Santa’s gone & didn’t hire me on as Elf in Chief

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Hey there, y’all! I’ve been taking a looooooong hiatus on my Furniture Refinishin’ since my boys have been on so many breaks at school… it has been a blast playing online, rockin’ out on video games, and ridin’ scooters all day, but I feel incredibly guilty about not working more! Actually, not sure if it’s guilt or just missing refinishing pieces! I love what I do! I will never get rich doing it or ever become Elf in Chief in Santa’s workshop (my little guys’ dream job for me), but I’m ok with that! I enjoy being a humble Carpentress & I hope 2015 is full of splinters and paint-soiled jeans for me! Reminds me, here’s a snippet of what I’m currently workin’ on… a not-even-close-to-being-done console/desk + an ‘upholster me, please’ Danish Modern chair! ;D

Happy New Year!!!

Live Edge Walnut Slab Console Table

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So, I’ve always wanted an entryway console table, a place to throw keys, change, sunglasses, etc. when I get home… but, it’s a little hard when you don’t have a formal foyer, lol! Despite that, I tried to create an official entryway in our home using this console table I built, shoe basket, a rug, and mirror! :D

This was a fairly easy build… I didn’t have to chop the tree down and plane the slab, hehe! For the top, I simply found a live edge piece of walnut online, finished it with two coats of high gloss spar urethane, glued a piece of plywood under it to ensure that none of the live edge bark falls off since I don’t know what season it was cut down in + I made a cleat for the install by cutting a rectangle out of this plywood. Then for the rest of this piece, I simply built, veneered, and stained a drawer box out of 3/4″ birch plywood for my little guys’ sunglasses & attached the box with screws onto the underside of the slab. I probably would have left it floating if I didn’t have little monkeys in the house. ;) To finish it off, I added a single hairpin leg to give it a cantilevered look & a modern feel!

What feeling does your home’s entryway convey?

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Mid Century Modern Dresser Refinish

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Is it just me, or is Mid Century Modern design swoon-worthy?! It seems to just look better with age, proving that clean lines and beautiful finishes never go out of style! Cue this stunning walnut & brass American of Martinsville dresser from their Dania Collection by designer Merton Gershon! I couldn’t love it’s louvered drawer fronts more and they weren’t damaged, so I simply painted the chipped up exterior of the piece. This was such an easy refinish… slapped on some ‘Artissimo’ Miss Mustard Seed’s milk paint & hemp oil to match the existing furniture I built in the room & called it a day!

It took longer to style all my favorite gaudy nautical accents around this piece than it did to paint it, lol! I think the brass lizard and seagulls from BrassandTeak’s Etsy Shop suit it perfectly, the watercolor is an abstract beach sunset that I painted (hit me up for a custom color landscape of your own), and the vase & jewelry box are a couple of my favorite finds from west elm.

I am over the moon about how this piece turned out!

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Add Character To Furniture With A Vintage Map

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stella_deco A while back I refinished the gorgeous little French Provincial table seen here, but thought that it lacked something… I didn’t know exactly what until I came across a vintage map of London at a thrift store & light bulbs lit up above my head! What better map for a piece with French styling?! So, I decoupaged the map, glued some simple chain around the edge to give it a finished look, and voila! Easy peasy!

I think Stella is now complete!

Is there anything you wanna stick a map on?!

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Armoire Upcycled into Modern Campaign Chest of Drawers

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I’m continuing to create furniture from the bulky Armoire seen in this post! It’s been a blast to come up with new designs and upcycle this piece into modern furniture! I already built this Campaign Lingerie Chest out of it, so I wanted to create a complimentary Campaign Chest of Drawers. It was an extremely easy build, making it like you would any simple base cabinet. With 3/4″ plywood, wood glue, and screws, I slapped this bad boy together & used birch veneer iron-on edging to give it a finished look! I also had to sand, re-stain, and rub-on poly the drawer fronts and brasso the hardware. The outside of the chest was painted with Miss Mustard Seed’s milk paint in ‘Artissimo’ followed by hemp oil & I used the same mint green on the inside of the open shelf as I did on the lingerie chest. I painted the base and campaign T’s brass to finish this chest off. I have yet to decide whether or not I’m going to use the last of my vintage campaign T’s on the corners of this piece or use them on a coordinating bench or nighstand, so for now this chest is finished. Check out my work in picture form! —>

I’m currently brainstorming what I can make with the doors that remain from the original armoire and hoping I find another one to upcycle soon!!! Have you dismantled any furniture lately?!

