Herringbone Inspiration

Let me start this post off by giving credit where credit is due. When I get "crafters block" as I like to call it, what do I do to stir up new inspiration? Why Pinterest of course! Not to mention perusing through my favorite blogs. That is exactly where I fell in love with the idea for my latest dresser project.

Ann Marie over at http://www.twicelovely.com/ created a beautiful waterfall style desk using a herringbone paint technique that was to die for. I knew right away that I wanted to use it on a piece.

Now here is where I apologize once again for not taking any before pictures, or for that matter during pictures. Apparently I let my excitement over starting a new piece get the best of me. So sorry. I will do my best to describe what I started with and what I did to transform it to the after. The color is actually much richer than the photos depict, but you get the general idea.

 Awhile back I bought two dressers on the same day from two different people, both with the legs cut off. Now I don't know why someone would do this, but I figured it would be easy enough to fix. This was the smaller of the two and besides the short legs was in pretty good shape. The plan was to paint the drawers in a deep blue paint from my stash and use some antique walnut Polyshades for the body.

 Now I followed Ann Marie's technique except that I couldn't handle the randomness of my crooked lines. I ended up using a straightedge for everything. First I used a silver paint pen to draw the straight up and down lines at two different widths. Then I began drawing the diagonal lines at random widths. Believe it or not, it actually went pretty quickly. One thing I did learn though is one pen isn't enough! I actually ended up using three!

 I debated about whether or not to distress the painted drawers or not and decided to just do the edges and add some brown wax to help tie it all together. I added some basic brushed silver knobs to tie in with the silver lines. My hubby did help me work with the shortened legs, cutting them even to a point that seemed logical and then adding some old wooden wheels I had saved from another project. I am very happy with the finished project. Although the shape is somewhat petite, it isn't overly feminine. Thanks Ann Marie for the inspiration!




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A Real Class Act

Well, I accomplished something new today. I taught my first furniture painting class at the shop! I have always wanted to do this, but I seem to have a habit of talking myself out of it. As many of you may know, my health is fairly unstable due to Lymphangioleiomyomatosis; or LAM a rare lung disease I was diagnosed with back in 2006. It causes me to have okay days and breathless bad days with an occasional almost normal day thrown in. Anxiety tends to manifest the symptom's so I have to be careful not to "phych" myself out. I'm always afraid that if I plan something on a particular day, I'll be ill so I just avoid committing myself to things with a time frame....until today!

What was originally planned as a painted and distressed monogram chair class for 8 became a class of 10! The response was so good, we had talked about holding two classes of 8, but with such a short window I didn't have enough chairs. I was in need of a particular kind of chair that could offer not only a space large enough for a monogram, but also had to have an upholstered seat that could be recovered with a coffee sack. For the last several months I have been accumulating chairs from yard sales, estate sales, Craig's List and the Goodwill.

I glued the wiggly ones, puttied in the spots where doggies had chewed and chunks were missing, sanded them and covered them each with two coats of primer. I crafted new padded seats for those that used to have worn out caning.Wow, I'm exhausted just recalling all of that! To be honest, I am yearning to paint something flat after all those spindles.

 

 

 

From here, it was up to the ladies who chose to visit me for the day to complete their chairs and turn them into things of beauty. They sanded, painted, went outside to cover seats with coffee sacks, went back in and distressed the edges, added a rub-on monogram and put their chairs all back together....all within a two hour time frame. Surprisingly, it went like clockwork and they all seemed to enjoy themselves and appeared tickled with their finished chairs. I heard one woman say "It's so cute and I've never even done anything like this before".

 

 

 

My next classes aren't scheduled until November so for now I am just relieved to have made it through. What is at the top of my list now? Dinner lovingly cooked by my hubby, who knows I am exhausted and a glass or two of pink musket wine that I have been looking forward to for days. See you on the other side of the fog.





Linking up with these lovely ladies:

A"door"able

My latest project is something I have been working on for awhile now. I had the general idea, but it took some time to accumulate the perfect pieces.

One of our customers at the shop recently called to let us know they were having a barn sale and they were allowing us in a day early to preview. This is always so much fun when the twelve of us get together shopping!  Friendly bartering and elbow throwing for the good stuff!

Most of what was available was crusty, rusty perfection. I grabbed this petite old door, it was exactly the right amount of chippy. Unfortunately the original wavy glass was broken, but I thought if I added a chalkboard it could work.

I decided to make it a message and mail center. My husband helped me to add some rustic feet so that it would be stable. I had some great old tin from Mom's barn that we fashioned into a small awning over the chalkboard.

While shopping at The Plucky Maidens Junkfest I grabbed a long, skinny wire basket and a black metal hand with string tied around the finger. I had acquired what I like to call "a wood whatchamacallit" from the local Goodwill that I covered in pallet wood scraps and attached to form a small tabletop. I found some little hooks at the craft store and attached them to the front.

Because of its size, it can snug near the entry of just about any space and provide the organization we all need to remind us of whats important while we're heading out the door. I love pieces like this! A whole bunch of little things kind of unamazing of their own, but together....fabulous!




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