Oh Alfred!

I know you've all seen Alfred before...He was a great Craigslist find and the focus of my last post about stripper.  Again I didn't say "a" stripper....although after watching Magic Mike this last week, that would've been WAY better :)  Anyhow, here he is, in his FINAL before pic.

All dingy and dirty and in need of some help.  I know I've mentioned it before but I like to try to do any research I can when I get a new piece.  It's kind of fun for me to find out when (about) it was made, if I can find it.  This guy is a 1955ish Heywood-Wakefield.  I say "ish" because while researching I discovered this one was part of the Cadence line that was manufactured from 1955-1959.  Still pretty cool that it has some history.  While scouring for information I found that there are lots of Heywood purists, who would probably scream their faces off if they knew I planned to paint it.  But painting is what I do, and if there was a chance I could've restored it with minimal effort, I would've.  But remember the stripper incident...

So ya, I knew I was gonna paint it.  The wood underneath all that paint wasn't nice enough to restore.  But the original mangy paint that was on it inspired me to do it in black.  His lines are strong and masculine.  Black just seemed fitting.  And yes once again I've named the furniture.  I will divulge(much to husband's dismay) that Alfred is a family name.  My hubby's grandpa is Alfred, and my father-in-law and husband share the middle name Alfred.  But all that aside, I still instantly think of the butler on Batman :) 

So I'm sure you're scrolling through, saying, alright, alright just show me the pictures already...patience.  In case you wanted to know I used Valspar's Lincoln Cottage Black.  It's kind of become my favorite/go to black paint.  Oh, and yes I turned it into chalk paint.  So much easier to work with, and really does cover well!  After 2 coats of paint, using a fine grit sanding block in between, I did some minor distressing.  Then 2 coats of wax to seal it up. 

 

 

Due to his age he was missing a drawer, and ironically a "matching" drawer was broken. I knew right away I wanted to get baskets for it. Just made it look a little more complete, with the missing drawers. I did paint the insides of the missing parts just to unify it.  But searching for baskets became an obsession, which frustrated the heck out of me.  Luckily a trip to Homegoods was successful and the obsession was quelled!!  I also had to find new hardware for this guy.  The before pic looks like it has those cool teardrop type of pulls, but no, those would be knobs attached to crazy bent screws.  I didn't want to detract from his shape with fancy knobs, so I just got some wood ones and painted them to match.  This project was definitely a learning one for me.  I learned that I will never strip a piece of furniture again, if I can help it.  And I also learned that I will do my best to stay away from pieces missing drawers.  Too much obsession time wasted looking for those darn baskets :)

Ready?  Here he is, all done up.  Just dropped him at the shop this morning!!

 

 

So, what do you think?  What projects have taught you lessons you won't soon forget?  Stay tuned to see what I come up with next!!

 

~Denniel

 

 

 

 



Working with Stripper

I can't even say the word stripper without cracking up, or getting some kind of weird visual.  But I'm talking about paint stripper this time around.  The only similarities between the two are that split second of instant gratification that comes right before you just feel dirty and need to shower.  And as I'm typing this, please know that I am fresh from a shower :) 

I think you've seen this guy once before, maybe when I bravely(and mistakenly) posted about the "jinx".  But this guy is the sole reason I'm working with stripper.

 

This is Alfred.  He is big and heavy, and really well made, and will eventually be distinguished like his name implies.  He's also a vintage 1950s Heywood Wakefield that I scored from Craigslist. 

He was also painted by Satan, with a paintbrush made from demon fire and a paint combination that must be lead, concrete, wallpaper glue, spray paint, and death.  You look at the picture and think, ok, he's a little rough, he's got some dings, can't be that bad.  Well, I made that mistake too.  I pulled out my sander thinking that just sanding away would be the way to go.  WRONG!  Sanding it just made a black film fly everywhere, and stick to my body.  It also made the top look as if it spent the last 50 years in the only remaining leper colony. 

So I texted my girl Mandi at Persnickety's, remembering a hilarious conversation we had about stripper and knew she'd have the info I needed.  She said to use this.

Source



 

So I went and got it and a handy putty knife/scraping thingy.  I read the directions and felt ready to go.  Directions say to apply in a small area and wait 15 minutes.  I did exactly that.  Only the angry top layer of paint came off, and it took ALOT of elbow grease.

