’m also loving how easy it is to clean!!  I just take it in, dump out any paint that remains in the siphon cup, give it a rinse with some hot soapy water, then put some hot soapy water in the siphon cup and spray it through the gun to make sure it’s all cleaned out, and I’m done!

Rockler is also known for their great customer service, so I feel pretty confident that if I was to ever have problems with it, they’d be able to help me.

I’d like to say that while I am a Rockler Affiliate (I get a small amount if you purchase through the links on my site) I have not been compensated in any way for this review.  I just really like my new paint sprayer and wanted to share it with you as an affordable way to take your furniture refinishing to the next level.

Happy painting!

Coral Headboard and Fabric Front Dresser

I’m going to admit, before the new baby was born, I was getting completely burnt out on furniture refinishing.  And it wasn’t so much the painting that was wearing me down, but the business of it all.  I was DONE with Mr. Craig and his little list.  People from CL wanted me (and usually persuaded me) to give away my work for little to nothing.  That on top of the hassle of flakey people not showing, nervousness about people coming to my house (even if it was only the backyard), and the work put into putting up and keeping up nice ads, it was becoming not worth my time, quite frankly.  Plus, I felt completely boxed into painting pieces a nice, safe white or black, or ivory, because I was petrified that if I didn’t paint things “safely”, they wouldn’t sell, and I’d have them sitting around here forever. 

But when I started bringing pieces into a local boutique in November, I told myself that I was going to start taking more artistic chances with my furniture refinishing.  After all, people can go to any store and buy a white dresser.  What people are willing to pay money for are pieces with character.  Sometimes old pieces have an inherent character that painting it white enhances.  I’m not against a nice coat of white paint when a piece calls for it!  But I was getting a little tired of tying my own hands when it came to artistic expression.  So I decided to loosen up a little, take a few more chances with color an design, and I’m already having a ton more fun!  My mind is absolutely swimming with ideas and possibilities.  So in 2012, I’m bringing the fun back!  And I hope you enjoy it around here as much as I do!  :)

So, in that spirit I present to you this very fun project!

I got this great headboard at a local thrift store.

It certainly had character to spare, and (I’ll admit it) I was tempted to paint it white.  ;)  But at the urging of my Twice Lovely Facebook Fans, I decided to take a chance on a color that I’ve been wanting to use for a while now, CORAL!! 

I’m a big coral fan.  I think it’s a color that is just going to keep gaining popularity in interiors, fashion and other modes of design in the upcoming year.  In fact, I know the Pantone people have some complicated algorithms and such to pick the color of the year, and while they were close in 2011 with the pinky “Honeysuckle”, I really think in retrospect 2011 was the year of Coral.  But who am I anyways?  ;)

But, I digress…

I painted a gray primer, then a high gloss coral that I had color matched to Coral Isle from Krylon.  I hand distressed with some medium grit sandpaper so that the gray primer and just a touch of the dark wood showed through on the edges.

I paired her up with this simple, but sturdy modern dresser.  

 

Someone remade it once before, but it was in need of another update.  I painted the body in the same method as the headboard, first with gray primer before finishing up with the high gloss coral.  But I wanted add some pizzazz to this boxy gal and try out a new method that I haven’t used before by adding a fun fabric to the drawer fronts! 

I bought this great fabric quite a while ago and have been waiting for the right project to use it on.  It’s called “It’s a Hoot, Birds in Flight” in Marshmallow by MoMo for Moda, but in looking around the internet for the purchasing information to share with you (in case you love it as much as I do), I found out that it’s all sold out and pretty hard to find around.

I painted a hearty coat of Mod Podge on the front drawer faces, then applied the fabric to the fronts, let that dry, then added 3 coats of polycrylic (my fave is Verathane) to protect the fabric and make the drawer faces cleanable.

With the finishing touches of some spray painted handles (Lagoon from Rustoleum) and some Hobby Lobby pinky faceted crystal knobs, she’s ready to go!

    

Now, if that’s not fun, I don’t know what is.  :)

You know what else would be fun?  How about a giveaway?!?!

I only used about half my “It’s a Hoot” fabric on this project, so there’s a generous yard left(actually about 1 1/6 yard plus some extra bits), and I thought someone might like to have it. :)  Look at it again.  Isn’t it cute?!?!

We’ll make it simple.  Just leave me a comment here telling me you’d like to win some adorable fabric.  Maybe share what you’d like to do with it as well.

I’ll draw a winner on Wednesday night.

Linking to:

I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, Family Ever After, Meg and Mum’s, Tatertots and Jello, C.R.A.F.T., Sassy Sites, House of Grace, Mod Vintage Life, Primitive and Proper, Domestically Speaking, Somewhat Simple, Miss Mustard Seed, The Shabby Nest, Freckled Laundry, My Repurposed Life, 5 days…5 Ways, Domestically Speaking, Thrifty Decor Chick