It's been a long time coming...

I have had this done for months now and haven't had it decorated the way I would like so I haven't posted my finished product but I guess this will have to do.

So here's what I started with.

 

And ended up with this.

You can see that I changed the hardware to an aged silver.

Glazed this piece.

I used Rustoleum's heirloom white, a dark-tinted glaze from Valspar, and Rub n' Buff's silver leaf wax. This piece took longer than it needed to just because of me taking my time.

Linking up with
T2T Tuesday on Sassy Sites

                                        Eve

Green is my favorite color...today

I have been putting this project off for a while because I hadn't yet found the perfect shade of paint for my project. I found a cute rocking chair for my Little One at a yard sale and brought it home.

He loves it so I decided to fix it up for him. The paint was peeling and had been painted over instead of repaired so I stripped it. That took a whopping 6 hours and considering the size of the chair and the lack of detail in the wood, I would have thought that it would take much less. Who knew. So after stripping the paint, hacking the screws in half, and questioning my sanity, I sanded this little baby, put it back together and filled in the holes with wood putty and sanded again. I primed it, and let it sit for about a month while I decided what color to paint it.

Since I am new to this and I don't have a paint gun, I am limited to spray paint that I can find at HD, L's, and W's. Up til now I have used Zinsser Primer, Valspar paint, and Rustoleum paint. I have done pretty well with all those and have been mostly satisfied but this time I opted for a color by Krylon. I used Krylon gloss in Emerald Green. I love this color. Though, I don't know if I love the paint. I have read many good things about this paint but I found it to be weak as far as coverage goes. When I painted my chairs I used Valspar and one can of paint covered one full-sized chair with lots of detail with two coats and then some. It took me two cans of paint to paint this child sized rocking chair with no real detail. After I had painted it, I went to HD for something and found a very similar color by Rustoleum. I guess you could say I have buyer's remorse. C'est la vie. It is a beautiful color, don't you think?

 

I don't think the picture does it justice. 

                                          Eve

I'm a Poly--urethaner

You know when you see something tasty and you think to yourself, "I'm full, but that looks good so I'm going to eat it anyway" and then you hate yourself afterward for eating it...well, that's me with this refinishing business. I get an idea in my head and think, "that'll be easy" and sometimes it's not. Well this time it wasn't. I have a sweet neighbor who was getting married soon and I asked her family what she would like or need. Her aunt told me she was in need of some dining chairs. I thought, "that can't be that hard to do." So I did it. First, in my usual style, I procrastinated and did a project that wasn't necessary but I wanted to do first and that took longer than I had anticipated, but that's another story in itself. Anyway, we decided on black chairs but I really wanted to try a two-toned look. Not something obvious, just very subtle. So I decided on trying to do some red-black chairs. I think it turned out pretty well. What do you think?

I found these cute chairs on KSL and sanded and primed them.

But then, to get the two-toned color I painted the chairs red. I got some awesome red paint for free so in the interest of saving money, decided to paint the chairs with a brush because I don't own a paint sprayer. Not my best idea. If you don't like the "country" look and by that I mean trees and rustic wood not twang and spurs, then I don't recommend using a paint brush especially on chairs. As there were so many nooks and crannies, it made it difficult to paint with a brush. I have to hand it to all the old time artisans who only did it by hand.

After I painted the chairs red, I sanded them again to try and get rid of my brush strokes. I may be wrong and just used a junky paintbrush but I seem to recall buying a nice one. Who knows, maybe you've had better luck with your brushes.
Next I painted the chairs black leaving some of the red showing through. I tried sanding but I went straight to primer when I did that so I found that if I just lightly painted certain areas it left the base color showing through just where I wanted it.

After all my painting was done I researched how to apply polyurethane.  I also researched polyacrylic but for some reason I chose polyurethane. I don't remember why. I round lots of websites explaining how to apply it and what the best way to apply it was and I kept reading that foam brushes were the best and cheapest way to apply it. So that is what I opted for. I read some forums for people finishing surf boards and I thought, "surely these people know what they are talking about." Well, I bought the cheap $0.99 foam craft brushes and tried them out on my chairs. I applied very thin layers of poly to assure that I wouldn't have bubbling, I did it in straight, even strokes in the same direction to avoid any weird bumps. I took my time and tried to do everything right applying I think four coats of the poly whilst waiting my recommended time in between. For all my hard work and following directions, I got streaks. STREAKS! It was awful! Well, it was to me. I'm hoping it ends up being one of those things where it looks bad to me because I am the one making it and no one else will even notice, but I'm sure with my luck...it won't be. Next time, I'm buying a gun. Let me know what you think. I'd love to hear from you.

                                  Eve

Dresser...in progress

So, I'm getting there with my dresser. This is an all around first for me. I have only spray painted once before and it was a small project. This is huge by comparison. I just thought I'd give you all a heads up as to how I am staying busy.

 

All primed using Zinsser 1-2-3. I've never really used paint in spray form. I've really only used paint on a brush be it painting walls or painting art. I always brushed on never sprayed so this is new to me. Is there somewhere that tells it to you like you're 4 exactly how much primer to use? When I did this I started out spray painting by hand and then later bought a spray paint can helper. (Review to come.) So my inexperience obvious, when you prime, do you do an even coat or is it just enough to block out the underlying color you are trying to cover?

Kind of splotchy.

All the pieces.

 

All put together.

