Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Free Graphic Wednesday #74




Well, its a gloomy, rainy day here in east Texas. One of those days that you just want to make a latte, crawl  back in the bed, and read a good book. 

Wish I could have done that, but I've been busy, running around in the rain doing errands. No time for painting although I did share this lovely French Provincial desk/toilet table on the blog yesterday.



I painted it with chalk paint in Antoinette Pink with gold trim and you can read all the details by going here.


Now let's get right to your free images. 
















I have no idea what this says. I hope its nothing that will offend. :-)




I'm so glad you stopped by today. If you love Free Graphic Wednesdays please take a minute to share my post on your favorite social media sites.

Have a great rest of the week.

Hugs,

Here are the rules for using these images.
  • The above images are free and for personal use only they are not for re-sale.
  • You may use the images as part of  a single project to sell but you may not sell the images or multiple projects using the imagesIn other words no mass production of items with my images.
  • International viewers please check the copyright laws for your country.
  • I do research the graphics to check if they are copyright free to the best of my ability before I share them with you, and because I am providing the graphics for free I am not legally responsible if you use these images and are sued for copyright infringement. It is totally your choice to use or not use the images.
  • All other images on my blog are copyrighted. You may pin them or share them on your social networks but any other use is prohibited.
    All images that are not listed as "free" on this blog are copyrighted and not for public use. Copying my images without my permission is subject to suit.


    You may find this blog post at one of the following lovely parties. Come join me.

    Wednesday

 

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

A French Provincial Toilet Table/Desk Redo

 Hello all my blogger friends. I hope your week has started off well.

I wanted to take a moment to share a recent project. This lovely vintage French Provincial desk/toilet table.


When I saw this piece in a local antique shop it was screaming at me, "Make me pretty! Please!" so I had to buy it and give it another chance.

Here is how she looks now.




This desk or toilet table, as it is marked on the bottom, had really good bones. It just needed someone to make the pretty parts shine. Just look at those legs!  Wow! What curves.



She is made of solid, cherry wood as noted in the top left drawer. I only had to re-glue a couple of the bottom pieces that had worked loose. I stripped the top and using gold, gilding wax painted the handles and sprayed them with clear, satin sealer. 



I painted the desk in Annie Sloan's "Antoinette Pink" and all the trim with gold, gilding wax.






Here is a tip: Wait to do the gilding wax last. It tends to smear until it sets up.

The top I gave two coats of "Dark Walnut" as I wanted it really dark to contrast against the pretty pink. Next it got a coat of clear, soft wax and when that dried enough I gave it a tea stain with "Golden Oak" furniture stain. Brushing it on and wiping off with a soft cloth. 

After everything was dry I distressed it and applied clear wax again. The top got two coats of wax then was buffed to a soft shine.



Now this desk has style. I feel like she is smiling at me every time I walk by her, and I smile right back. 





I was so pleased to find this desk. I had been wanting to do a French Provincial piece for quite awhile.



If you are someone that refurbishes furniture, like me, I hope you are having as much fun as I am. I really love what I do.

Have a great week friends.

Hugs,



My desk was featured at The Pin Junkie Friday Link Party. Thank you.


ThePinJunkie

My desk was one of the most viewed links at Bouquet of Talent.



I'll be sharing this post at the following parties:

Monday

Tuesday


Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Free Graphic Wednesday #73




This has been a rough week for me and I'm glad to be half-way finished with it. How about you?

I'm looking forward to the weekend as we are taking my 1940 Ford to a car show in Arkansas. So much fun. :-)

Let's get right to your free graphics for this week. First up we have a squirrel silhouette. Everybody needs one don't you think? 








I think this opera singer is thumbing a ride. lol








Love this lamp with its princess shade.








I'll be sharing a French Provincial toilet table/desk and a hutch with you real soon. I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week.
Hugs,




Here are the rules for using these images.
  • The above images are free and for personal use only they are not for re-sale.
  • You may use the images as part of  a single project to sell but you may not sell the images or multiple projects using the imagesIn other words no mass production of items with my images.
  • International viewers please check the copyright laws for your country.
  • I do research the graphics to check if they are copyright free to the best of my ability before I share them with you, and because I am providing the graphics for free I am not legally responsible if you use these images and are sued for copyright infringement. It is totally your choice to use or not use the images.
  • All other images on my blog are copyrighted. You may pin them or share them on your social networks but any other use is prohibited.
    All images that are not listed as "free" on this blog are copyrighted and not for public use. Copying my images without my permission is subject to suit.


    You may find this blog post at one of the following lovely parties. Come join me.

    Wednesday

    Friday

 



Monday, October 21, 2013

Restoring An Antique Drop Leaf Table

 Well, this is something I don't do very often. Mainly because of the time it takes which really cuts down on your profit. I restored an antique drop leaf table for a friend/client.

I restored it as close as possible to its original finish. It took me approximately 25 hours simply to strip and repair it before I even started staining it.  Here is the finished product.



After she told me how important the table was to her I was really nervous. :-)  She had memories of her grandmother, her parents, and sisters eating at this table. They were all deceased. So I really wanted to do a good job for her.

Here is how it looked before I started or rather as I started stripping the top.


My client's sister had the table before her and had tried to paint it with a gloss black. It was streaky and rather pitiful looking. It also had some deep gouges in the top and a couple of the medallions on the base were coming apart.

So I started stripping and sanding and stripping and sanding.


That is... after I had it in several pieces. (As you can tell I'm so busy I can't even keep my shop clean.) 



You really can't do a decent job unless you take the piece apart when possible. I used a chemical stripper on the medallions, crevasses, and corners but sanded everything else.


Can you see the furniture on my carport in the background? My husband despairs of ever getting it cleaned off. He said that he thought when he built the shop it would take care of the furniture on the carport. lol I told him he should have known better. :-)  

Anyway I started sanding with 60 grit then 120 and on up to 220 grit. 


This was not a veneer but solid wood so I was able to sand out the gouges. Once everything was sanded to my satisfaction I applied a Golden Oak stain with a soft rag. I chose that color as it was light enough to let the colors of the beautiful wood come through.




As I stripped the piece I found that the medallions and accents on the legs had been gold at one time. So I painted them with my gold gilding wax and the edge around the top and around the medallions I painted with black latex.

The base and legs got three coats of satin poly and the top I sealed with two coats of clear wax. I then buffed the top with a fine steel wool. Finally, once the gilding wax was dry, I buffed it with a soft cloth.




She loved the results and I was so relieved! lol

I hope you like this piece. I know it was very different from what I usually do. I will be sharing another vintage jewelry armoire with you soon. This one done in shades of purple.

Have a great week everyone,

Hugs,


Please join me as I share my post at the following lovely parties:

Sunday


Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Friday

Total Pageviews

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...