Petite table demi-lune de Paris de couleur Versailles

Most of you don't speak French. At least you don't think you do, but I bet you can make out what my title says!

I bought this little demi-lune table at a garage sale. It was wobbly and blah. I forgot to take a before picture, but trust me, it was blah. I used Gorilla glue to stabilize it, then painted it with ASCP Versailles. Such a lovely cottage chic colour, I love it!

I really wanted a graphic on it. Something French. We are going to Paris in a few weeks, so I'm really in a Paris state of mind. I picked this lovely design from The Graphic Fairy and tried to transfer it using the wax paper method.

It failed. Miserably. Everybody else on the blogosphere has used this method successfully, except me it seems. It got all smeared.

I painted over it.

I then tried the CitraSolv method. Found some CitraSolv by miracle at my local grocery store. The @*$*&@ spray nozzle on the bottle broke. Had to use a paper towel to apply. That method too failed miserably. It just made a mess. Gaaaah.

I painted over it.

I then decided to just use the tried and true graphite transfer method and then going over with a Sharpie.  I opted for a different, less detailed graphic. A laurel wreath with the word Paris in the centre. Lovely. I copy the image with the graphite paper, go over it with my Sharpie. Success, it looks lovely!! At that point, I'm really tired, it's late at night, I go to bed.

The next day I look at it. It's totally off centre. Duuuh. For a split second, I think to myself, just leave it, nobody will notice. As if on cue, my husband walks in, looks at it and says "It's off centre." Thanks honey. Captain Obvious. Meh, who am I kidding, I can't live with it.

Soooooo, I sanded it down and, you guessed it, I painted over it.

This time, I redo my transfer being careful to centre it well. And it works. It pays to be persistent and pig-headed. I distress it and seal it with clear and dark waxes. I tell you, the road to beauty is paved with all sorts of obstacles, but I'm finally happy with it:

See? Well centered graphic.

I should really sell this table $500 just to make up for my labour, but it's not fair to charge people for my, hum, shall we say, lack of savoir-faire? I'm learning, folks, I'm learning!


Nicole



I'm linking up to:

http://missmustardseed.com/2012/07/furniture-feature-friday-link-party-favorites-3/


 

Antoinette shelf and some sad news

First off, I'd like to take a moment to mention my blogging friend Suzan's latest post over at Simply Vintageous. In the blogging world, you get to "meet" virtual kindred spirits with whom you connect over similar passions, in this case, refinishing and painting furniture. Suzan had discovered such a friend at http://www.laurenlanedecor.ca/. Tara, the young woman who authored the website and blog, recently died tragically. She was 31. She had left an accounting job to pursue her passion of painting furniture. She had just posted about how excited she was to introduce Miss Mustard Seed's new line of milk paint. Planning for the future. 


Her life might have been short, but she lived it right: plan for the future, but live like there's no tomorrow by pursuing your passion. I did not get a chance to discover Tara or her blog, but learning of her passing is inspiring me to turn things up a notch and just bite into life with even more intensity. May she rest in peace.

********

When I think of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Antoinette colour, I infallibly think of Marie Antoinette. It's such a soft, feminine colour, a beautiful pink, a not in your face kind of pink. It's a Grande Dame colour. Very ladylike, very proper. Fit for a Queen.

I picked up this little shelf for a whole dollar at a garage sale. It's only plastic but it's so very well detailed, it looks like carved wood. 

It was originally gold and had been spray painted brown. The brown had to go. Had to. 

Since it's such a feminine motif, I thought of Antoinette right away. 

The dark wax was very appropriate for this piece and it enhanced the flowery details in the most wonderful way.

Could you see this in a little girl's room, accentuated with pretty "objets"?

Or it could be a sweet "ciel de lit" over a baby girl's crib. Something like this:

That's what a whole dollar can get you these days, folks. You just have to see the potential.

Linking up to:

Table Makeover Nightmare

This was our kitchen's eat-in area table. The colour is kind of passé. That yellow wood was driving me crazy. It just didn't go with the space. But I repaint furniture, so why not repaint stuff I already have, right?
(That dangly black and white pompom is my cat's toy, lol!)

Even though this is a coffee table,this was my inspiration, paint wise and finish wise. I just love the dark stained top.

From Red Hen Home

So, armed with my sander and some varnish stripper, I tackled the top of this fair size table and the seats of its six chairs. It took a lot of elbow grease and time. Finally she was all prepped and ready to receive the stain. And this is what it looked like after I stained it a couple of times:

Uuuuuuuugly!! I was so disappointed. All that work and it looked really bad. For some reason the stain didn't take and suspect it's because the varnish was not completely removed. I'm not that experienced with furniture stripping and I probably used the wrong product.

