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Furniture Makeovers

Hand Painted Furniture

a full look at the hutch

I shared a preview of the hutch HERE, but many of you were asking for a full view of it.  So, here you go! It’s smack by my front door (in the living room) right now, so it’s not in a great place to be showcased.  Now, my usual rule is that if I don’t have the perfect place for something, I don’t keep it.  It’s getting a little tough now, as our house in on the market, so I have given myself some liberty to keep things that might work for our future home or studio.  I have the perfect place for it in the house we’re hoping to buy, but we have to wait for our house to sell, first.  Patience…patience… So, it’s just hanging out now, but I really love this piece. I did paint this piece in a custom-mixed MMSMP color, but had to be very

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Before and Afters

hand painted wardrobe

I realized I had a furniture make over from Lucketts that I never shared!  How in the world did that happen?  Well, I’m fixing that today.  This wardrobe was by far the worst piece of furniture I purchased to sell at the market. I bought it in a furniture lot that included two dressers, this wardrobe and a victrola.  All of them showed signs of neglect and had some degree of water damage.  This wardrobe seemed to be exposed to heat as well, that eventually loosened the glued joints.  So, the back and sides were almost separated.  It had good bones and a pretty shape and I have a handy husband, so I took a chance on it. Jeff and his dad glued, clamped and screwed that wardrobe to sure it up, which was not an easy task.  The wardrobe was a little wonky and you had to pull it

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furniture feature friday | favorites & link party

Ah!  I got a little side-tracked tonight as I was picking favorites and I looked up and realized I was late to my own party.  Well, so here we are without favorites.  Well, sometimes things just happen that way.  I’m sure you’ll all enjoy the party, anyway.  Can’t wait to see your projects for this week. I’ll be pinning some of my favorites, so follow me on Pinterest if you don’t already! Here are the rules for our furniture get-together… 1.) Your post has to be about furniture. Please, please, please…just furniture. If you find your link has been deleted, it’s not because I’m mean, it’s because your post was not about furniture. You can share makeovers, awesome finds, favorite pieces, furniture arrangements, or even pieces on your wish list! Built-in furniture like kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities qualify as furniture. 2.) Post a permalink (the link to the post),

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Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint

finding layla's mint

A while back, I sent Layla some Shutter Gray MMS Milk Paint to paint a newly acquired secretary desk.  The funny thing is that I had the identical secretary at one point.  Identical, I tell you! Anyway, she painted it in Shutter Gray and it looked amazing in her sun/music room.  It’s now been moved to the kitchen and Shutter Gray isn’t playing nice with her freshly painted island, so it’s time for a new color. (photo courtesy of The Lettered Cottage) We chatted about it a little and she requested a mint.  I can do mint.  I just need to find the right combination.  So, I took some time to play around with that today. I grabbed Boxwood, Lucketts Green, Eulalie’s Sky and Grain Sack to start with.  I tried a few different combinations with Boxwood, but it was just going too sage.   So, I started over with

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Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint

flow blue photo shoot

Whenever I hit an antique store…or really any store, for that matter…I look for props I can use in photo shoots. There are some things that are staples and I use again and again, but I really prefer to buy something that catches my eye, use it for a while and then sell it and buy some new props. It gives me new inventory and it keeps my photo shoots fresh. When we were in the Poconos recently, I found this pretty antique butter dish (minus the dome.) Since it was missing its other half, I was able to get it for only $6.00 and I knew it would be perfect for a MMSMP Flow Blue photo shoot for our upcoming look book. And here’s the result… I love how the water wakes up the blue pigments.  It makes me smile every time! Now, I know what some of you

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furniture feature friday | favorites & link party

It was another great week of makeovers and favorite finds for FFF.  I know I say something like that every week, but it really is true.  There is such an inspiring bunch of people who share projects regularly at this party.  It’s so encouraging to see all of the things that are given a new look through your DIY efforts.  I love it.  Anyway, here are my favorites from last week… This kitchen by Emily of Eleven Gables is absolutely stunning.  I love all of the white, the drawers, the brick floor, the marble, the paneled fridge, the apron front sink, the glass cabinets.  It is just so beautiful, Emily, and you must be over the moon that it is yours! Jamie from Anderson + Grant transformed a thrift store picnic basket with a broken handle by giving it a distressed finish.  She used some “oops” paint, so it was a very

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FURNITURE FEATURE FRIDAY | favorites & link party

Oh my word, ladies!  I was looking for favorites and I had a ridiculous number of tabs open.  There were so many amazing makeovers, finds, rooms, projects…it was really tough to narrow it down.  So, I had way more than three favorites this week, but these are the three I decided to share… Kristi from Making it in the Mountains built this amazing Pottery Barn knock-off table and benches.  To be honest, sometimes knock-offs really look like knock-offs, but I had to do a double-take to see if this was the real deal or a DIY version.  Bravo, Kristi and Brady! I love everything by Angie from Knick of Time and her shed-turned-guest room is no exception.  The balance between the rustic and the refined is so striking and inviting.  I wouldn’t mind staying there one bit!  I know it took a lot of hard work and it really paid

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Favorite Finds

primitive hutch

About a week before Lucketts this year, I picked up a beautiful primitive hutch off Craig’s List.  The lovely lady I bought it from was moving and needed to sell it.  It seemed meant to be.  I got a good price for it and she gets to pay virtual visits to the hutch whenever she wants!  (She is a MMS blog reader, coincidentally)  The hutch was beautiful, but the blue was a touch too bright for me, so I carefully painted it.  (You can read about the process HERE.) I haven’t done a full photo shoot with it, yet, but I snapped some pictures of it and couldn’t help but share them… I’m very pleased with how I was able to paint it without losing the character in the finish.  It really is a special piece and I’m totally in love with it. …and can’t you tell I’m enjoying my

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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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