I am making a mad push this week to get ready for the Lucketts Antique Fair next weekend.  I’m pricing, packing, inventory-ing, and finishing some more pieces to take with me.  I’ve also been working on posts to answer your “Ask Miss Mustard Seed” questions and those will go up soon.  This Chinese checker board is another one of those pieces that has been sitting in my stash, then my workshop, then my office for months. I just wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it.  So I primed it and painted it white (SW Creamy.)  It stayed that way for a few months.  Today I was cleaning my office and pricing items for Lucketts and this Chinese Checkerboard made it clear that it was tired of being neglected.  I needed to paint it or throw it away. So, I went with red.  I used acrylic craft paint and painted the

First of all, the Pleated Poppy Giveaway is still going on, so make sure you don’t miss it.  Now, I think the woman who owns the shop that sells my stuff thinks that I am a miracle worker.  You should see the rickety, dated, nasty pieces of furniture she brings to me (well, not all of them), expecting me to make something beautiful out of them.  Case in point… This table was dirty, dated and had a wicked wobble.  It sat in my basement in that sad state for quite a while before I finally primed it.  Then it sat…primed and ready to go and I had no clue what to do with it.  So, I waited until it spoke to me.  I thought maybe it was speaking when I was in the shower or had my earbuds in, because I wasn’t getting anything for quite a while.  When pieces don’t

Most of the time, I don’t know how a piece of furniture is going to turn out until it’s done.  I know I want to paint it, so I’ll sand it down, prep it, and prime it.  Then, I’ll wait.  Does this piece want to be formal, country, modern, distressed?  What color would look best on this piece?  Is there a good spot for decorative painting?  Or some decoupage?  Does this piece need to be really hard-wearing?  Or will it have “occasional” use?  What kind of decor would it work with?  Who would be interested in buying this and what might they use it for? I started out with this mid-century record cabinet.  It was in good condition and my shop owner had added some cute stencils to it.  It sat in our shop for a while and I kept eyeing it…knowing it wanted to be painted.  Good pieces of furniture communicate

I’m a blue and white kinda gal.  The nice thing about painting furniture to sell is that I can have a little fun with the colors.  I don’t have to have a place for it in my house.  I just have to be proud to put my name on it. I bought this wooden plant stand at an auction for a couple of dollars.  It didn’t look bad as it was, but it was a little tired and  a little blah. I can’t think of a better way to make a piece special than paint it in an interesting way.  So, first I sanded and sprayed the piece with bonding primer.  I had some grass green paint on hand, so this is what I went for.  I can’t tell you why, but I just thought it would work.  One of those gut feelings. This green was pretty bright, so I

I love it when I finally finish a piece.  This one has been hanging out in my basement for a really long time.  An embarrasingly long time.  The woman who owns “my” shop found this on the side of the road.  Can you believe that?  It’s an amazing piece!  Anyway, she gave it to me months ago to paint to compliment a hand painted cabinet she had in her bedroom.  Here’s the embarrassing part.  I’ve had this table AND her cabinet for months.  I mean months.  I’m tempted to say almost a year.  Yikes.  We had events, projects, new clients, our shop moved, I’d get busy on other things and I just got use to those pieces sitting in my stash.  So, at long last, I finished it and they are going home to their rightful owner. This table was painted in a custom-mixed blue to compliment the small hand

Almost all of my small side tables that were in the shop have sold, so my shop owner asked me to make more.  One problem…it’s been, like, three degrees outside, so I have not been able to use my spray booth.  (I have to open my basement doors for ventilation and really cold air and wet paint don’t play nice.) So, I had this yawn of a table that was my printer stand in my office…it’s a small table and it’s already painted.  So, I stared at it for a while and waited for some inspiration. I really like how my Mod Podge Table turned out, so I decided to try it again, but with a different look.  I have loads of old sheet music that I rescued from my grandparent’s attic and thought it would look lovely on the white table. I used Mod Podge to decoupage the sheet music

I painted and refinished a lot of furniture this year.  I didn’t keep count, but I should have.  It’s probably around 30-40 pieces!  I’ve been a busy girl.  Furniture has become my niche and my favorite thing to work on.  So in keeping with sharing my favorites of 2009 and in leiu of our usual Furniture Feature Friday, I’m going to share my favorite furniture before and afters from 2009.  There is a link party below, so you can share your favorite furniture makeovers, amazing finds, or treasured pieces with me.  So, on to my favorites…enjoy!   This $1.00 antique store two-tiered table becomes… an elegant blue/gray and dark walnut side table. This Queen Anne yard sale vanity becomes… a chalkboard desk with hand painted detail. A grungy stool and burlap feedsack become… a funky and one-of-a-kind work of art for weary feet. A $1.00 yardsale table becomes… A clever place to

Can you believe that this… …was this? I purchased this French Provincial dresser off of Craig’s list in October and have been chipping away at it at a snail’s pace. First of all, as you can see, it was missing most of the hardware. Normally this isn’t an issue, but the style of this dresser demanded specific hardware. I’m embarrassed to say that I shelled out almost $70.00 to buy vintage hardware that matched the original. It was an e-Bay bidding war that became very emotional. That puts my investment total at $100.00, which is high for me, but still awesome for a solid wood dresser of this quality, style, and size. Since this piece is solid wood, I decided to strip the top and stain it in a dark walnut. I was ready to go to war with this thick polyurethane top coat, but it came off surprisingly easy.