This lead me to think that I don't really like staining. I'm the type of person who likes to see immediate, successful results. So I decided to enlist the help of Annie Sloan and her chalk paint. I used Coco for the top and the seats, and Old white for the spindles and the legs.

Then, I got the genius idea to paint some pictures on the table. I decided to use my Silhouette to cut a stencil with the words "Bon Appétit" framed with beautiful scrolls. Well. Apparently that wasn't such a genius idea. It took me three or four attempts to cut the stencil, because it kept getting jammed in the machine. It ate almost an entire roll of vinyl! Gaaaaah! I've used my Silhouette successfully before, but the pattern must have been too large and intricate.

Sooooo had to come up with an alternative. I had just enough vinyl to cut a plate and utensils pattern and a set of salt and pepper mill. I used the contours of the patterns as a stencil and filled it in Old White.

And this is what it looks like after applying the clear and dark waxes:

Not bad, right?

While it doesn't quite look like the original inspiration, despite all the aggravation it caused me, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Certainly beat the 80's yellow! And my family loves it too. My husband wanted to get rid of the table before, but now I think it will stay with us just a little while longer!

What could have been a two-day makeover if I had just painted it turned into a week and a half affair. 

Next time I'll know. Stick with what you know kiddo!

Linking up to:

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

"Be Our Guest" Candlestick Redo

Good morning! They have a heat warning in effect today in our city, so the air conditioning is going on! Not complaining though, I'll take this anytime over snow and the cold! I think tonight may be a gazpacho night, a very delicious and refreshing Spanish soup that's perfect on a hot day. We usually have it with a baguette and that's our meal.

My project today is an Annie Sloan candlestick makeover.

In my last post I mentioned a garage sale loot I acquired recently for $3. Among these items was this sad looking wood candlestick.

It was worn out looking, dusty, dirty and full of wax. I removed the wax, cleaned it and sanded it down.

Out came the Annie Sloan Old Ocre. This was my first project with that colour, but it certainly won't be my last. I love its aged look.

I put on two coats, then a coat of clear wax. I buffed it and distressed it, then applied the dark wax, also my first time using this product. Another buffing and voilà!!

My daughter says he looks like Lumière from Beauty and the Beast!

Linking up to:

Breakfast with Annie Sloan and her Wonderful Chalk Paint

I have been a furniture rescuer for a long time. I pick up chairs and other things curb side. Our city has bulk pickup days every month where you can put out big items like couches, etc. It is not rare to see nice items that are just slightly scratched and that people put out because they are tired of them. They just need a little TLC. I also scour thrift stores and garage sales in search of that perfect item to make over. I don't see an old, decrepit thing, I see the potential to remake it into something scrumptious.

My husband cringes but he lets me roll with it. We'll be celebrating our 25th anniversary shortly, and I thank him for his infinite patience. (I did let him have his midlife crisis at 50 when he bought a Corvette, his dream car. He loves that car. I call it The Precious.)

But I digress. I am always searching blogs and websites for inspiration and that is how I discovered Annie Sloan. No she's not a cowgirl from the Wild West, even though her name sounds like it. Annie Get your Gun. Annie the Sloan Ranger. Annie Oaks Sloan.

She's a British lady who created this wonderful chalk paint. This paint is perfect for imperfect people. It is very forgiving. You just slap it on, you don't need to sand or prime. And you can give furniture the most beautiful historical look, especially when you distress it and use the dark wax to give it an well-aged, patinaed look.

After reading so much about this wonderful paint, I decided to try it. I ordered a couple of quarts from Piorra Maison in Montreal. Tried it, loved it and have since ordered more.

I recently acquired a good loot at a garage sale. For a whole $3, I got 4 old frames, a very chippy child's rocking chair in pieces, a waxy, messy looking wood candlestick and this breakfast tray.

Love the rattan edge!

While it had a nice vintage look to it, I thought it was too vintagey. In a dirty way.

The legs were very wobbly too.

So, I cleaned it, glued back the loose legs and gave it a couple of coats of ASCP Paris Grey. Then, inspired by its original mauvy colour, I traced this antique looking French ad graphic I downloaded from The Graphics Fairy and went over it with a raspberry, mauvy acrylic paint. Gave it a coat of clear wax, sanded it down to distress it and went over it with the dark wax and the clear wax.

The final step was a good buffing and here she is in all her glory, ready to grace someone's lap with a lovely breakfast.

I need to find a place to sell my stuff. If only to support my habit. I probably also need a space somewhere to store all this stuff. So that I don't paint in the garage so close to The Precious. I hate to think about what would happen if paint got on The Precious. We might NOT be celebrating another 25 years, lol!


Linking up to:





and

Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday