Paris Chalkboard

This is a crazy busy time of year at work and I can't believe I didn't photograph this whole door but somehow I did not so I will just share snippets with you.

I would love to tell you this was an old door I salvaged from a fabulous flea market or salvage yard but this door is circa 1994.  The best I can do is call it "vintage Ikea."

After the Northridge earthquake when we repaired our house and did a little updating, my girls wanted Ikea furniture.  That was many moons ago and our youngest finally purchased her own place this year.  Did she take Ikea with her?  Heck no.  Coming up soon you will see another post about other things we did with her "vintage Ikea" furniture.

We demolished the TV cabinet which was ready to fall down on its own and my husband was able to save this door for me.  There were actually two, but he insisted the other one was too badly damaged to use for anything.  I wish he would have let me be the judge of that.

The pine door got painted a generic creamy white.  I added my raised plaster stencil technique which you can see here.  I also added some joint compound here and there on the door to give it a roughed up look and also to get my washy paint to give the door an aged look.

The door got a heavy sanding and a healthy wash of dark brown paint, probably raw umber or burnt umber.  Whichever one is darkest brown.  Just a wash was all it took to get in the crevices.

Next I added a little stenciling and a chalkboard finish to the top panel.  I love the way it came out.  I did manage to find another tall pantry door at the salvage yard this week and I plan to do the same treatment on it.

Here is the door with just the white paint and the raised plaster stencil before I did all the aging of it.

Thanks for visiting.

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 French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed

Paris Apartment Dresser

This is one of my favorite finishes to put on furniture and it's so easy.  Whenever I do a piece like this, it sells very fast so I usually have one as a back up waiting to bring in.  This dresser had kind of a retro vibe so it was perfect for this finish.

To achieve this look, I use Annie Sloan's Old Ocher.  It's a dirty grayish white and it complements the gray paint I use on the trim.

Once the piece is painted, I go over the borders of the drawers and the edges around the top and whatever detail a piece has with a very dark gray.  Then I go over the gray with an antique brass paint.  Modern Master's is my favorite.  It has an old goldish tone to it.

Then I give the piece a heavy duty sanding to expose the layers of the paint.  I almost always leave my hardware in the original gold tone finish, especially if it is aged and has great patina.

I apply this old world cherub image and add some French words from my collection of stencils.  If you don't have stencils, print the words on your computer and trace them onto your piece.  The image can be decoupaged or reverse mod podged, whatever your preference.

It's okay if your lettering is not perfect.  Give it a good sanding and enjoy the vintage Paris Apartment feel that this finish exudes.

Thanks for visiting.

Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed

Remembrance of Paris

Last summer I took an incredible trip to Northern France, and we spent several days in Paris so when I came across this image called Remembrance of Paris, I knew I had to do something with it.

I had some small pieces of peg board that I was saving to paint some signs on and they were the perfect size.  I painted the board white and applied my image.  Since the board had a funny texture, it was a little rougher than usual where the mod podge had been applied.  I wanted a very vintage look to the sign so that was okay with me.

I used tan and light grey and layered the whole board with several layers of washes.  I also used some stencils and applied some designs with my joint compound to make a 3-D effect.

I stenciled the word France on the very bottom and applied one of my small metal roses to the top.

Finally I waxed the whole board.  It's the perfect size and is a nice souvenir to help me remember my fabulous vacation.

Thanks for your visit.
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Mondays           Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday

Wednesdays     Savvy Southern Style   Ivy and Elephants
                                           
Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                    

Maison Clement Drop Leaf Desk

A couple of weeks ago I sold at The Little French Flea Market in Tarzana, California, and here are a couple of small desks that I sold right off the bat.

This first desk is a very small drop leaf desk.  I thought it would be great in a kitchen or any small nook would be perfect.  I painted it white and then applied my images using the reverse mod podge method for transfer.

I used various pastry shop images I have purchased on Etsy.  These images always appeal to me for some reason.  Maybe it's my sweet tooth.

This desk sold the first day of the market.  Below is the before photo.  It was just an unfinished pine piece that was in desperate need of reinventing.

Here is a second desk that was the first thing to go.  Unfortunately by the time I got around to photographing it, I was getting the afternoon shadows.  I always shy away from these desks, but it's so hard to find inexpensive pieces to re-do lately that I went ahead and took a chance on this piece.  I just stenciled it up, added a little chair and away it went.

I even decorated the side.  It was an easy project and I was glad to have an extra piece to sell.  Perfect for a teen girl's room.

Thanks for your visit.

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Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                  

Dresser with French Script

This was a very simple dresser makeover.  I am getting ready for the Little French Flea Market this weekend in Tarzana so I am churning out projects left and right.  This was a simple pine dresser, probably was one of those unfinished pine type dressers.

I bought an inexpensive stencil from Wall Masque stencils on Etsy.  It made the project so easy.  I just painted the piece my usual white and then used a medium brown acrylic paint to do the lettering.  It turned out so cute.  I love it.  Below is the before pic.

If you are in the area this weekend, stop by for a fun flea market experience.  I'll be selling with 30 other dealers including Pat from Aubergine Emporium and Jennifer from Hoot'n'Anny.  The weather will be perfect!

           

Thanks for stopping by.


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Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                 

Mint Chip Lady's Desk

I found this beautiful vintage lady's desk last weekend while out searching for treasures.  Structurally she was in wonderful condition, but the finish was in need of a complete overhaul.

I decided to use up my mint colored paint that I had used on a couple of previous projects.  I distressed the final coat of paint to reveal her warm brown tones underneath.  Hence, I am calling her mint chip.

