Well goodness, it's been a bit since I've written ya'll a blog post but I have my reasons, to be explained in obnoxious detail within.
The last time you heard from me I was able to squeeze in a writing session during nap-time (Valen's, not mine) and I recalled a fun piece I worked on for my home; before that I was gushing about my last trip north. Well, I'm going back up Wednesday (June 21), if I ever book a flight, and so I only had a month to clear out my garage, book some jobs, and complete them. It took one week to clean the garage and sell off any pieces I had been holding on to, and then the rest of this time has been dedicated to two lovely ladies and some furniture pieces I worked on for their homes. Product lists with links are available at the bottom of this post. I believe it was a Monday when my first client dropped off four chairs, and a dining table to be refinished, and then decided to have a bench I was selling refinished to match. Here is what they looked like before I got cracking:
We talked a lot about color, and fabric, and stain. She knew she wanted a dark table top, and dark chairs so I went ahead and stripped her table (she got this baby for a STEAL), which looked like it had been mauled by a savage animal after a Mountain Dew bender. Good thing she wanted dark stain, because I was able to cover a lot of the damage. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating and neither was her table. It was made with a very thin veneer, which had lots of damage, so I ended up having to paint the stain on, rather than use the traditional method of rubbing it into the grain. It worked in achieving the look she wanted, but the stain would.not.dry. In perfect conditions it would have taken the table, even though the veneer was pine, a really long time to soak up that much stain; in garbage super-sonic humidity with monsoon-esque rains drying wasn't an option. SO, after I upholstered the chairs and bench in fabric we chose together, I painted the table base, sealed it, and then she picked the table up and brought it to her house to dry in air conditioning. Here it is at my house, in a zillion pieces, awaiting pick-up:
I have a few more sessions of work to do at her house before it looks the way I want it to (it was an experimental project!) but it was a lot of fun having a new type of challenge. Since the leaf took stain more normally it is slightly lighter in color than the rest of the table. The plan is to brush tinted top coat over the existing stain job I did to darken it, and then go over the entire piece one last time in a glossier finish to make up for the differences in texture and shine in certain areas. I'll be using VERY fine grit sand paper to soften the finish and avoid sanding off any of the stain that I painted on. Unconventional, but cool! Two days after I finished this project, we picked up Mrs. Lynch's furniture! I was originally supposed to bring home one dresser, a vanity, a chair, and a bench, but instead left with two dressers, two vanities, a nightstand, a chair, and a bench. Here are a few pictures of those pieces:
The cool art deco pieces were Mrs. Lynch's parent's and they are from the late 30s. She told me her mother loved modern furniture and she really wanted them brought back to life. The dresser had been in the first stages of stripping when it came to me, the vanity was painted yellow (there is a mirror attachment that is not pictured in either the before or after... whoops and sorry!), the chair was the same yellow, and the bench was spray painted a neutral color. The french provincial furniture had been given a makeover by Mrs. Lynch herself, but she wanted to go with a more 'glam' look for her guest bedroom. I was able to meet her two wonderful daughters on pick-up day and we gabbed about what to do with the two bedrooms. She knew she wanted all of the furniture painted but she wasn't sure with what color or in what rooms they should live. The final decision was to go with a complimentary aqua for the art deco pieces, and a cool toned white with some shine for the french provincial pieces.
Once they were at my house, and I did my usual stare-fest to figure out how to proceed, I started vacuuming and scrubbing them down to make sure they were free of any loose paint or dust. The piece that had been stripped was actually more difficult to clean because any remaining dust from the chemical sander was trapped in the wood grain. I sanded all of the pieces to rough-up the existing paint job so my primer would adhere and then I was able to move forward. I really wanted to swap out the pulls on the art deco pieces to break up the bold aqua color, and I wanted to change the tone of the pulls on the provincial pieces because they were too gold for the room in which they'd be living. It was easy to paint the latter, but it was difficult to source the right pulls for the art deco pieces. They all had to coordinate, but they also had to be the right sizes because these were antique pieces of furniture and i didn't want to be filling and re-drilling holes in case anyone ever wanted to restore them. The sizes were 4.5" and 3 1/8". I did want to drill one hole, in the vanity drawer, to add a little extra sparkle and balance the piece. After hours of searching the internet I finally found hardware that would work, and in the antique bronze color I wanted! Score for Alyssa, because I found it at Hobby Lobby during a 50% off sale, and they got it to me the day before drop off. I'm sweating just thinking about it. These projects started out fairly smoothly, and then in true Florida form the weather went to Hell. I started painting in dry weather and had great results, and then with non-stop rain for days and days the other coats dry-times were a nightmare. The insane humidity caused bubbling, and the slow dry times caused every particle of dust flying around the air to get stuck in the paint job. It takes a full month for paint to completely harden and adhere to the surface you're covering (depending on what you're using, but that's the general rule), so be patient, and take caution handling painted furniture until it is cured, not just dry. Unfortunately, neither client's furniture was perfect when delivered because of the darn weather, and that is something that doesn't fly with someone like me. Thankfully this little business I've started has allowed me to meet so many wonderful people, some of whom let me come with a tool box and spend the afternoon doing touch-ups! These furniture make-overs really are a labor of love, and they always end up being a gamble. Sometimes I spend twice as much time as planned working on them and sometimes much less (although that's freakin' rare). I'm so thankful I love what I do, and the gamble is half the fun! Here are the 'after', pre-touch-up pictures of the furniture right before we delivered it!
I think the almost end result is pretty awesome. Also, I'm pretty sure as I'm typing this there is an actual tornado blowing through my back yard. Yup, the blow-up whale just flew out of the pool and over the neighbor's fence-- and there goes the umbrella, too. Told you... Florida weather is wild.
Anywho, now that this crazy couple of weeks of furniture makeovers is done, I have two days of relaxation before my flight up north. I'm refinishing my friend Kelly's kitchen (YAY!!!), celebrating my friend Caitlin's twin baby boys (who are currently baking away in her mama oven), refinishing my friend Kim's childhood furniture (woohoo!), refinishing a few cool pieces for my wonderful neighbors, Diane and Pete (whoop, whoop!) and then celebrating Kelly and Brandon's wedding (which I'll be uninvited to if Brandon doesn't like the kitchen. Actually there won't be a wedding because he'll kill Kelly) (WAHOOOOOO). Another busy few weeks ahead, and I wouldn't trade this crazy life/ business for anything. Valen and I are coming for you, Kiki and Casen. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for my upcoming projects! I swear I'll find the time to blog about them *wipes sweaty forehead*. xoxo Alyssa We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
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AlyssaMama to a beautiful and hysterical toddler. Owner of Young, Wild and Thrifty. Archives
May 2018
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