The Rest of the Story

Well here are the rest of the things I got finished this week.  I had a lot of fun making each one. I have the best second job in the world I get to treasure hunt for things to use in my work and then on Monday go down to my treasure trove and pick out something wicked cool to paint.  Below are picture of the things that made the cut this week.(I also did the magic carpet table, the small step back cabinet, and the blue curio cabinet, this is just the rest of the story!)

This is a wicker table I was given that was falling apart. I repaired it and painted it with my own special color.  The chair was also given to me and I painted it Dove Gray and stenciled the number on it. 

This is a painted birdcage mounted on an old post I had and 2 painted picnic baskets.

The top picture is a really well made milking stool I painted gloss black.  The second picture is of a handmade wooden bowl I mounted on a pedestal and painted a metal lid glossy black for its topper.  The door knob pieces are wall ornaments that you can hang cool stuff from the knobs.  The birdhouse I just gave a face lift with a fresh coat of paint.

Here is an old high chair I painted Dove gray and scuffed up the edges to give it an aged look. Basic and simple but it would be lovely in the corner with some flowers sitting in it.  I had a good week, I worked hard and am resting up for another Monday doing what I love.  Hope you are having a great day and check back often for more painted pleasures.

Blue Curio Shelf

Every time I go to a secondhand shop I always find something I can't walk away from. I can't explain it....it is what it is.  I went to a small shop that usually doesn't have furniture still I found a piece I just had to buy.

Doesn't look like much I know.  The 2 shelf pieces were .59 and 1.29 and as we all know you get what you pay for. In my case that is hardly ever true.  I see something handmade like this and right away I get a vision of what it could be.  The little drawer (in the middle) was a 1.00 so total I spent 2.88 so I really didn't have much to loose, less that a cup of coffee at Biggby's.

I stacked the piece together like building blocks and applied a coat of bonding primer.  I mixed up a batch of paint and painted 2 coats of that over the primer.  When it was dry I scuffed up the edges and gave it a coat of Min Wax water base poly. 

Small Step-back Cabinet

As usual I kept very busy this week painting new things for the booth I rent at the Peddler's Market in Greenville.  Last week a couple came from Saginaw and bought every piece of furniture I had in the store. It was wonderful to think that I made money that day but more thrilling was the fact that someone really gets what I do.  It was a great day but I really had to kick it into high gear to get some things done to fill up my space at the store. 

I began with plans for several pieces and this is the first one that I started on.  I bought a really cool cabinet with 3 drawers.  It appears to have 9 drawers but really only has 3.  It had a lot of charm and I knew that it would be really great painted but still needed something more to interesting.  I had a supply of small tables and decided to attach the cabinet to one of them giving it the appearance of a small step back. 

I applied a coat of bonding primer to the entire piece and then painted it with a gloss black.  After the cabinet dried I stenciled the numbers on to each of the 9 faux drawers to give it an apothecary look.   It is a nice light weight piece that would be great to store anything.  What a great start to the week and there is more to come!

Magic Carpet Table

Last Friday while stopped at a traffic light I looked over to my right and what did I see but a great little table sitting out in front of a resale shop.  I quickly parallel parked my rig and jumped out to investigate my discovery. (My husband is amazed at my parallel parking skills.  I attribute them to my many years of squeezing into many tight places while hunting down cool stuff.)  Oh joy oh delight that's all my brain would register.  I scooped up my prize and took it to the clerk gave her my 3.00 that's right 3.00 and tucked it safely in the back of my SUV.  Thank you Lord for my versatile vehicle that allows me to transport such treasures.

I was really loving the fact that there was this green magic carpet looking stuff on the top. I figure it probably was a plant table on some one's porch that was whittled out of scraps from the garage.  I loved the metal stabilizers on all four sides they are what gave this piece the character that I always look for.  After I got it home I removed the carpet layer.  I know that this table is made from plywood but  who cares I planned on painting it anyway. Plywood beats the press board that most of our fast furniture is made from today and anyways and it much sturdier too.

I thought painting this would be a breeze because I figured  I could take the metal side bars off but no luck there, the screws had been glued in and I was not going to take the chance of splitting the wood.  I painstakingly painted my Dove Gray paint on the bottom portion.  I usually use the skip method on pieces like this anyways so the paint is real sparse on the brush and doesn't drip and land where you don't want it to.  Next I found a door panel that I had and painted it gloss black.  I attached it to the top with a bit of wood glue and finish nails to complete my piece. I then scuffed up the edges with sand paper and painted some water based poly coat on the entire piece.

 I like the combination of the gray, black, and rusty metal.  It gives it a bit of the Industrial Chic look.  Today I am taking this table  to the shop and who knows maybe I will find another orphaned piece on the way side to bring home.  It could happen!