Painter Girl

Armoire Completed

Well, for those of you in this business... you know what a pain in the butt Thanksgiving through Christmas can be.  Lots of juggling with the schedule to fit everyone in on time or to fill time slots from clients who end up postponing their work until after the start of the new year.  That said, I'm busy working on 2 ceilings in one of my favorite homes.  I'll post more about that tomorrow.  Right now I need to bring you up to date with the last house I was working in.  After finishing the Family Room I had an Armoire to paint for them, so did that last week.  You will recognize my Family Room walls in the background of some of the pictures.

Here's the "Before" picture. The Armoire was painted once, a long time ago, by someone else.  This is the color it was when they bought it several years ago.  It had been sitting in their garage until recently.  The walls in the background are also the "Before" picture.
See how bland...dull and boring everything is in it's neutral state.

Ah... a much warmer, inviting look for both walls and armoire, don't you think?  This is the best "After" picture I have right now of this room because it is still awaiting Marc's magic touch with some new window treatments, furniture and accessories.  But... back to the armoire.  A flat screen tv sill go in the top portion, so little of that interior will be visible.  And of course... the drop cloth will be gone! ;-)

Here is the door detail.  The inserts of the door panels, the 2 bottom drawers, and the side panels are all done with plaster.  Once dry, the plaster is glazed with an umber to look like leather.  The stencil design is raised from troweling the plaster through the stencil and then glazing.  The entire piece is waxed.  This stencil design is one of Melanie Royals, but I do not have the info about it on hand at the moment.  I will try to insert a link later.

The drawer, without knob, also has a raised design.  This was a free stencil inserted in a trade magazine.  The stencil is by LaserExcel.

The side panels are done with the faux leather finish, but with the addition of some bronzed lines to form a diamond pattern.

The top of the armoire also has 3 raised designs, one center and one on each side.  Again...free stencils from LaserExcel. Over the years I have amassed quite the collection of their free stencils that are found in trade magazines.  Their small size works well on furniture or fabric.

Chalkboard Bureau turned Buffet

I know I already posted some pics of that bureau I rescued from my own yardsale, but I thought you might want to see some updated pics showing how fun and functional this piece is turning out to be!  I am still debating whether or not I want to add some colorful casters to the legs.  I do have the original casters that came w/this bureau and I am thinking I may paint them a bright green to match the green used on my walls and on that other bureau I stenciled. 

Here is the side and part of the front.  I only polyurethaned the top, so I can use it as a server, since it is in my dining room.  Remember... all the paint is black chalkboard paint.
Also, I decided to put the glass drawer pulls that I had on before, back on, rather than buy new ones.  I'm trying to recycle what I already own vs. buying more "things".  You can clearly see in this pic, where I have no bottom drawer.  This broke a long time ago, so I just kept the bottom of that drawer and made it a shelf.  I am looking for a long wine rack to insert on that shelf to store wine bottles w/o rolling around.

Here's the front.  Two small drawers, side by side on the first row, then 1 long drawer below, then the shelf.

Here's one of the sides... all decked out for Halloween!

Yardsale Rejects

About a month ago, I had a yard sale. Two of my bureaus did not sell.  Not one bite.  One, was missing the bottom drawer, but I had been using it, right up to the day of the sale, in my own bedroom.  I had long since removed the broken drawer and replaced it with a shelf that held 2 lined baskets for items.  I thought it looked fine and it was certainly still functional.  Well, it turns out, not only did no one want to buy it for a meager $25 in my yard sale, but it was also rejected by all the local non-profits that take in used furniture!  The other bureau was in good shape, but since it that was so rejected at the yard sale, I decided I would keep it and do a little makeover with both this bureau and the Missing Drawer Bureau.  I needed some furniture for my dining room makeover, and I was determined to make these two pieces work!

I painted The Missing Drawer Bureau with black chalkboard paint.  I only polyurethaned the top, since I will use this as a server in my dining room.  The shelf that replaces the drawer was painted with the same orange that I used on the border of the floor in this room.  I will lay wine bottles on this shelf and hope I find a wine rack at some point that fits in this space.  I do already have a chalkboard in my dining room, but I just can't seem to get enough of this chalkboard paint!  I did see this idea somewhere, in some magazine, I believe....  Oh, I am in search of some fun drawer pulls. I want something bright with lime green and/or orange...the 2 colors that I've used in the dining room.  Please send me any leads! I think I will write on the front of the drawers, with white chalk, what I end up putting inside the drawers.  The sides are also chalkboard paint, so I can draw some seasonal pics!  If you look closely, you will see I added a small, horizontal stripe to each front leg, to tie in with the green stripe on the the wall, the lamp and the floor.  Oh, and that lamp, which I love!, was dirt cheap at IKEA.  Looks cool at night, for ambiance! What is that flower???? I bought it 2 weeks ago and it is still going strong!  It seems to be in the cactus family.  It came w/no identification.

