Painted and distressed furniture

Large Antique Buffet painted and distressed

This buffet was passed down from my grandparents, then to my parents and then to me. I have had it for 36 years.

Before pic of buffet

FullSizeRenderThis antique buffet was passed down to my husband and I when we got our first house 34 years ago. It first belonged to my grandparents and then to my parents.  I have always loved it even though I had to keep a runner on the top to cover up the bad areas and one of the side cabinet doors wouldn’t open most of the time. We recently painted the interior of our house and as always that started a wave of other changes such as putting up some new pictures on the wall and updating and redecorating.  I decided to make a change with this piece which was not easy for me, being that is was such an old piece and part of my family for so long. The designs in it are spectacular and just were not being noticed with its dark color.  My husband encouraged me to do it and I am glad now that I did  it.  I painted it a stone color (matching our living area which is adjoining the room it is in). The sanding of all the ornate areas was the hardest and seemed to take forever. Then I put a coat of clear wax and dark wax.   The dark wax as you will see in the picture made the biggest difference. I also added some filigree round pieces that I had found years ago in an antique store and knew one day I would find just the right place for them. I took the original top drawer knobs and put these with the filigree piece on the cabinet doors.  So I had to use two new knobs on the top drawer but all the rest was original to the piece. Now both cabinet doors open with ease.  We love the way it came out and the new color and antiquing shows off the beautiful structure and designs on the piece.

sanding

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Before the dark wax

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After the dark wax – See how much better it shows up the designs

Two bad marks that I had trouble covering up. I finally tried primer and that worked.

It was a challenge covering up these bad marks on the top of the buffet.  I finally tried primer just on this area and that worked.

This shows the pretty round filigree that I put behind the knob.

This shows the pretty round filigree that I put behind the knob.

The finished piece in my home.

The finished piece in my home.

 

 

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Teena Original Settee from the 50’s reupholstered and painted

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Before Picture

After Picture

After Picture

My daughter ,who is a professional photographer, purchased this settee a couple of years ago for use in her photo shoots. It is labeled Teena Original and from research online I found it is from the 50’s and seemed  rare as far as this type settee.  As you can see the velvet type material was faded and torn. It was also missing some of the tacks. I have never upholstered something with tufting and tacks so I decided to take on this project and learn how to do something new. ( I actually needed this to keep my mind off of a stressful situation going on with my family – Crafting is always great therapy for me!) I went to my favorite store, Hobby Lobby, and bought the fabric. I knew I wanted something vintage and found this wonderful print of old Photography studio cards. (Perfect for my daughter!) My plan was to do the hearts (backs of the settee) 1st and see how that goes and then decide if I could do the seat. Because I was able to reuse the original foam and tacks it was easier than I thought. The two biggest challenges were to figure out how to cover the 51 tacks with the material and replacing the original tacks that were missing.  With my sister’s help we came up with a solution. We used a button cover kit to cover the new button with the cloth, cut off the button shank (had no idea what that was called till I looked it up on internet – LOL!), and then glued the old upholstery tack inside of the button. I bought new tacks to replace the ones missing.  These were the hardest to get to stay because they were not as sturdy and the tops were not flat so they didn’t glue in the button cover very well.  I found a really cool tool that has a magnet that goes on the tack and then you hammer on that. The tufting part was pretty easy since I just tucked it in the original creases. I did look at some youtube tutorials to see how it is done. Overall it was a great experience and now I will I will not look the other way when I see a piece of furniture for sale that is tufted and needs to be redone. I made a few collages that will show some of the steps in doing this project. My daughter is very happy with it and she is using it in her home and will sometimes use it in photo shoots. She has been warned to be very careful with it and not tote it around to her outside shoots. We’ll see how that goes!

Some of the steps in covering each tack

Some of the steps in covering each tack

I tried to match the material on the button to the area it was being tacked into.

I tried to match the material on the button to the area it was being tacked into.

I painted the wrought iron base of the settee two tones of coral and distressed lightly.

I painted the wrought iron base of the settee two tones of coral and distressed lightly.

Here it is in my daughter's house.

Here it is in my daughter’s house.

update: My daughter’s house was flooded in the flood of 2016 in Louisiana. The piece is made of iron so I may be able to salvage that part but all of the hard work put into the upholstery – sadly gone -and I don’t know if I can ever do that again without having the original foam to work with.

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Bench made from Full size bed

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I painted, distressed and dark waxed a full size bed over a year ago for my daughter, who is a professional photographer, to use in a Christmas photo shoot. Recently she gave it back to me so that she could take the full size bed that I showed in a previous post. So my husband decided to take on another project  and make the bed frame into a bench. This one he did a little different. He used the footboard in the front of the bench and made the sides for it.   Since this footboard was so low to the ground he had to add to the legs to make it a better height for sitting.  It seemed like it would be an easy project for me since it was already painted – all I had to do was refinish the new wood to match.   It ended up a little bit more of a challenge because I put on the wrong finish – a black antique glaze instead of the brown dark wax which I had used before.    I had to paint and wax the new wood twice but it all worked out.  I found the perfect pillows and cushions to put on it at Lowes. Then the best part of the whole project was when I realized this bench would have a perfect home – Our patio! It matched perfect with the table and chairs that I had refinished a year ago.

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Merry Christmas from “Ginger’s Attic”

“Ginger’s Attic” will be open just 3 more days before Christmas – Sun., Mon., and Tues. from 11 – 2.   We have been receiving a lot of vintage items from an estate in North Louisiana and our shelves are stocked full.  We also have lots of furniture pieces.   Come by and get that unique gift for that special someone. Avoid the crowds, come enjoy a meal of home cooking at Country kitchen, and browse our shop. We hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and have many blessings in 2015.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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Featured Project of the week: Shadow Box Table

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I bought this glass table at a garage sale for a bargain price. It was in need of work and not very attractive.  When I got it home the idea popped into my head of making it into a shadow box table. My husband put to use his great woodworking skills and as you can see in the 2nd picture it now has a place to display items. I had to sand some of the rough areas especially the bottom shelf which had some kind of material glued to it.  I painted the whole piece a new color I wanted to try – Sherwin Williams Sea Salt using my chalk paint recipe. Next I painted some parts in grey chalk paint, then distressed  and waxed it. Notice how some of the sea salt color shows after I distressed it. I put shells in it for now and am going to keep it in my workshop for a while as a show piece. I have always loved shadow box tables and hope to make more of these in the future. I am blessed to have a husband who likes woodworking. We make a great team!

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