Some of you have been waiting a long time for this one. Trust me when I say that I have, too. Back in March or maybe April, I was browsing Craig’s List.  I looked all over my area and didn’t find one thing that was of interest to me.  Hating to spend all of that time searching and only to come up empty, I decided to expand my search.  I looked in metro areas where I had family, including the Orlando area where my parent’s live.  And, I came across this French armoire for $150.  “Um, Dad…will you pick up an armoire for me?  Pretty please?”  Batting eyelashes don’t translate over the phone, but my Dad melted at my sweet, angelic tone.  Not only did he pick up the armoire for me and spotted me the money until I sent him the check, but he stored it in the garage and then packed it up and drove it

I used to shudder at pieces of furniture that were poorly painted.  Drips, major brush marks, streaks and chips.  I felt like my paint job would only be as good as the previous paint job and I needed to sand it baby bottom smooth to make it right.  Well, I have had a change of heart.  I no longer see problems in poor paint jobs.  I see texture.  Amazing texture just waiting to be highlighted and put on display.  For example…this piece was poorly painted. It was streaky, drippy, chippy and not in a good way. The drawers worked perfectly, though, it’s solid wood, has the original hardware and a great shape.  Instead of stripping or sanding it, I just painted straight over it with a mixture of paint (I’ll get into that in a minute.) Once the paint was dry, I sanded it heavily to bring out all of

I’m so sorry, girls.  I have totally gotten lazy about taking “after” shots of my furniture.  I have to haul it up from the basement, move the furniture around in my house, gather props, stage the photo, take the pictures and then put everything back.  It’s very time consuming and I have to have good light and an extra person on hand to move the furniture.  Well, after today, I think I’m going to start going through that trouble again.  I finished two dressers last week and I have lousy pictures of both.  So, be prepared to be underwhelmed.  Despite the poor photography, I really love this dresser.    It was painted in glossy green and gray oil based paint.  I took this picture after the paint from the top was removed.  Mini Mustard Seed painted it in ASCP’s Cream, which is sort of a very pale yellow.  Once it was dry, I

I love testing out new colors…escpecially blues.   So, last week I cracked open a can of ASCP (Annie Sloan Chalk Paint) Greek Blue.  Now, let me warn you.  The color is shocking when you first put it on.  It looks like electric blue.  You have to talk to yourself while you’re using it and say, “Miss Mustard Seed warned me this would look like electric blue, but all will be well once it dries and is waxed.”  Ok?  Let me tell you…this color is a stunner.  I love it.  I’ve had this very old dresser in my basement for months.  It needed a lot of work and I kept putting off.  I finally worked on it…reattached the top, added new feet, fixed the drawers, cleaned it out, etc.  I am a bad blogger and didn’t snap a before picture, but I’m sure you can imagine it.  It was that orangish

Those of you with sharp eyes may have noticed the buffet behind the dining table in yesterday’s post.  It’s had a pretty amazing makeover.  This piece is also confirmation that I married the right man. As a youth pastor, my husband helps a lot of people move and every once in a while he gets first crack at some furniture someone wants to sell or get rid of.  He came home one day after a move and said, “Oh.  These people were getting rid of a piece of furniture and I thought you might want it.  It’s OK.  It’s not as bad as some of the pieces you bring home.”  Ha!  So, I went outside to check it out, certain he had picked up some 1970’s monstrosity with obnoxious hardware and a shape I just couldn’t work with.  I was so surprised to see this… …a lovely antique buffet. A little