Here's another view. Remember, this room is still a work in progress... need to hang artwork, etc.!

This turned out to be my most favorite piece of furniture, to date!  I simply gave it all a coat of Ben Moore's Linen White and then did this All Over Stencil Design in the same green that I have as an accent color in the dining room.   The stencils is an All Over Scroll by Royal Design Studios.  I love this look.  This will now be the bar area in my dining room. With the 2 bureaus, one as a bar and one as a server, I have a ton of storage inside both.  Very handy since my small apartment has little storage!

Here's a closer look. And to think, I almost let this go for $25, in it's unfinished state.  Now I totally love it and it fills a need in my dining room! Who knew???

                                                                                                               

Yesterday I went fabric shopping, because this room also will need some window treatments.  I'm thinking of making some drapes in this black and white fabric, but I will still need to find another fabric with some color in it to bring some interest to this side of the room.  I want to bring in the orange and green too.  I don't have time right now to run around trying to find more fabric, so this project will have to be on hold for a bit.

Here's the double window that needs some help.  These windows are very old and drafty, and since I can't afford to replace them until next year, I want a nice, heavy fabric to keep some of my heat in!  I may add some color to those Roman shades or else replace w/a black bamboo shade.  The view out these windows is my driveway and neighbors house...not pretty.  That is my other chalkboard on the wall in the background.  These Phillip Starck chairs I bought a while ago on Ebay! They will be extra seating, eventually, and live in my office/guest bedroom.  I want green leather chairs, I think, at the table.  I need to hit the Lottery first!  I was all set to buy my chairs, until my hot water heater broke a few weeks ago, and my electric baseboard heat in my kitchen came on and would not shut off.  Both of those repairs wiped out my "dining room chair fund". :-(

A little Fall flower arrangement!

Last, but not least...here's my Happy Pumpkin I made to bring out to my Mom when I visit her next weekend. This idea is in the current issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine.  My Mom is an avid quilter and sewer, so I thought this would be fun for her. It's hard to see in this pic, but the noise is a silver thimble.  I love Fall!!!

Current Projects

My apologies for missing a few days here.  Lots going on, so little time to sit and post.  The good news is, I finished the 3 black pieces of furniture I had been working on, and my client gave me a 4th piece to do.  She is also contemplating having me design a faux headboard for her bed, to be painted directly on the wall.  I am reaching some options now.  I only took pictures of one of the black bureaus because the many drawers were all out of the 2nd piece for transport and I did not want to put them all back in to photo and then have to take out to put in my car.  I will take a photo of this piece when I return to the client's house next week.

Had I look at this pic before I returned the furniture, I would have noticed that bare wood spot showing to the left of the top drawer...where the drawer does not close flush.  I had the black paint w/me when I returned the furniture, so touched it up on the spot.This piece is only slightly distressed, as the client did not want a lot of the finish to be removed.  I also added a finish coat of wax.

Now... onto a new topic.  Last night I attended a Life Drawing session at my friend, Tasha Cough's studio in Jamaica Plain. (MA for those of you out of state...near Boston). Tasha has been kind enough to keep me on her email list about these monthly sessions for the past several months...even though I had not attended any until last night.  I had not done any Life Drawing since my art school days...back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, so I was a bit hesitant!  Well, I had a great time!  Met some wonderful artists and enjoyed a very relaxed, friendly atmosphere.  It was very enjoyable to do this type of sketching, since it had been so many years!  Tasha is not only a decorative painter, but a wonderful artist.  Please visit her Fancypaints website to view some of her work.  To meet Tasha and see more of her work, Tasha will be part of the annual Jamaica Plain Open Studios, September 29-30th this year.  Thanks Tasha, for a fun evening!

Killing Time...but Productive!

Yay, I finished the furniture for my client!  Nothing too exciting, since it's just black with very little distressing on some edges.  It was nice to be home working though.  While coats of paint were drying, I was able to work on my 2 armoires, and tah-dah... they are done too!

Remember this armoire was a matte black in its' previous life.
The sides are painted white.

                                                                                                                   

Close up of armoire detail.

Now this was my least favorite of the 2 armoires... and now it's my favorite!
I kept the sides and a border the original white of the armoire and just taped off 2 panels on the doors.  First I painted with the tan color and once dry, I did the stencil.  This stencil is called "Classic Overall Repeat", in the large size, from Sheri Hoeger, The Mad Stencillist. This stencil comes w/2 overlays, and is made to use as an all over repeat pattern, to look like wallpaper.  For this application I just used one of the overlays as a random placement.

So, while I am still licking my wounds over the postponement of the Fall commercial job, my spirits are lifted by getting some of my own projects out of the way, while I regroup.

Today Marc and I are meeting to work on some new promo materials and brainstorm our next moves and tomorrow I am off for a 3 day wkend to visit my Mom, brother and sis-in-law, niece and new nephew.