The older furniture has such great detail.  Look at those cute chubby little legs.  Aren't they sweet?

All the hardware was original.

She just needed to reinvent herself.  Below is the desk as I found her.  I'm so glad I brought her home.

Thanks for your visit.


Partying at:
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Vintage Aqua Bedroom Suite

I don't usually take on entire rooms of furniture, but finding great items lately to resell has been nearly impossible in my neck of the woods, so when I found this complete bedroom set I scarfed it up.  The headboard and the mirror are not pictured here, but this was a complete bedroom suite.

The dresser is a full six feet long which is pretty darn big considering I usually stick to smaller scale pieces.  I started with a very bright aqua paint on the base of each piece and painted the tops old white.  I should say my husband painted.  I watched.

Going into the fall and winter months I didn't want this set to look too spring time, so after my husband did his magic, I did a light distressing around the edges of the top and the drawers.  Then I used a Minwax gel stain and glazed the whole piece.  I never have great luck with the dark waxes, and I feel I have more control wiping a regular stain back to the level I want.

When the glaze was finished and set up, we sprayed each piece with a heavy amount of clear coat spray to protect the finish.  The hardware was left in its natural state and I think it adds to the vintage feel of the set.

Here are all the drawers waiting to be cleaned up and painted.  The set turned out great and it's already at the shop waiting for a new home.

Thanks for your visit.

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Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                      
                                  

Sweet Petite Roll Top Desk

Hello everyone.  I have been away from blogging for awhile now.  I took a fabulous vacation, and I'm ready to get back to work now.

I found this adorable petite roll top desk at a flea market.  It was an oak reproduction from the 80's and it needed a whole new makeover.

It got a coat of my favorite white paint.  I left the hardware and the brass rail on the back in their natural state.

The hardware really popped against the white.

Here is the before picture.  This piece was destined for the thrift shop for sure.  The white paint really revived it and gave it a whole new life.

I'm happy to say this sold in a week's time...just in time for back to school.

Thanks for visiting.

I may be partying at...

Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed

Rose Typography Table

 This will be a quick post to show off my new design.  I purchased this table from a friend.  It was missing some of the decorative moulding.  You can see the before picture below.  My husband stripped the moulding from the edges and I went to Lowe's and purchased some inexpensive moulding to wrap around the top of the table.

 I tried to trace on some typography, but I didn't like it so I used this Graphics Fairy French type image, but this time I used Picasa and converted the type to sepia tone.  I thought the brown would be softer against the rose image I was using.  Picasa is a free download photo editing program from Google and it's very easy to figure out.

 This rose image is to die for.  I found it on Pinterest.  I reversed the image and I also used the image in the normal view.  When reverse mod podging  or normal decoupaging like this, you need both views of your image.

 This might be one of my favorite projects to date.  In addition to needing new moulding, the drawers were also missing bottoms and had a lot of other issues.  Once again, my husband saved the day and helped me give this wonderful piece a whole new life.  The following photo is a before photo.

 Here is the Graphics Fairy image.  If you do a reverse mod podge transfer method, remember to reverse your image so the type comes out correctly and always use a laser image.  Any local copy center has laser copiers.

 I believe I found this rose image on Pinterest.  Isn't it gorgeous?

Thanks for your visit.  I haven't been sharing projects because my work schedule has been crazy busy which is a good thing.  I am heading to Paris next week so I will be sharing some of my travels when I return.  I will try to get one more post up before I leave.

Mondays          Le Chateau des Fleurs        
                                      Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday

Wednesdays     Savvy Southern Style   Ivy and Elephants
                                           

Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                    Potpourri Friday     Common Ground
                                    The Charm of Home    Rooted in Thyme

Rose Wreath Patio Table

I bought this table from a friend last summer to go with two of my wrought iron chairs that I was selling and before I could join them together the chairs sold.  It's a cute iron based table with some sort of Masonite top that has stood up to the hot sun on our balcony for a year.  Since the chairs are long gone, I decided to give this little piece a total makeover.

Her top was painted blue, a beautiful blue, much like the blue in the image I used.  It's hard to put an image on a colored table top and get it to look right so I painted the table Old White.  I went in and washed some light blue and light gray over the white to complement the image I was using.

This is one of my all time favorite images.  The original image was from the Graphics Fairy.  It did not have the text.  I actually purchased the image with the text on Etsy.  Here is the link if you would like to order it.  It's from Cottage Rose Graphics.    It's only 3.95 and it's an instant download.  I think it's gorgeous.

Then I used one of my scrolly stencils and positioned it around the image.  I stenciled it in white, a stark white, so that it would contrast with the light gray and blue wash.  I wanted it to stand out.

I thought it was too much of a contrast so I placed the stencil right over the original stenciled image and stenciled it in a light tan to coordinate with the colors in my image.  However, I was not careful to block out all the white.  It was getting better to me, but I decided to layer a third color over the stenciled scroll and I chose a light gray.  I love the result.

As with all my furniture projects, I did a reverse decoupage, but you could decoupage the image in the normal way.  This image looks fabulous on anything.  Since this is technically a patio table, I used exterior Decoupage medium, and then I sealed the entire tabletop with Valspar clear coat satin.  This is suitable for interior or exterior.  You can find it in the spray paint section at Lowe's.

Here is the original image from Graphics Fairy if you would like to try something like this without the typography.

Thanks for dropping by.

I may be partying at...

Mondays           Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday

Wednesdays     Savvy Southern Style   Ivy and Elephants
                                           
Thursdays        The Shabby Creek Cottage    No Minimalist Here 
                                     
Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                    Potpourri Friday     Common Ground
                                    The Charm of Home    Rooted in Thyme