French Country Hutch

One of my latest furniture projects had a mind of its own…but what else is new?? I have been in love with this hutch (below) for months and months…in fact, I have it pinned to at least two different Pinterest boards!

I haunted Craigslist for days/weeks/months/(who knows) to find a similar piece for a good price, and finally came across this one:

It was $75!!  The only problem…it was in Kirkland, WA, while I was in Portland, OR, for spring break!  The owner was moving, and it HAD to leave on one specific day, and I wasn’t going to be available.  I fretted over that for a while, until an elegant solution occurred to me.  I was supposed to paint a small chest of drawers for a client that she was picking up IN Kirkland!  I made a deal…if she would pick up this hutch for me, I would paint her chest for free.

Everybody wins!

So the hutch came home in April, I think…and then it sat….and sat…and sat…until finally I was ready to do something with my dining room.

I tried my best to re-create the look of my inspiration picture.  I painted the body with a DIY chalk paint made from SW Creamy ceiling paint!  I distressed everything heavily, and also glazed it with a dark walnut stain .

I had a different vision for the backing other than beadboard, but I had to bring the hutch inside before I got to it in order to keep it “safe” from other garage projects. 
  I placed it against the dining room wall that was supposed to be it’s new home…and promptly hated it.

It was too. darn. big.

Sadly, I knew right then that it wasn’t staying.  I decided to use beadboard for the backing, painted a couple of shades darker than the rest of the hutch.

 
After putting it all together, I could appreciate that it was a pretty piece…just not for me!  It has moved on to a new home now.

<Sigh.>  Better luck next time!

Linking up here:

	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Miss Mustard Seed
Beyond the Picket Fence
Knick of Time
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
	Mod Vintage Life

A French Bench

I am frantically working on a whole slew of last-minute projects for the Ruffles & Rust Vintage Market THIS WEEKEND!  Set up starts tomorrow, and I still have sooooo much to do!  I am also hoping for just a teeny tiny bit of sunshine so I can take pictures of all my finished projects….that never really happened before the last market, and I’m still kicking myself for all the un-photographed projects.

But here’s one that does have pictures!

When my parents were visiting a couple of weeks ago, I dragged my mother and sister to JUST ONE estate sale before we hit the mall (they don’t share my obsession).  I found this little treasure, which I turned in to a “French Bench.”

I found it tucked away in an upstairs bedroom, filled with old sheet music, broken class, and spiderwebs!

I sanded down the old finish, which thankfully also removed the suspicious red stains.  What was that, I wonder?   Ink?  Kool-Aid?  Cherry soda??

I perused my Pinterest French Typography Board and pulled up a Graphics Fairy advertisement that was perfect for the top. 

I painted it on using an overhead projector and plain old acrylic paint like I did with my French Chocolate Coffee Table. 

I love the little bit of storage in this bench, and I love the funky iron base.  Wouldn’t it make a fun entry piece to store mittens and scarves during the cold months?

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Linking up here:

The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Miss Mustard Seed
Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Perfectly Imperfect	No Minimalist Here
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	Mod Vintage Life A Little Knick Knack

French Postcard Table

I haven’t really fallen off the planet, I promise.  I just seem to have come down with a serious case of blog ennui. 

I don’t think it’s terminal.

All my kids are back in school this week, and the weather seems to be cooling down a little bit.  So the urge to work on some furniture has finally hit, and that’s a good thing (I have quite a stash accumulated).  One of this week’s projects was this coffee table:

It started out like this:

I doubt you can tell from the picture, but the finish on the top is almost completely gone.  What did someone do to that table, I wonder??  Not that I care, really, because it makes refinishing it much easier!

I went through my stash of French typography (mainly courtesy of the Graphics Fairy), and decided this table wanted to look like a vintage French postcard (similar to—but not exactly like—my white postcard table I painted last summer).

There have been a LOT of typography tables since my first French Chocolate table, so it’s a challenge to change things up enough not to be boring!  So for this table, I played around with a little color.  Although the address is in black, the note that crosses the top corner is actually in a dark charcoal to differentiate it.

But my favorite is the postmark in my favorite color…RED!

The base of the table got a good scrubbing and refreshed with a little oil-rubbed bronze paint.   Doesn’t it have a pretty shape? 

So there you have it.  I’m still kicking and still painting  ;-)

Happy Fall, ya’ll!

This project has been featured at the Graphics Fairy, Elizabeth & Co., From My Front Porch to Yours, and aka design.

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	The CSI Project
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Thrifty Décor Chick
Knick of Time Mod Vintage Life	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party
Cowgirl Up! The Graphics Fairy	{aka} design Coastal Charm

Patisserie Coffee Table

I have been working like crazy to finish projects for the Whitaker Flea Market this Saturday—I haven’t even had time to read my favorite blogs (now that’s busy)!

But I thought I’d pop in and show you one of the projects that will be going with me.  A neighbor of mine was cleaning out her garage, and would you believe she was going to take this table to Deseret Industries (that’s Utah’s Goodwill)??

OK, so I forgot to take a real “before” picture…but here’s the top, being sanded my my handy-dandy-helper-who-wants-to-earn-money-for-a-new-game…

…and here’s the base (which is actually a dark green color).

I decided to make another coffee table along the lines of the French chocolate coffee table, so I chose a graphic and pulled out my overhead projector:

…working on it…

…done!

The next day I distressed the lettering and gave the table top a coat of antique walnut stain.  I sanded back the stain in places, since I didn’t want it to look too perfect—it’s supposed to look like an old crate, after all!

I painted the base in a creamy white, and glazed it with antique walnut stain.  This table has LOTS of distressing, and the glaze makes it look “on purpose” rather than “beat up.”

This coffee table is HUGE:  40” x 50”.  Perfect for games, puzzles, or pizza!

I really enjoyed doing another graphic project like this…it has been too long!

This table has been featured at aka design.

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Sisters of the Wild West	The CSI Project
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Primitive & Proper
Knick of Time	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	Thrifty Décor Chick
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	It’s So Very Cheri
Cowgirl Up!	{aka} design

Beadboard Postcard

I made several of my beadboard signs for a woman in California recently, and she threw a challenge my way.  She wanted to know if I could paint the design from my Postcard Table…

…onto beadboard as well.  For me, smaller designs are much more difficult to reproduce neatly.  I think my hand gets shakier the more exact I try to be!

I think this one turned out well, though.  The final “sign” was 18” wide by 11” tall, in order to keep the proportions correct.  I gave the beadboard a heavily distressed, crackle-y finish, and glazed it in three colors to give the appearance of much weathering.

It was a fun challenge!

Hmmm…I wonder how the French Chocolate table would translate to beadboard??

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Elizabeth & Co.
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The Graphics Fairy
Primitive & Proper
Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
	My Repurposed Life
	It’s So Very Cheri
Common Ground

Black Coffee

Can you stand another French typography coffee table makeover? I hope so, because I’m not tired of them yet! I call this one “Black Coffee!”
Here’s how it started out. It was a good Basset coffee table, with two drawers. I loved the plank-style wood top.

I chose to only sand the center section of the top down to bare wood. The plan was to paint the base and the “frame” of the top. Then I chose my graphic and got painting! You can see that I didn’t worry about bits and pieces of the old stain being left behind. I think it adds to the character of the finished piece.

French ad from The Graphics Fairy.

After the lettering was painted and distressed, I stained the top with Minwax Antique Walnut, and painted the rest of the coffee table black (get it??), using Behr Ultra paint.

I kept the original hardware, including the decorative metal scrolls in the corners.

I like how the top looks like it was framed!

And of course I had to play with a couple of accessories…



So there you have it! If you want more information on how I create my tables, be sure to check out the French Chocolate table, Café table, French Twist, and the Postcard table!

This project has been featured at West Furniture Revival, Addicted 2 Decorating, and Perfectly Imperfect.

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Linking up here!

Postcard Table

My neighbor’s dad is retiring from his dental practice after FORTY-EIGHT years (can you believe that??). They asked me if I wanted to do something with this solid wood coffee table that had been in their reception area:

Umm…yes please! (You know I have a weakness for coffee tables!)

See that interesting red pattern that trails across our driveway? That’s what happens when a can of spray primer falls off the sawhorse, punctures on a piece of gravel, and then rolls down the driveway spraying merrily all the way…

I did something a little different for this coffee table. Instead of a French advertisement, I wanted it to look like a vintage French postcard (albeit a rather large one).

I painted this table a creamy white. I got my graphic from The Graphics Fairy, and I used the method demonstrated for my French Chocolate Coffee Table to paint the image on the table.

I distressed the table heavily, and glazed it lightly with Minwax Jacobean stain mixed with Martha Stewart glaze.

I love the postmark from 1887!

I like how the glaze sticks in the crevices of the legs.

I can’t really read the complete address, but I think it makes it look like it has been around for a long, long time.

I wonder if this was a love note?

I’d like to think so!

And speaking of love…there are more than 600 of you dear readers who follow my little projects now, and send sweet, encouraging comments my way every week. Thank you for that! I am also rapidly approaching my first “blogiversary,” or that day when my teenage daughter convinced me to start a blog. In celebration of both events, I am planning a giveaway! Watch for it to be announced soon!

This project has been featured at The Homeless Finch, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, and Party of 4.

Linking up to these parties.

It’s not a table

Hello, everyone! I am ‘back’ from Bella’s Vintage Market, and it was a lot of fun. And a lot of work. And a lot of HOT! This was only my second market, and I never really considered the whole pack-everything-up-on-a-hot-July-afternoon angle!

I promise there are pictures, but I haven’t even looked at them yet! So I thought I’d share another makeover that went with me to the market.

I found another set of three oak barstools (you can see my other sets here and here):

Since I’ve been on a French typography kick lately, I had a grand idea to transfer three vintage French ads to the tops of these stools. I had read about Mod Podge transfers and Citra Solv transfers, so I had high hopes of getting one of these methods to work!

It wasn’t mean to be.

I tried Mod Podge transfers at least three times, and I always ended up with something that looked like this:

or this:

Really charming, right?

When I tried the Citra Solve transfer…I got nothing.

So, it was on to “Plan C.”

Yes, I resorted to my now famous technique using the overhead projector!

I found three different chocolate ads from The Graphics Fairy. I pulled out portions of those ads that seemed to fit well on a stool top, and painted them up!

This one is my favorite. As with my other projects, I distressed the lettering to make it look old and faded. And to help hide my mistakes!

I think this one is my least favorite, although it may be growing on me. I was free-handing the various flourishes, and they could be better!

I think my flourishes were better on this stool! Actually, this one may be my favorite. I don’t know.

Here they are as one big happy family!

These went home with a great couple that drove two hours one way to purchase a French coffee table I haven’t shown here yet, as well as another not-a-table typography project yet to be revealed! I thought they had great taste!

Hope you like them too!

Linking up to these great parties!