Furniture Makeovers Archives | Page 18 of 111

Furniture Makeovers

Before and Afters

Angie’s Landscape Dresser

Let me start by saying that I rarely accept custom work, but this one just felt right. Angie, the client, said I could just do what I do and her only request was that I “add critters”. She also wasn’t in a rush, so I was able to work on it when I had time and as inspiration struck. Kriste lightly sanded the piece and painted it in two coats of MMS Milk Paint Farmhouse White to give a blank white “canvas” for the landscape. I decided to paint this one almost entirely with milk paint. I have been mixing acrylics into the other dressers I’ve done, but I wanted to keep these colors very soft. I also wanted to do the landscape primarily in blues and green/blues. I used Eulalie’s Sky, Shutter Gray, and Farmhouse White for the clouds, Flow Blue, Trophy and Shutter Gray for the mountains, Boxwood, Lucketts

November 20, 2016 37 Comments

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patience pays off

Usually, when I am dragging my feet on a project, it’s because 1.) I’m not 100% sure of the direction I want to go, 2.) I know what I’d like to do, but the execution of it is going to be tedious, and/or 3.) I question whether I can pull off what I envision. There are times when I bulldoze through, anyway, just for the sake of being done. Historically, that doesn’t work out well for me or the project. So, I’ve learned that these roadblocks are generally a good thing and I just need to be patient until I can move forward confidently. That’s exactly why this chair has taken me months! Well, I was busy with other things also, but I really could’ve had this chair done a long time ago. I just kept getting stuck and I really wanted this chair to turn out well, so I kept

November 15, 2016 37 Comments

Furniture Makeovers

it gets worse before it gets better…

I took some time the day before I left for Montana to work on my “new” art cabinet. The hardware I ordered off of Etsy had arrived and I was eager to start transforming it. I also added some antique wheels that I picked up at a local antique store. I wanted something unique, but I’m still deciding if I like these or not. I’ll reserve judgement until it’s all done, though. Casters are easy to change out and I can always use these for another project if I decide not to use them on this piece. Here is how the piece looked with the hardware and label holders removed. I decided to paint the piece in MMS Milk Paint Grain Sack, leaving the top wood. I usually paint pieces with the drawer in, but the drawers had quite an overlap, so they needed to be removed. Since there

November 14, 2016 25 Comments

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the great debate | to paint or not to paint

Right off the bat, let me say that I don’t ever mind my readers sharing their opinions here. Unless someone is being downright nasty on a personal level, which is rare, it doesn’t bother me if someone disagrees with a decorating decision I make or they don’t like something I made, bought, etc. If ever I do feel ruffled, I figure that I probably wouldn’t like every single decorating decision they make, either, and that makes me smile. We’re all different and that’s okay. I’ve grown a relatively thick skin over the years and sometimes even find the constructive critiques to be very helpful and thought provoking. Sometimes they change my mind and sometimes they make me even more certain of my decision. All of the varying opinions shared on my newly acquired art cabinet made me think about the process of deciding if a piece should be painted. Well, maybe not

November 2, 2016 64 Comments

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progress on the “deconstructed chair”

This is possibly one of the longest chair makeovers ever. I’m working on it in 10-15 minutes increments as time allows, which is not my usual style. One reason I am so productive is that I knock things out pretty quickly and all in one shot. The season of cranking pieces out one after the other will come again, but it’s just not right now. So, this is where the “deconstructed chair” (that is no longer going to be a deconstructed chair) looked like the last time I shared it with you… Last week, I took some time to staple on the decking (the piece of fabric under the seat cushion) and then the bottom of the back and sides. Those steps really fixed some of the pulling issues and wonkiness, but there is still a little slack on the left side, but I have now learned that lightweight antique linen layered

October 28, 2016 29 Comments

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how to upholster a broken cane-back chair…

…because you know you wanted to do that at some point in time, right? Top Google search -“How to upholster a broken cane-back chair?” Well, here is your answer! So, the chair itself isn’t broken, but the cane back is. It’s actually missing entirely, but that qualifies as broken in my book. So, here is how to upholster a broken cane-back chair. I bought this chair quite a while ago and Kriste commandeered it from the stash to use as her desk chair. Well, our stash is very thin and my back was killing me perched on a stool all day, so I commandeered the chair from her. Clearly I need to go desk chair shopping if we have two people who need to sit and only one proper desk chair. So, I’ll do that. Until then, I needed to take a break from sitting at a desk, so I decided

October 25, 2016 48 Comments

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deconstructed chair progress

Remember this “deconstructed chair” I wrote about a little while ago? Okay, a looong while ago? Let’s do a little update on the deconstructed chair and see how it’s coming along… Well, Kriste and I have been chipping away at it here and there, but I made some real progress on it today. I had been at my desk, painting, sketching, writing, and creating, and my eyes were starting to cross, so I needed to shift gears. I decided to upholster the inside of the deconstructed chair in an antique French linen sheet that I purchased a couple of years ago off Etsy. It had my initials on it and I just couldn’t resist. I haven’t had the nerve to cut it up, but this felt like the right time, the right piece for it. Now, my nice “break” from eye-crossing tasks turned into a frustrating wrestling match with fabric. I

October 7, 2016 22 Comments

Before and Afters

Schloss Highboy Dresser

When we moved Calvin into the guest room, he decided to keep the dresser that was in there, so his old dresser became an extra. A couple of weeks ago, we finally muscled this piece down the stairs and took it over to the studio. It’s a beautiful piece, but the finish was pretty dinged up and tired. It looks a bit better in the picture than it does in person… Kriste and I tag-teamed this piece and I love how it turned out! We lightly sanded the finish to give it “tooth” and then painted it in two coats of MMS Milk Paint Schloss. I lightly distressed the edges with medium grit sandpaper just to soften the newness of the paint and bring out some of the details of the piece. Kriste finished it off with MMS Hemp Oil to protect the finish and bring out the beauty of

September 26, 2016 27 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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