Hope you and your family have a fun and safe Fourth of July!!! :D

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Baker Buffet Refinished into a Modern Media Cabinet

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Hi there! Happy Easter to y’all! I’ve been busy this holiday weekend workin’ on a beautiful ‘Baker Furniture’ buffet! The construction of Baker pieces is impeccably & beautifully crafted, but unfortunately the veneer was chipping off of the drawer fronts. That fact made my decision to paint them an easy one. I flaked off any veneer that wasn’t attached, filled the gaps with wood filler, sanded, then painted with Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint in ‘Artissimo’ followed up with a coat of hemp oil. It’s a gorgeous shade of neutral navy blue and my current favorite hue!

I see this piece being used as a media cabinet. I even thought about getting an HDMI wireless HD receiver so that I could hide our DVR inside & keep this beauty for myself, hehe! See, with an adapter that allows your remote to chat with your components behind doors their is no need to remove drawers for media components… you can keep all your tech out of sight which makes this furniture-lover over the moon!!

Hope this Baker beauty finds a happy home! ;D

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Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint Blog

Armoire Upcycled into Modern Campaign Lingerie Chest

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Well, it has been a long couple weeks for me! My boys have been on Spring break, so I did a lot more playing than working, hehe, but I did manage to get this upcycle finished! It all started when a friend gave me a HUGE armoire by Lane Furniture… it reminded me of a feminine version of campaign pieces + I loved it’s hardware and all it’s storage, but I thought it could be amazing split into a couple pieces of furniture. I then went on to dismantle the armoire while building a lingerie chest out of 3/4″ plywood. It was an extremely simple build that was made daunting by only using scraps I had in my wood shop. Normally the sides would just be two pieces, but since this is all scraps, it ended up being made out of many. The upside is that it was free, the downside being that it took way longer than it should of! Check out my work—>

I simply built the drawer boxes out of 3/4″ plywood interlocking the boxes with fluted dowel pins and screws, making sure to install the tracks before enclosing each box and adding 1/4″ backing. I then sanded, slapped on two coats of Behr ‘Winter Fresh’, waxed twice, and bada bing, bada boom, there she is! Ok, maybe it wasn’t quite that simple. I also had to hunt down some campaign T hardware, grind 4 of them into L shapes (for the corners), and paint said hardware with brass gilding! I also had to plane and refinish the drawer fronts since they had a black speckle finish on them. They got a sanding of 80 grit, 120 grit, then 220 grit, some espresso stain, and finally, rub-on poly to make them beautiful again! I think she turned out great and I can’t wait to make a matching dresser out of the two remaining larger drawers!

Do you have an upcycle on your to-do list?

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Forsythia Wreath for my Barn Door

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Ahh, Spring is here! The smell of flowers and fresh-cut grass is in the air, so I decided to get myself a fake forsythia wreath to dress up my barn door, hehe! It might not give me a green thumb, but it does get me in the spirit to garden!! That’s half the battle in turning your black thumb green, right? Happy Spring to y’all!

Have you done any Spring decorating in your home? :D

Campaign Lingerie Chest Concept Sketch

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I have to laugh about my incessant need to always take the hard way while tackling perfectionism along the way, lol! I was recently given a ginormous armoire with brass hardware that reminds me of campaign pieces, but instead of taking the easy way and slappin’ a coat of paint on it, I’m thinkin’ an upcycle into a more modern & functional piece is in order. The veneer on this piece is pretty beat up, the door handles are broken, and it has a speckle finish that needs to be stripped off. I’m also toying with the idea of planing the drawer fronts on the left to square them up since they are a bit wonky & then build a tall Lingerie Dresser to house them. Sounds easy enough, right?! Here’s my mint green and brass concept sketch for this piece to give me motivation to build…

Have you upcycled any pieces recently?