White Dresser With Lightly Whitewashed Top

This is a dresser I picked up at a yardsale a few Saturdays ago.  I bought three dressers that weekend.  Yes, I guess I was a little dresser crazy that day.  Anyways, two of the three are done.  And this one is sold already, actually. 

It was a pine dresser.  The lady selling it told me that her and her husband had bought it from Sears right after they were married.  It was unfinished and she stained and varathaned it.  Well, that was a few years ago and in the meantime it had gotten scratched and yellowed... you know the drill right?

Anyways, I sanded the top down and stained it with dark walnut stain.  To see more instructions on how I did that, you can view this post on refinishing. 

The body was sanded lightly, primed and then painted with Rustoleum semi-gloss white.  I did distress this piece, but only lightly around the edges this time.   

After I painted the body, I decided to do a sort-of whitewash treatment on the top to give it a worn/beachy/older feel.  I watered down some white paint and using a cloth wiped it over the top of the dresser.  Now normally, you could just wipe the excess away, but I was working outside and it was fairly warm, so it pretty much dried right away.  So I took some 100 grit sandpaper and did some sanding to give it a more authentic look.  The paint sort of settled into the grain of the wood. 

One other thing I did was change out the original hardware with some pulls and knobs I had gotten on clearance at Lowe's, maybe a year ago.  I've wanted to use them ever since, but they've never worked with anything I tried them out on.  I had the exact number of pulls and knobs I needed for this dresser, so I guess they were meant to go on it!

Hopefully soon I will be sharing with you the second dresser I picked up that day.

Linking to:
Coastal Charm
The Dedicated House
The 36th Avenue
Domestically Speaking
Southern Lovely

White French Provincial Nightstand

I recently acquired this cute little nightstand at the local auction I sometimes attend.  Sorry, I forgot to take a before picture on this one.  It wasn't your typical cheaper quality creamy/yellow with gold trim piece, but rather it was oak.  I had to fight for it a little, but the scruffy man bidding against me gave up fairly quickly.  I guess he realised it was a little too girly for him.  

I painted it white using Rustoleum semi-gloss white paint.  (The one in the can, not the spray paint.)  I painted it outside using a respirator.  Since being pregnant, I've been more concerned about fumes and stuff like that.  But it's probably not a bad idea to use a respirator all the time anyway, though. Seriously... have you read some of the warnings on paint cans?  Rustoleum's wasn't as bad as some, but I will mostly be sticking to Cece Caldwell paint, because it's really a lot safer for you. 

I didn't distress this piece, I didn't glaze it or dark wax it.  I didn't stencil it.  I didn't even change out or paint the hardware.  I didn't do anything fancy to it, yet it sold fairly quickly.

Wish I had room to keep every piece I redo!

Linking to:

Coastal Charm
The 36th Avenue
Domestically Speaking
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Miss Mustard Seed
The Shabby Nest
My Repurposed Life
The Cottage Market
Five Days...Five Ways
Classy Clutter
Southern Lovely

Black Duncan Phyfe Makeover

I'm not sure whether or not I've mentioned it on here or not, but my husband and I are expecting our first child towards the end of August.  That's my excuse for not posting anything in a month!  I was talking to my mom last night and she asked when I was going to post again.... Her exact words were... "I keep going to your site, but there's never anything new anymore!" Ok mums... here's something new for you! 

 

 

 

I purchased this table recently at an auction.  I was the only one who bid on it... are you surprised?

 

Ummm yeah, the veneer on the top was a little rough.  As soon as he took it out of the car for me, my husband ripped it all off.  Now most people would have been thankful that this step was done for them.  My reaction?  Hey... the before the picture would have been so much more dramatic if all that veneer was still there... thanks a lot!  My husband's solution was to lay the veneer back on and take a picture for me.  So in all reality, the veneer has already been removed in this picture.

I painted it with Cece Caldwell chalk paint in Vermont Slate.  But I added black colorant to it to make it a lot darker.  I just bought a can of Beckley Coal, and it's actually very similar to this colour I created on my own. 

This is a such a nice style of furniture. 

I finished it off with light distressing and clear wax.  When I distress chalk paint, I like to use a wet rag and wipe the paint away.  I feel it gives an authentic worn look. 

I've got a few more projects to share soon.  I'm just waiting for a sunny morning to take the pictures.  I bought three dresser this past weekend... yeah, I'm a little crazy.  Two are done already though, believe it or not. 
Here's a sneak peak of the first one I started. 

My Repurposed Life
The Shabby Nest
Miss Mustard Seed
Chic on a Shoestring
Five Days... Five Ways
The Cottage Market
Tatertots and Jello
Funky Junk Interiors
Coastal Charm
The Shabby Creek Cottage
 The 36th Avenue

Beautiful Large Sheet Music Flower

About a month ago I was browsing a linky party when I came across this absolutely beautiful flower by Whimsical Perspective.  I loved it so much that I literally started making one right away.  This isn't totally like me.  I usually sit on an idea for a while before I get around to doing it.  I guess I really must have liked this idea.  I'm not going to give you a tuturiol on the process because Laura did a great job and you can check out hers here.

Here is my version:

And here is Laura's:

I had such fun making mine that I had my sister-in-law help me make two more to put up at church for spring/easter decor.  We used multi-coloured scrapbook paper because they were going on a plain white wall and we wanted them to be nice and bright. If you're going to make one using scrapbook paper, it's way easier to use the thin paper as opposed to thicker cardstock-like paper because it's more flexible. 

Linking to:

My Repurposed Life

The Shabby Nest

Five Days...Five Ways

Tatertots & Jello

Coastal Charm

Southern Lovely 

Classy Clutter
A Pinteresting Link Party

French Script Burlap Bench

I had the opportunity on Saturday to go to my first yard sale of the season.  It was a church rummage sale, held indoors.  It's still been a little too chilly for outdoor sales to start around here.  I picked up this bench there.  Then I also went to an auction on Saturday. I managed to snap pics of the things I bought at the auction, but somehow missed this bench.  Oh well... The legs were peachy and the seat was navy stained velour.  It definitely needed some love!

Well, yesterday was finally nice enough to work outside and I sanded down the legs and spray painted them semi-gloss black.  The Rustoleum 2x spray paint works great. 

The blue velour seat covering was easily removed.  Whoever had redone this before had decided regular staples (you know for paper?) were good enough.  Needless to say, it didn't take long to rip them out. 

I recovered it in this lovely printed burlap that I purchased at Joann's.  Actually as soon as I saw it in the church hall, I knew that I would use this fabric on it.  Sometimes I can never make up my mind what to do with a piece.  It was kind of nice to know right away with this one... made it a little easier!

And yes, it's a definite improvement over what it was!!!!

Linking to:
Domestically Speaking
Southern Lovely
My Repurposed Life
The Shabby Nest
Miss Mustard Seed
Five Days...Five Ways
The Cottage Market
Tatertots & Jello

Coastal Charm
Classy Clutter

A Pinteresting Link Party