A Milk Paint Project!

We had a beautiful buffet I posted on my page to see if any one wanted it to be customized to their home.  Here is the before picture.

When someone contacted me, I had her pick out the colors she wanted from the miss mustard seed color palette. 

We decided on the typewriter and the French enamel and I got to work creating this beauty.  

I started by sanding it with an electric sander, just enough to make sure the paint didn't flake off to much. I could have left it as is and the paint would have been more chippy like on the drawers.  I wanted a controlled distressing so I sanded the main part. I then rubbed everything down with a tack cloth to get all of the debris off.

I then got together all the supplies I needed to mix the paint: two clear plastic cups, a small whisk, a tablespoon and a cup of water. 

I read and followed the directions on the package after I had watched some of the tutorials on the website. I put three tablespoons of water in the cup and then three tablespoons of paint. I whisked the paint for a minute and then let it sit for ten minutes. After ten minutes I whisked the solution for another minute and it was ready to go.  I painted the doors and drawers the French enamel. I covered the paint in the cup and I waited twenty minutes before whisking the paint again and painting a second coat.

After painting the accent color, I mixed the typewriter milk paint the same way and started painting the main part of the buffet. I painted the shields on the doors to give the buffet a little more depth. I waited thirty minutes between painting a second coat. 

Once the painting was done it was time to make it more interesting. I started by distress sanding it with 100 grit sandpaper. I sanded all the edges and the little details and shapes on the buffet.  I also sanded the shields enough for the blue color to come out from under the black. 

I put two coats of dark wax on the whole buffet and buffed it to a shine. I added the knobs to the doors and drawers and the buffet was done.

If you are interested in a piece like this contact us at davewhit4@gmail.com.  We have another buffet in stock!

A Little Wallpaper and Some Paint!

  We had a vintage dresser with some nice detail, but it had the classic ugly finish you see in 70's shows. I had seen a dresser on Pinterest that had embossed wallpaper on the drawers and I had to try it.  So hear it goes!
Here is a before picture.

I power sanded the whole dresser with the help of my cute eight year old.

We bought some paintable embossed wallpaper border at Lowes. I cut a piece for each drawer and painted the wallpaper before I put it on the drawers( this is what the directions said to do).  I let the paint dry overnight.

After the paint was dry, I was able to follow directions and apply the wallpaper to the drawers. After I put on the painted wallpaper, I painted the whole drawer the rose color.

I painted two coats of the gray chalk paint onto the outer part of the dresser.  

I put one coat of dark wax on the drawers and polished them with a clean t-shirt rag. I brushed on a second coat of clear wax and polished them again.  I then attached the drawer pulls.

I brushed on two coats of dark wax over the outer dresser and polished it off with a t-shirt rag.  The dresser was done.

If you have any interest in buying a dresser like this,  Please email us at davewhit4@gmail.com .

A Schooling On Vanity

Probably not the best title, but appropriate to my post today!  We found an old broken antique school desk and I immediately saw some potential.  My husband immediately saw some work :)  We spray painted the metal parts with rust-o-leum black paint.  He glued the boards back together and fit them onto the metal grooves.  He uses wood glue and clamps the wood together so the glue does not expand when it is drying. He reinforced the top of the vanity and the seat by fastening wooden bars on the bottom of both.  He made the frame for the mirror out of the extra wood leftover from the back of the school desk.  We then attached small wooden embellishments to give the mirror a little character.  We painted all the wood with a primer.

After the primer was dry, I painted the vanity with an antique white paint.  It doesn't look that much different.  

I brushed on a dark wax and buffed it off with a clean t-shirt rag.  I distressed the edges and decorative pieces of the wood with sandpaper.  I brushed on a coat of clear wax and buffed it off with another clean t-shirt rag.  

Dave attached the metal legs to a wooden board we painted black so the vanity would be very stable.  This old school desk got a brand new look and is ready for any child's room.