Then I realized that sometimes directions are more like guidelines, or jumping off points.  Like sometimes how your oven cooks a little hotter so you have to adjust the time and temp.  Well I needed to adjust my timing as well.  I double checked the directions and did notice that it said something about "stubborn" paint could require more applications.  Well this is Satan paint.  And for whatever reason 15 minutes in my garage just caused the stripper to dry completely up and require all that elbow grease.  I finally timed it just right and 7-8 minutes actually works better for me.  That was of course after several tries of getting the timing right.

First there was 10 minutes.....

This resulted in gross clumps of yucky.  Think of vampires getting killed.  I don't mean like on Buffy where they poofed into a cloud of dust.  I'm talking True Blood where they explode into that black/red sticky disgusting goo(this realization was given to me by Mandi during our previous stripper conversation).  It is the most accurate and hilarious description I have ever heard!

Then came about 9 minutes....

Not quite perfectly removed, but so much better than that whole gooey mess.  Now I will say that overall it's kind of a gross process, and there is a lot of goo.  But when you time it just right it comes off so much easier, and the goo is way more manageable.

At about 7-8 minutes this is the final product..

I did have to go back over it with my scraper and get the stuff that was kind of hanging on, but apparently timing is everything.

This is Alfred's top after all that elbow grease and getting my timing down.

The wood isn't in the best shape.  But I can't imagine how I'd look after Satan painted me with his demon fire paintbrush.  Once the rest of the drawers are done I'll need to resand everything and start on the fun part, the painting of course!!

Stay tuned next week for Alfred's big reveal!!

 

~Denniel

 

 

All opinions of this product are my own, I was not paid or compensated in any way!

A small(s) week

I know I said a while ago that I would start working on that massive Heywood that I found on Craigslist.....but I just haven't gotten started.  I think after all the work I did on Ethel I haven't found the motivation to tackle another big project.

So this week I've been working on some small stuff, which we call "smalls".  You know, the stuff that fills the walls and allows us to somewhat stage photos.  All those cool vintage finds, old frames we love to paint, knick-knack type thingys.  The stuff that makes Persnickety's look more like a fun place to shop versus a stark furniture warehouse. 
I found a new place in Tacoma and it had lots of goodies.....
like this vintage American Family food scale

and this cloche with a base....

the base was a little banged up so I decided to paint it with chalkboard paint, to give it some personality :)

Could even personalize it with a cute cupcake and message for someones birthday, but for now it's Halloween themed, like everything else in my house :)

Or just use the cloche all by itself.  Would be cute with some mini gourds for fall, or my tiny collection of pine cones.  I've even seen a collection of baseballs in the spring, and I imagine some cute ornaments for Christmas.

 

I also found these

they were originally gold and had some "interesting" art work....I though they would look so much better with a couple coats of aqua chalk paint....

look at this cute detail

 

ok this isn't the best picture, but I swear it's really cute!!
Today I met up with my friend Alison at The Modern Cottage Company to drop off her custom order of 20(yes 20) pillow covers.  Which has kept me busy this last week, but I was so excited to do something to essentially "grow" my little business.
This is what a stack of completed pillow covers looks like

Alison had some really great fabrics and these will be available at her store soon! 
But I digress, for whatever reason our meeting spot has become a local Value Village, so OF COURSE I had to go inside to make sure I wasn't missing anything. 
And I found these guys

Vintage Ball jelly jars, with super cute (original) lids!
I grabbed the blue, white and green and found the crate they're in too!

So there's my random finds for the week, guess it matches my random post. 

Oh for anyone who is wondering, I DID jinx myself.  Since my "jinx" post I haven't found a single thing on Craigslist :)  But that's ok, I'm finding fun new places to search for treasures.  And I'm putting it out there to hold myself accountable, I WILL start working on the Heywood next week!

Stay tuned to see it's progress

~Denniel

 

 



All About Ethel!!

Where do I even begin?  Hmm....ok, ok, I know

I "found" a table and chairs set during my daily stalking of Craigslist a few weeks ago.  It had great details and shape and once I saw it, I kept going back to the post trying to see if there was something I missed the other 100 times I'd drooled over it.  I wanted it real, real bad, but wasn't sure it was something I wanted to tackle.  I stressed myself out about it for a day or two, even asking anyone with any furniture know how in my path if they thought I should get it and redo it for the shop.  Before even deciding to buy it, I needed to test the waters and see if the seller would lower the price at all. Because I am now a master negotiator thanks to the skills I've learned from the lovely Rachel at Holy Craft(she has a post all about the art of getting a good deal).  It took a few days before I got a response, but the seller was willing to lower the price to what I deemed affordable.  I almost started jumping up and down, but first I needed to recruit my husband to help me pick it up, and convince him that it really was a "bargain".

