I have always liked to work with furniture. One of my first redos was an eighteenth century dining room suite which I painstakingly stripped and sanded and then refinished all by hand. There were scrolls and twists and intricate carved areas. It took forever to do it and when I was done, I sold it for $1200, which was a good sum way back then. I did another set after that and another one too, plus many dressers and odd pieces, always stripping sanding and refinishing the beautiful wood.
These days the trend is back to painted furniture. This was so in the 1950's, too and many beautiful pieces were painted. Shades of green were popular then. Today's tones are whites and off whites, pale turquoise blues, and a few vibrant tones for the ones not faint of heart. Distressing is very popular too and taking a chain, hammer and sander to a perfectly beautiful finish is how the resulting distressed old look is often created. Then a dark wood wax is often applied to the end result to highlight the project and muddy the appearance. The trend is in clothing too, with torn, ripped and clothes with holes and paint on them quite in vogue. I can't for the life of me understand why some one would pay really good money for jeans with paint and holes, but they do. Likewise with distressed painted furniture.
So I bought some pieces for pretty cheap, 20 to 40 dollars an item usually. The intent was to use them in the farm store, but with a price tag on them in case some one wanted to liberate them in the meanwhile. The desk was pine, quite well used with some scratches and dents in the soft wood and glossy finish. I painted it a light light mauve melamine and overpainted with a dry brush with a beautiful light blue. It is not visible in the phot except the bottom left side, because the sun was shining on that side of the garage.
The other piece was an 80's end table, all solid wood and back in the day, expensive, no doubt. It was pretty ugly though, with a sprayed on distressed look. I actually like the yellowed white worn finish I gave it. First I painted it a very light lemon yellow and then two coats of cream over that, then sanded down to the yellow coat in some places and more in others to give it a worn look. Then handles were original for both pieces.
But the piece I love is the chartreuse green 1950's kitchen cupboard. This was an old plywood cupboard, likely over the sink, with the beautfiully rounded edges a craftsman built right in the house. The wood was ash plywood and the finish was a high gloss shellac. This cupboard has three coats, a primer and then two coats of the chartreuse. I will put the old chrome convex dish knobs back on and wall mount it for a pop of colour in the store.
I have about 6 more pieces to do to put in the store. These will be used to house the linens, china, knick knacks and whatever else I put in them, except the chartreuse cabinet which will be my store storage for a stapler, tape, stationary, bags, tissue wrap and so on. That is unless some one decides they cannot live with out it….Is that you?
These days the trend is back to painted furniture. This was so in the 1950's, too and many beautiful pieces were painted. Shades of green were popular then. Today's tones are whites and off whites, pale turquoise blues, and a few vibrant tones for the ones not faint of heart. Distressing is very popular too and taking a chain, hammer and sander to a perfectly beautiful finish is how the resulting distressed old look is often created. Then a dark wood wax is often applied to the end result to highlight the project and muddy the appearance. The trend is in clothing too, with torn, ripped and clothes with holes and paint on them quite in vogue. I can't for the life of me understand why some one would pay really good money for jeans with paint and holes, but they do. Likewise with distressed painted furniture.
So I bought some pieces for pretty cheap, 20 to 40 dollars an item usually. The intent was to use them in the farm store, but with a price tag on them in case some one wanted to liberate them in the meanwhile. The desk was pine, quite well used with some scratches and dents in the soft wood and glossy finish. I painted it a light light mauve melamine and overpainted with a dry brush with a beautiful light blue. It is not visible in the phot except the bottom left side, because the sun was shining on that side of the garage.
The other piece was an 80's end table, all solid wood and back in the day, expensive, no doubt. It was pretty ugly though, with a sprayed on distressed look. I actually like the yellowed white worn finish I gave it. First I painted it a very light lemon yellow and then two coats of cream over that, then sanded down to the yellow coat in some places and more in others to give it a worn look. Then handles were original for both pieces.
But the piece I love is the chartreuse green 1950's kitchen cupboard. This was an old plywood cupboard, likely over the sink, with the beautfiully rounded edges a craftsman built right in the house. The wood was ash plywood and the finish was a high gloss shellac. This cupboard has three coats, a primer and then two coats of the chartreuse. I will put the old chrome convex dish knobs back on and wall mount it for a pop of colour in the store.
I have about 6 more pieces to do to put in the store. These will be used to house the linens, china, knick knacks and whatever else I put in them, except the chartreuse cabinet which will be my store storage for a stapler, tape, stationary, bags, tissue wrap and so on. That is unless some one decides they cannot live with out it….Is that you?
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