Country cottage chairs

A friend of mine gave me the cutest unfinished chairs. (OOPS started to paint them before remembering to take the before picture)

They were craving white paint to give them some cottage appeal....

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Shabby chic blue buffet

There was this piece at Goodwill that I debated over for a week. It was just so darn ugly. Each time I went in, it was still there, so I am thinking everyone else thought it was just as ugly as I thought it was. Finally it went to half off and I decided to suck it up and take a chance. I guess I couldn't go to wrong for $12. Worse case, I could use it for firewood...

I pulled out my favorite color....blue! Painted the piece up and thinking this might be the best $12 I have ever spent!

Little Boy Blue cottage dresser

I was so excited when I found this dresser at Goodwill yesterday morning. SOLID maple, vintage, stable condition, and 3 working drawers....And the best part....the price tag....$35.

In addition to loving all the above, I had never seen a dresser like this before. The pulls and the cut outs were so eye catching. Plus I loved the notched out areas on the drawers. This piece was screaming "DISTRESS ME"!

The first thing I did was the usual and primed it with BIN. By using the BIN, I am sealing it from preventing any of the wood color from bleeding through.

Next I chose my paint color as I always do by choosing what OOPS paint I have around the house. I went with this Benjamin Moore blue color that Randy picked up for me for $5. I will probably get 10 large projects out of this gallon, so I basically paid 50 cents to paint this piece. If that.....

Here it is after the first coat....Nothing exciting....

And.....the finished product...

I can see this piece in any room of the house. It can go boy or girl. Would be perfect in a large bathroom to hold towels and toiletries.

Thanks for looking!

Take care,
Lisa

I am linking HERE to a bunch of fabulous parties!

Shabby chic hutch~thrift store makeover

Yesterday I shared my latest thrift store find. I purchased this hutch at Goodwill for next to nothing. $32.50 to be exact.

My color choices are always based on what I have laying around the house. I spend pennies on my overhead when painting pieces because I am sure to use OOPS paint and a piece of sandpaper for the most part. That is usually it....Unless I add a glaze or some polyurethane.

Here is the OOPS paint I used for this particular project. It is a gallon of Benjamin Moore eggshell that Randy found at the local hardware store for me for $5. I didn't even end up using 1/5 of the can, therefore using less than $1 worth of paint.

I wanted to paint this hutch 3 different colors. Two tones of the green and the interior white. So, in order to achieve the other green tone I was looking for, I mixed the original color with some white. In the end, I had a pale olive green, and a celery green.

The piece is solid wood. The original finish was a bit shiny though, so I would have to do something to prevent the paint from peeling. Many would have sanded the entire piece down. I hate to sand. Having to distress it at the end is enough for me. So, to avoid this step, I prime the entire piece with BIN primer. It adheres to the wood and will prevent any peeling. It is also meant to be used as a stain blocker.

Now I was ready to tackle the project. I painted bin on the entire piece and let dry completely. Bin dries pretty fast. If you are in the right conditions, you should be able to apply your first coat of paint with in an hour or two.

Now you are ready to start applying color! I went with my lighter celery color first. This was going on the doors and drawers. I shared a few days ago, how important it is to have a good brush. You can read about that HERE. By using my Purdy brush with an angled edge, I am able to paint easily on hard to get spots. I don't have to waste my time or money taping or scraping in the end.

Here are some photos after the first coat. Doors and drawers are celery green, the body is pale olive green, and the interior is white for some "POP". The lighting wasn't the greatest in this room at the time of the day, but you should at least be able to get an idea.

To finish the piece, I had to do the second coat of paint, distress the piece with my palm sander and do a new finish on the knobs and pulls. I painted all of them white. Once they were dry, I distressed them allowing some of the natural black to come through. A piece of advice I have when sanding is to let the piece you have painted dry overnight, or for at least 12 hours before tackling this task. If you sand before the piece is completely dry, you are risking the paint gooping up on the piece of furniture and the sander.

My lighting was a little strange today. I tried taking this inside, outside (yes, I made my son RJ help me carry it in and out), with the flash, with out the flash, changing the settings, etc. In the end, I swear it is just the color giving me a hard time. It looks much better in person, but these pictures should give you a good idea.

Be sure to check out my GIVEAWAY
from The Painted Sky

Also, I just wanted to thank Cassie at Primitive & Proper for inviting me over to her blog to do a guest post. I'm sure most of you know her already, but if you don't, be sure to check her blog out. You'll love her unique eclectic decorating style.....

Take care,
Lisa

Linking to these FABULOUS PARTIES

Paris chic buffet makeover

About 8 years ago I purchased an amazing buffet from an estate sale for $50. I did a gorgeous diamond pattern paint job to it. The process was done by taking an 8 inch floor tile to trace the pattern. It was a long process to trace and paint, but I was very pleased with the end result.

Looks great from a distance, but when you get close up there is peeling veneer, peeling paint, water stains, and knobs have come unglued from the base.

To prep the buffet, I filled the area where the veneer peeled with compound.

Once completely dry, I sanded it to a smooth finish. Although I did not prime the entire piece before painting my new pattern (it was primed before the original paint job), I did prime the area I just covered with compound.

I always liked this color, but it has worn on me after all these years and it was time for a change. I wanted to go with a Paris chic style, so I decided to use the black paint from my bedroom. The color is called French Beret from Benjamin Moore. The contrasting color I used on this piece was the French Beret with a little white mixed in.

I was going to maintain the same diamond pattern. This can be very time consuming, so I wanted the project to go as smoothly as possible. I am not a big fan of taping off patterns on furniture because the lines can tend to be to perfect. So the next best solution for me is to hand paint each and every line. The best way to do this is by investing in a good brush. Many shy away from this because they don't want to spend the $20$30. Instead, many by $1 brushes from the dollar store, the flea market, or Wal Mart. Please trust me when I say you are going to end up spending $25 on those before the life of your good brush ends.

My favorite brush to use is my Purdy.

This brush has been lovingly used for 2 years. I have literally used it for hundreds of projects and room renovations. The condition is still great and it still has tons of life left in it. Well worth the investment. The key is to spend the extra time giving it a good cleaning after each use.

My Purdy brush was perfect for this project because the bristles move along smoothly and the angled bristles help me cut in along my lines and corners to perfection.

Yes, the project is long and tedious, but with out my Purdy brush, I never would have achieved these straight lines. Plus the project would have taken much longer with a crappy cheaply made brush.

When I came to an edge or corner, I used a piece of paper as a guide for my lines. The reason behind this is that the paper will bend where needed helping to continue with straight lines.

Here is the buffet after one coat of paint....

After this, I distressed the piece with my palm sander, repaired broken knobs with gorilla glue, and covered the entire piece with a coat of polyurethane. The knobs are my favorite part of the piece. I purchased these from Anthropologie years ago on clearance for $3 each.

Despite the amount of time, I am very pleased with the end result. I can't wait to refill the drawers and decorate the top.

Take care,
Lisa

I am entering this project in the monthly DIY CLUB contest.

The parties I am linking this to can be viewed HERE