Who doesn't love a great table top??  And AMAZING legs.  I'll be honest, the top could've been beyond saving, but I couldn't walk away from these legs...

 

Or the details on these chairs.  Once I got this home I even told my friend Mandi that I was in project heaven.  I know, I had NO idea how much work would be involved, but I was basking in the giddy glow of such awesome pieces.  While opening and closing the table and looking at it's underside I saw it's Manufacturer's label, and it was locally made, a LONG time ago, but still local. 

This set was made by Gregory Furniture Mfg Co, in Tacoma, WA.  The most info I could find courtesy of Google was that this specific label meant it was made between 1916 and 1940.  After 1940 Gregory Furniture became Gregory and Butler.  But at her youngest that made the table and chairs 72 years old.  How cool is that???  If you've read any of my other posts you know that I like to assign gender to the stuff I work on :)  Of course this set is ALL female, with rosettes and curvy legs, how could she not be.  Well after researching I decided something that was made so well to last so long, deserved a name too.  Not sure how I decided on Ethel, but that is her name.  If by chance you follow me on facebook, you know all my recent posts have been all about Ethel.  My kids have asked me daily for the last 2 weeks...."How's Ethel coming mom?"  And all my friends know EXACTLY what I'm talking about when I say her name :)  But I digress...

From the moment I saw her I had a clear vision of what she'd look like once I gave her a makeover.  I knew I would sand and re stain the top, and paint the table base and chairs white.  Of course from vision in my head to reality doesn't always translate as smoothly...so what if it took 4 coats of stain and daily stressing before I could declare the top finished.

 

And so what if painting a table with 6 legs, and 4 chairs is crazy hard work...not to mention recovering 4 seats with fabric.  But that actually seemed like the easy part compared to ALL the painting I did.  I made sure that every coat of stain had a full 24 hours to dry, which of course gave me time to paint all those amazing details.  I ended up doing 2 coats of Minwax Ebony stain, and 2 coats of Minwax Dark Walnut.  And everything else was painted with my Sherwin Williams Reliable White, turned chalk paint.  The chairs, table legs, and base were all sealed with a paste wax, and the table top with 3 coats of poly made specifically for oil based stain.  Of course I didn't have said poly, but the amazing Mandi at Persnickety's did.  So I loaded Ethel up and drove her down to the shop.

As we like to call it, a fun round of car jenga was in order :)  This may have been the hardest I've ever worked on a project, but I'm really proud of myself for getting through it, not quitting when I got stressed or frustrated, and creating something that I think turned out pretty amazing!!  I know, you're thinking enough info, just show us the table....So here you go, some eye candy of Ethel in all her glory.  She's at the shop now and available for purchase. 

 

Hope you come along to see what I conjure up next!!

~Denniel

 

 

linked up at

http://www.domestically-speaking.com/2012/10/147th-power-of-paint-party-think-pink.html

 



Don't Jinx It!!

In the business of furniture "redoing" we rely on garage sales, estate sales, antique stores, the kindness of friends and family to give us their old unused stuff, and of course Craigslist.  With the weather turning here in Washington, garage sales are pretty much gone, if not nonexistent now, so I've been relying on my friend Craig. 

That being said I like to joke about the jinx.  Like my husband and I will say "oh the boys are playing so well together", and in an instant a fight breaks out.  So we'll say "the you know who's, are being you know what" and joke about not wanting to jinx it.  I've even said to Mandi, shop owner at Persnickety's, and my very good friend that I'm the shop jinx.  In times past when I've worked at the shop it's been slow....but the last time I worked, it was so busy I could barely catch my breath, jinx lifted right?  Right!!

