Before and Afters Archives | Page 14 of 51

Before and Afters

All Things Home

the easiest furniture makeover ever

I spotted this piece on craigslist and I knew, despite the missing knob and dry finish, that it was a real gem. Painting is my natural tendency, but this piece spoke to me loud and clear… I just need a drink! (Not that kind of drink. Although, I have heard of using vodka to clean stinky furniture, but I’ve never personally tried that one!) What it needed was hydration. The old finish had worn away, leaving the pretty old wood looking faded and tired. The top had quite a few water rings and marks, so I thought it might need to be sanded, but I was concerned about losing the patina this piece has earned over more than a century. I decided to rub a corner of the top with Hemp Oil and it woke up! Well, good morning, handsome. Some of the rings and marks would still show through, but I didn’t

April 1, 2016 42 Comments

Before and Afters

slipcovered desk chair + painted desk

The marathon of furniture makeovers continues! I really do have some other posts up my sleeve, like a series sharing my creative process and a decorating dilemma I am working on for a reader, but I have a huge backlog of pieces I’ve finished that I just have to share! I spend all day in the studio with them and I can feel the stink eye from the pieces that haven’t had their turn in the limelight. Some of them are such divas. So, today I’m sharing two makeovers, because they made sense to shoot together – a desk and a desk chair… This desk chair is one of the pieces that has been languishing in the to-do stash for months. I think since last August. This poor chair was sad, with it’s split pleather seat and cockeyed back, but it was cheap and I knew I could do something with it.

March 30, 2016 26 Comments

Before and Afters

“vintage chalkboard” highboy

Before I hop into the post, I wanted to share that I listed soaps (Savon de Marseille block & liquid lavender) and brushes (German dish, vegetable and flowerpot brushes) in the online shop as promised! I also have put the Look Book as well as my book, Inspired You, on sale. Sooo, I’ve been on a bit of a roll with the “vintage chalkboard” milk paint recipe. It really has made me fall in love with chalkboards all over again. When Kriste and I spotted this small antique highboy during a recent shopping trip, I immediately imagined it wearing that vintage chalkboard paint. It was a similar color to start with, so it was easy to envision. I used the same recipe I used for the two chalkboards I painted – MMSMP 2 parts Artissimo to 3 parts Boxwood. Kriste lightly sanded the piece and then painted the dresser in

March 29, 2016 23 Comments

All Things Home

the wood wardrobe with the painted interior

I know that some of you probably think I paint everything. I will paint my mother, if she will just hold still long enough! Well, that’s not at all true. While paint is “my thing”, I really appreciate beautiful wood, too. When I acquired this old wardrobe off of craigslist, I wasn’t sure if I would paint it or not, but when I saw it in person, I decided against it. The wood just has a pretty grain pattern, warmth and it was in good condition. Most wood pieces I purchase have issues with the finish, so painting is the best route. This one just needed a little bit of help. I felt like it would benefit from installing shelves and painting the interior. I painted it in two coats of MMSMP Mora… (Here it is after the first coat.) My dad installed the shelves, similar to the way he installed

March 27, 2016 42 Comments

Artistic Endeavors

building a mobile shop counter

A few of you noticed the counter in the background of the cleaning cart turned kitchen cart post. It is actually a mobile shop counter I designed and Jeff built for me! I wanted a counter that had a vintage look and feel, but would be mobile and reasonably lightweight to take to the Lucketts Spring Market and any other future events. While I would love another large, antique counter, they are usually not mobile and definitely not lightweight. Building a new one was really a much better option. So, Jeff and I went shopping for materials, discussing the design elements I wanted to incorporate as well as the practical aspect of how this mobile shop counter needs to function. I wanted beadboard and a wood top. Jeff had the idea to put it up on feet, in case the ground is wet. We also needed a shelf on the

March 25, 2016 30 Comments

All Things Home

the cleaning cart turned kitchen cart…

So, I was trolling craigslist one night and ran a search for “industrial” in the general “for sale” category and I spotted two of these industrial cleaning carts for sale… I closed the listing, dismissing it, and kept clicking around, but those carts stuck in my mind. There was something about the shape of them… AND they were dirt cheap. Cheap enough that it was worth the gamble, even if it seemed a little nutty. I sent the listing along to my dad and he delivered them a couple of weeks ago to my studio. When he drove up with them in the back of the truck, I realized they were much larger than I anticipated. Carts that I thought would be about waist high were almost up to my shoulder! The gigantic wheels were cool in their own way, but not right for what I had in mind and

March 24, 2016 91 Comments

All Things Home

oak buffet reveal & new matte Tough Coat

Unless you follow me on Instagram, you last saw this piece with the top stripped and one coat of paint. It’s in the “ugly stage” – the stage when you want to drop it on the curb and let someone else look at it. But, that would be a mistake. It may not look like it at this point, but this buffet is almost there. The graining on the top was so beautiful and I didn’t want to hide it with paint or stain, so I just stripped it down (see the in-the-works post for details on that) and applied two coats of Hemp Oil to bring out the natural beauty. As it was drying, I could tell the piece was crazing and cracking, but I didn’t know the extent until I ran a sanding sponge over the surface and the paint just flaked off! My mom, who does not

March 23, 2016 115 Comments

All Things Home

the chair that didn’t need a makeover…

…but ended up getting one anyway. It took me months to get the nerve to rip the beautiful Pierre Deux fabric off of this chair… I loved the colors, the pattern and the upholstery was done very well. There were a couple problems with it – it didn’t work with my Farmhouse White theme for the Lucketts Spring Market and the fabric was faded at the back and a little dingy. You don’t really notice it in the pictures, but it looked tired. It was still hard for me to rip it off, so I had Kriste start on it while I worked on something else. When I started putting the chair back together again, with pieces cut from an antique hemp sheet and ticking, I was at peace with the decision. The chair is still its pretty, Frenchy self, but it feels fresher; less fussy. I finished it off

March 19, 2016 51 Comments

I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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