The Pink Lady

I'll have to admit, when my customer asked me to paint this desk pink, I wasn't feeling it.  It just seemed like such an elegant desk to be pink.  Of course I had a "Pepto Bismol" pink in my mind.

She actually sent me a picture of what she wanted and I got some sample cards to make the choice from. When I found out she would be sharing an office with her husband, I suggested Annie Sloan's Antoinette.  It is such a subtle pink, I thought it would be a good compromise to make them both happy.

The desk had this one spot that needed a little doctoring.

I had this piece of decorative wood for a stair step lying around and thought it might cover up the problem.  I popped off the swirly part, and cut out a piece that looks similar to the missing one.  Then I just wood glued it in place.  I figured once it was painted, it would blend close enough.

OK.  Enough with the suspense.  Here's the Pink Lady in all her glory.

And here's one last look along with her chair......

What do you think?  

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Blessings!

Jeanne

Linking up to:

The Dedicated House - Make It Pretty Monday

The French Country Cottage - Feathered Nest Friday

Knot Too Shabby / Wow Us Weekends

Miss Mustard Seed - Furniture Feature Friday

My Little Desk Grows Up

I bought this little desk a few years ago at a garage sale.  It's been a perfect piece to have in our great room area, since it didn't take up a lot of space.  I recently got another desk, so I thought I'd give this a makeover to make it look more "grown up" before sending it off to a new home.

It was just feeling unsophisticated.

I decided to give Annie Sloan's Aubusson Blue a try on this one.  I love this color, and I'm so glad I finally found a project to use it on.  I also knew I wanted a darker top.  I wanted to try Minwax Poly Shade, which is polyurethane and stain all in one.  This was laziness a time saving idea on my part, as that way I just had to paint right over the existing finish.  No sanding, staining, and clear coating for this one.  Without further ado, here is my desk all sophisticated and grown up.

I thought the chair I recently painted for my first Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint project would look great with the desk.  You can read about that makeover here.  So here she is with the chair.

As usual, thanks so much for stopping by!


Blessings!


Jeanne


Linking Up to:


2805 - Potpourri Friday
The Dedicated House - Make it Pretty Monday
Homemaker on a Dime - Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop
Miss Mustard Seed - Furniture Feature Friday
Serendipity and Spice - Manic Monday

Shabby and Sleek

I have one last makeover project I can post about until I return home from my travels.  In case you haven't been by lately, I am in Boulder, Colorado for my work right now. (I live in Florida)  I'll be traveling until mid-November.  And even then I'm only home for two weeks before I head out one more time until December 9.  Currently I'm participating in the 31 Days of Change that I first read about over at Nesting Place.  If you would like to visit my 31 days postings, start here.

This makeover was done for a friend of mine.  Her prior roommate left this furniture behind for her to do with what she willed.  One person's trash is another person's treasure!  She contacted me about redoing these pieces to be more in her taste.  After we discussed her preferences, we decided to make them over similar to the coffee table redo I did in September, which you can see here.  She wanted the basic color contrasts to be the same as you'll see in the before photo.  So we decided to paint the darker parts dark and the lighter parts light, just like it already was.  She just wanted it to be shabbied up.  Is that a word?  Oh well, I'm making it one if it's not.

I actually made over a computer desk and dresser, but I forgot to get a before photo of the desk.  You'll get the gist of how it looked by seeing this before photo of the dresser.

Sleek lines and handles.

Now my friend has two new looking pieces of furniture for her guest room that are more to her taste.  Even with the more modern, sleek lines, I think they came out looking pretty nice.  It was certainly more cost effective for her than buying new furniture!  See what you think.

First, here's the dresser........

I had to fill in the extra holes since we switched from handles
to knobs.  The knobs were one's she got from her mom. (so free)

Next up, the desk.......

The drawer used to have the same handle as the dresser.
So same process.....holes filled and new knob put on.

Sorry my pictures are a bit blurry.  I guess I waited a little too late to take the shots.  It was do it then or have no pictures, because I left the next morning and the furniture has already been delivered.  Not to mention the fact that my camera is my iPhone.  Well, I guess I mentioned it didn't I? 

By the way, Spell Check confirmed that shabbied is not a word.  Oh well.

Thank you so much for stopping by.  Let me know what you think.

Blessings!

Jeanne

Linking up to......

2805 - Potpourri Friday

Debbiedoo's Newbie Party

Homemaker on a Dime - Creative Blogger's Party & Hop

Kammy's Korner - Trash to Treasure

Miss Mustard Seed - Furniture Feature Friday

Project Queen - Turning the Daunting Into the Do-Able Tuesdays

Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays

Very Merry Vintage Style - Share the Love Wednesdays

A Look Back at the Begining

Now that I have this whole blogging thing a little more figured out, I thought I'd repost the piece that I started it all with back in July of this year (2011).  I know more about the great sharing that goes on through linky parties and wanted a chance to share this one with more people than I did the first go round. 

Although I've been painting my own funiture and even my cabinets over the years, I never really researched the proper way to do it until recently.  I got my first real "lesson" in painting furniture from an ebook I purchased from Mandie over at Altar'd Designs.  She gave lots of great tips!  Since then I have found some very helpful blogs with tutorials.  My number one "go to" blog would have to be Miss Mustard Seed!  I am so thankful to her for sharing her wealth of knowledge so generously.  There are tons of other blogs out there with some great tutorials on some techniques I still haven't tried.  

Anyway, that's a little bit about my blogging and furniture transformation journey.  So, here's the piece I started it all with........

This is the before of course!  I took this picture at the estate sale where I purchased the desk.

The after is SO much better!

I did this little crackle look using Elmer's glue.

I was pleased with the final result.

Thank you so much for stopping by.  Please let me know what you think.  I look forward to "meeting" many more of you through blogland!

Blessings!

Jeanne

Linking up to .........

2805
Alchemy Fine Living
Altar'd Designs
Debbiedoos Blogging and Blabbing
Project Queen
Savvy Southern Style

Kitchen Desk Makeover

I found this little gem in the garage at an estate sale hiding under all the other things for sale.  I loved the enamel top, even with it's scratches and dings (you know, "perfect imperfections").  I thought this would make a great desk in a kitchen.  It could be a cute island if someone set it up on a platform.  It's 30" tall, so I think it would need a little more height to serve as an island.

I tried a new technique to get a "chippy" paint look, using Vaseline between layers.  I just put the Vaseline in spots that I wanted to show through like paint chipping.  I did that with each layer of color, trying to get a look of years of repainting.  I thought it came out pretty nice.  Anyway, here's the before and after:

Someone had already repainted this, but I think it needed some sprucing up.

And here she is!  

Here are some details of the "chippy" paint.  What do you think?

I think she looks much cheerier now!

Thanks for stopping by.  Please come again!

The Beginning

I've decided to try my hand at selling my painted creations.  I've been painting and refinishing things through the years for my own home and have had some pretty nice results.  This is the before and after of my first paid project.  I think it came out pretty well.

This is the before......



And now for the after.....

Too bad I couldn't leave it right here in my house.  But it does have a happy new home.

Stay tuned for my next makeover!