Furniture Makeovers Archives | Page 73 of 111

Furniture Makeovers

Hand Painted Furniture

brush gallery

I decided it was time to update some of my “painting posts”, sharing the products and techniques I use now vs. a few year ago. I was looking through some of the posts highlighted on my side bar and they are ancient! It’s time for an update! So, what better place to start than paint? Here are the paints I use most, the pros & cons for each, and what I use them for. Of course, I have my biases (who doesn’t?), but I am going to try my best to be impartial and honest. I’m not going to link to or mention any specific products, so I can talk about the groups of paint generically. I have a HUGE paint shelf that is filled with different brands and kinds of paints, because there is not one magic paint that does everything. MILK PAINT (I’ll just put it out there

June 16, 2013 59 Comments

Before and Afters

Antiquing Wax Tutorial

When I last showed the barrel-back French cane chair, it looked like this… In the picture, it has one coat of French Enamel Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint. I then applied a second coat, followed by a light wash of a mix of Shutter Gray, Eulalie’s Sky and Grain Sack. (Eulalie’s Sky is one of our new colors and will be available for purchase in a few weeks!) There were beautifully carved details on this chair, so I wanted to bring those out with some white acrylic paint. I use acrylic paint for decorative painting, because I like the body of it and the way it flows off the brush. I’ve used it for my decorative painting for years and it was my medium-of-choice when I first started out as a decorative painter and muralist. Once the paint was dry (or mostly dry…I can be a little impatient at

June 15, 2013 83 Comments

Furniture Feature Friday – Kathleen’s Favorites & a Link Party

Welcome to another FFF, a weekly link party for furniture-lovers across the globe. This week, we have the lovely Kathleen of Between Yellow & Blue again to pick some favorites. Here they are… This dresser from Laura at Whimsical Perspective is gorgeous! Just love the distressed details. And lovely legs. We just can’t get enough of these French provincial dressers. It seems you can’t go wrong with any color. I especially loved this one with the gold dipped legs by Burlap & Lace. Great job Shannon! Check out this cool herring bone dresser from Beja at Howdy Honey. She stripped this piece to the wood and made it lovely again. Great choice in color! 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

June 14, 2013 14 Comments

Furniture Feature Friday – Kathleen’s Favorites & a Link Party

June 13, 2013 25 Comments

Before and Afters

Milk Painted Bar Stool

After a few years of leaving them as I bought them (I know, what is wrong with me?), I finally started painting my Target bar stools. I actually just painted one to experiment, before I did the other two. I love how it pops against the white cabinets and wood counters now. Before, the stools were blending into the counter and floors and felt a little “eh.” This stool was painted in two coats of MMSMP in French Enamel and then heavily distressed with 100 grit sand paper followed by 180 grit to soften the scratches a bit. I quieted the paint color and finished the chair with MMS Antiquing Wax, So even though there’s lost of visual texture, the finish is butter smooth. I know my boys are going to help me with distressing these, so why not take it to the extreme? I think it also gives these off-the-shelf

June 13, 2013 64 Comments

Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint

Some things to expect with Milk Paint…

I’m currently working on revamping the MMS Milk Paint site and making some updated video tutorials. I also want to share more about it on my blog to help those who are dipping their toes or taking the plunge into the world of milk paint. It’s different than any other paint, so it’s nice to know some things to expect. For those who are brand-spanking new, milk paint comes in powdered form (since it’s perishable), so you mix it with water to turn it into paint. There are a variety of mixing methods and I’ll make some new videos sharing my favorite tips to getting a super smooth consistency. Today, though, I mixed it the way a lot of people probably would… in a cup with a plastic fork. When you’re mixing in a cup with a spoon, stir stick, fork, whisk, etc., it’s normal to have a few lumps…

June 12, 2013 54 Comments

Decorating

Better than Drop Cloths…

My family room has been undergoing some changes over the past few months…years, really. It’s been one of those slow makeovers that has happened (and is still happening) as the money and time are available. It started a couple of years ago when I painted the walls and cabinetry and made new curtains. In January of this year, we installed new hardwood floors. Since then, I’ve been waiting. Busy with freelance stuff, busy with the Lucketts fair, busy with life… and too tired to think of making new slipcovers, curtains, pillows, etc. Last week, I was walking through the family room and got a little distracted…and that led to rearranging the furniture and rearranging the stuff on the walls and making new pillows and slipcovering a small ottoman. I can see the room taking shape. It’s not drastically different. The bones are the same and the main furniture arrangement is

June 10, 2013 95 Comments

Before and Afters

Dresser Before & After

It’s time for a good old fashioned dresser before & after here at Miss Mustard Seed. We all loves those, right? This was a piece I did for the Lucketts fair a couple of weeks ago… Here’s how it looked before. Just a ho-hum dresser… It needed a lot of repair to the drawers, which was the biggest task. Once those were fixed, I stripped the top of the dresser to refinish the natural wood and lightly sanded the base to prep it for painting. From the moment I bought this dresser, I envisioned it being Mustard Seed Yellow. Beyond that, I wasn’t sure. I just let the piece develop as I worked on it…which is usually how I work on pieces. I highlighted the details with white acrylic paint and added little green knobs from Hobby Lobby for a little pop of color. To me,

June 4, 2013 156 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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