The Man said he liked it this way. He said it looked cool. As it is, you can see kind of a blue tinted dresser that almost looks like it is distressed. Then the Man explained to me why he liked it. He said it looks like snow camouflage.

It is definitely getting fixed. I am not having camouflage in my decor. Snow camouflage....REALLY?

I can't wait to show you the finished project.

Linking up at DebbieDoos 
Making the World Cuter
Made by you Mondays 

                                          Eve

Hardware Reformations

I am in the process of transforming a dresser to my liking and one of the things that has stumped me was the hardware. I spent a great deal of time trying to find a dresser in my price range that had a lot of detail and I finally did.  The next thing to do was pick a paint color. Done. And now I am addressing the hardware. The hardware on this piece was rather specific to the dresser and I think3
I would be hard pressed to even attempt to change them out because they are so specific with the design. But who knows, maybe I'll try that later. So what could I do? Paint it perhaps. I had decided to go neutral for the dresser color doing what I know so many other people have done. It's really because I haven't picked out my wall colors yet so I don't want to make my dresser some funky color only to have to paint my room to match or worse, have it clash with the wall colors. I digress, the hardware should have been easy. Clean it up and paint it...black?...red?...green?...ARGH! I don't know. But I found a way to fix my problem. So I will give you this small sneak peak of my dresser transformation. Here is my before picture of the hardware.

 

Kind of bleh. Here it is after I fixed it.

And a side by side comparison.

Awesome, huh! The picture doesn't really do it justice. If you see it in person, it isn't quite so silver. It looks very distressed. I really wanted to do a pewter kind of patina with gray undertones instead of the brass/bronze undertones but I couldn't work it out this time. I'm going to try it out with my completed dresser and we'll see how it works out. If it doesn't, then I'll try something else.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this transformation. If you've done something similar or what worked for you. We love comments.

Lininking up with 

A Creative Princess

DebbieDoos

                                            Eve

Product Review: Rub 'n Buff

By chance I came across a product called Rub 'n Buff. Whenever I find something new or new to me, I like to do research on it and see what people really think. I believe that being honest when it comes to reviews is the only way to have a review and I often skip over the reviews that seem so positive they feel like ads instead of reviews. When they quote a lot of the jargon used on the company's website or commercials I find it hard to believe. So this is my take on Rub 'n Buff.

For those of you who don't know what this stuff is, I refer you to Amaco's website. This is a metallic wax finish that can be used for antiquing or gold and silver leafing. I bought mine at Hobby Lobby. I found Amaco's website rather user-unfriendly and basic but Rub 'n Buff is anything but. Like I said, I am really skeptical of reviews that are overly positive but sometimes it is what it is.

The tube is a mere 1/2 fl oz and they tell you a little goes a long way. I hear that a lot but I rarely agree. This time, however, I wholeheartedly agree. I antiqued 11 pieces of hardware for my dresser and if you look at the tube

 

this is what it looked like after I was done antiquing my hardware. It barely looks used if at all and it did all this.

 

When I was using it I barely touched the opening of the tube and I worked in small sections. The smallest amount covered a good portion so if you use this product actually listen to what they say. A little DOES go a LONG way. I was so excited to see the difference I was all smiles the entire time I did this and all the while I was plotting/planning what I was going to antique next. I used the silver leaf because that's all my Hobby Lobby had in the way of gray undertones. I would have really liked to have found a pewter finish. I'll keep looking for that or I may have to break down and order it online. But considering this tube cost me only about $4 and the tube looks like I haven't even used it, I think I will try this out on my finished project and if it doesn't work out, I would gladly try another. I love this stuff!

You can really see the finish in this photo.

So even though the product was for silver leafing, I was able to adjust how aged it looked simply by adding less and wiping it off with a dry rag. So easy. This stuff ROCKS!!!

Disclaimer: I have not been compensated for this review in any form and the opinions expressed are wholly my own.

                                      Eve

* I loved the look of this product.  When I saw it in person it was even better.  Eve even let me touch it and try to rub some off.  It held up very good to the abuse I put it through.  I brought it home to try it out on my light bar redo and it wasn't the same.  My light bar was shiny and brass.  I smudged it on but it looked like it was smeared in silver grease.  I was able to wipe it off with a paper towel for the most part but I had to act very fast and rub hard.  I think it would have held after I painted it but I didn't try.  I assume that it needs some detail or dull surface to hold on to.  In all fairness I only gave it a quick go due to trying to hide my project before the Hubby got home. I can see a million things I want to try this on.  A tiny bit goes a long way.  Look for this product to come up again.

XOXO Mist

Chairs on the Cheap

I have been stalking KSL for some chairs for my front room and hadn't found any that were...ahem...just right within my budget. But just the other day I came across these.

I got two of them dirt cheap. And when I say that I mean that literally because they came with a lot of dirt. I think that they were office chairs at one point but then later they became lawn chairs. At least, I hope so.

I am taking on the daunting task of reupholstering them to clean, nice fabric. I have already demo'd one chair so that I can do a before and after. I can't wait to share it with all of you.

                                             Eve

In the works

I am taking on my first furniture project ever. It is a little daunting to think about all the work that will be involved but I know that the work will be worth it. Here are the before shots of my dresser.

I haven't settled on a color yet but I have a little time yet. If you have any suggestions, throw them my way. I'd love some help. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

I linked this up on DebbieDoos Newbie Linky Party

        

                                              Eve