It is too dark in my studio for the 2 pieces of black furniture to photograph well, so when I haul them outside to load in my car, I will take pics.

Current Projects

It seems that every time I do a piece of furniture for a client, I look around my own home and see a table, chair, whatever... of mine, that could use a little makeover.  This week I will be doing, or I should say redoing... 2 armoires.  One of my armoires is on it's 3rd makeover, the other... this will be it's second.  Here they are, in their current and former states:

 

 

From top L to R: Current black state of this armoire; close up of detail;same armoire done with large cabbage roses on yellow background. Bottom row, L to R: Same Armoire painted white w/yellow panels and blue cornflowers.  Last photo on R: Current state of another very plain armoire. Blue tape is on for work in progress.  I will post the finished makeover of these 2 pieces... as soon as I finish!

Now, back to the 2 pieces of furniture I am doing for my client.  I am sorry to say, I forgot to take pics before I began this job.  Both pieces are oak, and were varnished at some time, but all the varnish was worn off by the time I got ahold of them.  I just had to give them a light sand.  Lots of hardware on the corner piece, so it took me quite a while just to get all of that off.  The first layer is a black primer, followed by a low sheen black latex paint and then I will give it a coat or two of wax for the final finish.  Oh... I will also sand back the edges slightly.  The owner of these pieces just wants a little distressing, not as much as I did on that bathroom cabinet project.

Small bureau w/2 drawers, which have been removed and are on the table in the background.

This is the 2nd piece.  It fits in a corner and has a lot of drawers! You are seeing one side of it.

 

Here are all the drawers lined up!

Of course, after putting 2 coats of the black on everything, I found a stool I had stashed under my work table, that also is supposed to be painted black.  Grrr... will do that tomorrow and hopefully finish up this project.

One more piece of furniture in my own house that I am eyeing for a makeover is this desk:                                    

I've had it for a long time w/o painting, but I think its' time has come. ;-o  I really like this table from Anthropologie.  I will try to paste the pic here, but for a better view, go to the link.  Can't you see this desk in stripes???

Fun With Furniture

I just finished this piece of furniture for a client.  I wished I would have took a "before" picture, but I forgot, so just have the "after".  You will have to take my word for it, but this was really one ugly, beat up end table, left over from the 60's, I believe.  My client wanted this piece to match another piece I had done for her a year or two ago.  I'll try to find the pic of that and post. 

This piece was tired, old wood with most of the clear finish warn off.  The top was badly damaged.  First, I sanded it all down and primed with a white shellac primer.  Next I base coated it all with Benjamen Moore's Linen White, (latex interior), 2 coats.  Once dry I decided to tackle the base first and save the top for last.  After taping out the top I did a quick multi-glaze finish on the drawer fronts and the remaining sides of the table.  A quick multi-glaze for me means I apply all the glazes at once using a chip brush for each color, then softly blend with a tightly rung out rag.  For glazes I used a sagey green color, a yellow-ochre, and a brownish rust color.  These glazes were mixed with 1 part paint to 3-4 parts glaze with a splash of water.  I just eyeball the mix, much like the way I cook.  I tried a new stippler brush along with the rag, but gave up on that because this new brush is shedding way too much.  I may have to send it back.  I don't think it should shed so much that it ruins my finish! 

Since the top of this end table was so beat up I did a distressed leather finish over it, which matches the other piece I did.  I rolled on the first layer of rust tinted plaster and let dry.  I then troweled on 2 layers of the same plaster, thinly, drying between layers.  Once completely dried, I used a mix of burnt clay and charcoal Fizzy Pigments mixed with water.  I buy these Fizzy Pigments made by Faux Like A Pro, at Johnson's Paint, but they can be purchased on line thru Faux Like A Pro at http://www.fauxlikeapro.com  They run about $15 for a tube of tablets.  I like using these for small projects.  You drop the tablets into water and mix. It's just pure pigment, in a tablet form, so you can adjust the color as needed.  I applied the pigment with a damp sponge and then went over it all with a clean damp sponge to get the look/color I wanted.  It dries very quickly.  I did 2 coats.  The final finish for the top was a rubbed satin wax sealer. The client is going to have a piece of glass cu t to fit the top since she plans on using it next to a couch.  The finish is durable without the glass, but it is still a bit bumpy and uneven because the top was in such bad shape to begin with.

I don't do a lot of furniture, but every now and then someone will ask me to take on their project and I just can't seem to resist.  I basically do not like doing all the prep work, so that is one reason why I don't do a lot of furniture.  I also have limited space in my studio, which is in one room in the basement of my home.  My basement is not a lovely finished basement, and has a bit of a water problem at times. Not great for painting/storing furniture! I take only small pieces that I know can go on my work table, up off the floor.  Larger pieces I do
on site, at the client's home, but I try to combine it with some wall work.  Furniture has so much prep and drying time between steps that unless I am taking the piece with me to work on or able to work on another project in the client's home while the various steps are drying, it is not worth it.