 If you are interested in this piece please contact us at davewhit4@gmail.com

My Mistake, My Triumph

I have already told you about how much I love the ease and look of the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint I have used, but now I will tell you of my attempt to make my own.  I am a somewhat frugal person and paying 3X as much for a quart of chalk paint went against this frugal fiber.  I had seen some homemade chalk paint recipes on some very good blogs, so I decided to try the best reviewed one.  I tried the plaster of Paris chalk paint recipe as follows: 1 cup latex paint, 2 1/2 TBS Plaster of Paris, and 1 1/2 TBS cool water.  I used some antique white latex paint we had on hand so it was not the newest freshest paint I had found.  I forged ahead and started painting a wooden bench seat Dave had finished putting together. The chairs were all wood and had a coat of old stain and polyurethane on them.  I didn't want to sand the whole thing but I did sand the paint off the bottom leg so it wouldn't bleed through. Here is the before picture:

I made the mistake of being way to confident and I painted the whole bench seat, minus the part that was to be upholstered. The homemade chalk paint went on thin, but I still painted.  The second coat didn't look that much better, but I still painted.  I let the whole thing sit to dry overnight. In the morning, to my dismay, the paint could be scratched off with my fingernail.  To those of you who don't paint furniture much, this is a very bad thing.  The homemade chalk paint had not stuck to the surface at all. The original idea of painting the whole bench in this homemade chalk paint now seemed rather foolish.  I had to strip the whole thing and still sand the whole bench again.  Here is a picture of the how the bench looked with the homemade chalk paint and a picture of it being stripped of the homemade chalk paint.  The chalk paint doesn't look that bad in the picture, but you could still see some of the dark wood showing through.

I let the bench sit for a day because I was mad at it, and I persevered with the homemade chalk paint recipe.  This time I got a brand new quart of red latex paint I was going to use on a table.  I looked up varying plaster of paris recipes, and read over the comments that other people made about homemade chalk paint.  I made the original recipe and painted a test patch (I learn!!) on the table.  I then changed the amounts of the recipe and mixed 1/2 cup of plaster of paris with 1/4 cup of water and 1 cup of the new latex paint.  They both mixed up beautifully with no problems.  I then did another test patch on the table.  The homemade chalk paints still went on runny.  I let the first test patches dry and painted a second coat.  I let the second coats dry for a whole night.  IT DIDN'T WORK :(  I don't know what I did wrong since it seems to work for everyone else on line!(I'm being slightly dramatic).  All this to say that I tried, and failed but I did finish my projects and they look great regardless of the time wasted.

I ended up lightly sanding the chair bench and then using a primer.  I used my handy paint sprayer to paint the bench in two coats of antique white.  Here it is with out its seat.

I painted the bottom of the wooden bench in the same color and let it dry.  I wrapped the top of the bench in three layers of batting and staple gunned it in place. I wrapped the chevron fabric over the batting and staple gunned the fabric into place.

Dave screwed the seat into place and this very long project was done. The bench was a triumphant success. Here is the end result.

 Please contact us with any interest at davewhit4@gmail.com

Sometimes We Just Refinish!

In our picking adventures  my husband and I sometimes find lovely furniture and lovely people.  In my search for chairs, we found a very nice man who had whole storage rooms full of furniture just waiting to be taken to a good home.  We had a great time talking to him about restoring furniture and we bought four chairs, a small table, an antique school desk, chair legs, and two wooden frames.  I was excited to take these great finds home and start working.  We started with a table and chair that just needed some sanding and staining.


My husband worked on putting the small table and chair back together.  This is the chair un-sanded and ready for  re-finishing.

We hand sanded the chair and the bottom part of the table with 60 grit sandpaper.  We power sanded the table top.  

 Dave made a new wooden seat for the chair, and stained the chair and table with dark wood stain.  After the stain was dry, he polyurethaned the table and chair with a satin poly.  

I covered the wooden seat with batting and secured the batting with a staple gun.  I then covered the seat in fabric and stapled that into place.  Dave attached the newly upholstered seat onto the chair and we had a beautiful table and chair set.

For interest in these pieces or in having some of your own furniture re-done, email us at davewhit4@gmail.com.  Check back later to see what I did with the rest of the furniture!