So back to Craig....I feel like just putting words down means I'm jinxing it, but I gotta share.  Lately I have had amazing craigslist karma.  Either scoring things for free, or at ridiculously low prices.  This is kind of a big deal because when you chose to redo furniture you feel like whatever it is you're looking for, EVERYONE else in the business is looking for too.  So if you stumble upon a "free" post, even if you relentlessly check Craig first thing in the morning before you do anything, and then again another million times a day, chances are, you're 10 seconds too late, and someone else has snagged that coveted item.  Same thing goes with items to purchase...you want that dresser?  Well so did the person who responded at 3 am while you were sleeping, slacker! 

But look at the stuff that I've found, and I feel like my hard work has paid off...and by hard work I mean, NEVER leaving my laptop for longer than 10 minutes :)

 

This guy is still in his before state, I plan on working on him next week, but it's a vintage Heywood Wakefield, and such great shape!!

Snagged these once super bright brass lamps, painted them and took them straight to the shop.

This super cute yellow and cream dresser that I blogged about here.  And is currently in stock at Persnickety's.

This AMAZING chippy giant window also in stock at Persnickety's.

And last but not least.....Ethel

Ethel is a 70 plus year old table and chairs set that I've been working on for almost 2 weeks.  This is just a teaser cause I plan on doing a whole big before and after reveal on her.  But she's gorgeous, I promise :)

 

So let's see, did I just ruin my chances of ever finding something on Craigslist again?  I sure hope not!!  What do you joke about jinxing?  What's your favorite place to stalk to find stuff to give new life too?

 

~Denniel

 

 



Really cool chicks!

Finally back in the swing of things.  Boys are back in school, regular schedule is slowly feeling like the norm, and I am feeling super inspired to get back to projects.  But instead of a before and after, how about just some inspiration :)

I am lucky because the shop that I get to sell my treasures at is owned by my best friend.  Some people might say friends make for bad business, but like I said I'm lucky.  Before there was a shop, and I was just doing projects for myself, Mandi was crazy supportive.  And now we get to kind of work together.  Granted she does all the really hard work, like paperwork, and contracts, and bill paying...she's also creative herself, so she's doing all that admin stuff, and putting awesome things in Persnickety's, like this....

 

 

 

and this....

And just this last week, Mandi gave her first painting class. "Drab to Fab".  Granted I don't work in the shop on a regular basis, I help when I can and was so excited to be there while she was teaching her class.  I was technically manning the shop while teacher and students were in the workshop, but I would occasionally find a minute to sneak back and take a peak and a listen.  What really amazed me was that EVERY single lady in the class was AWESOME!  They were all so interested in the process, and admiring each other's work, and honestly, just inspiring.  I haven't been working on alot of things myself lately due to summer, and hanging with my kids, but in retrospect I think my creative juices needed to be recharged.  After being around that group of ladies, I am ready to go!!  Look at how fantastic all of their projects turned out!!

 

So now my creative batteries are charged, I've got my eye on several projects :)  What inspires you??  Stay tuned to see what else I come up with!!

 

~Denniel

 

my own inspiration

I have been enjoying the heck out of my summer, hanging out with my 2 kiddos, jumping in the pool, bbq'ing with friends.  But alas, a little work should get done, and I recently finished something worthy of a few words.

This is his before state.  Not sure why I always have to make the furniture have a gender, but I guess they just speak to me, and this one definitely said boy.

Not a bad looking guy at all.  Has the fun curvy bottom, nice detailing on the drawer fronts, and all of his original hardware in tact.  OF COURSE I hemmed and hawed over the color.....and used this as my inspiration.

This is my buffet in my dining room and one of my very first "real" makeover pieces.  I still get compliments on this one and figured, why not give it a shot and see how it turns out.  Who knew it would be so easy to find inspiration in myself??  So everybody got a coat of paint.  Used my handy homemade chalk paint recipe on Sherwin Williams Reliable White, and Vaslpar's Desert Hot Springs.

  Then I came down with the worst cold I've had in forever. In the summer even, SO lame.  I literally got one coat on this project and had instant headache and chills.  Boo to that!!  Enough with the sob story though.  After about a week when I felt like a human again, I headed back out to see where we were.  To me the yellow looked too light, and the drawers were a little too shabby chic.  So a second coat, and then a third coat, and that seemed to do the trick!

The hardware got 2 coats of Vaslpar's Cottage black.  I did a light sanding between each coat, some very light distressing, and sealed the whole thing a soft wax.

What do you think??

Not exactly like the inspiration piece, but a nice tribute!  This guy is now down at Persnickety's.  You should head down there and see all the other amazing things they have in stock!!!