French Linen Church Pew

I just refinished this church pew for a custom order.  Originally, it was a cedar pew, very handsome, but they were ready for an update.  I painted it with Old White, dry brushed French Linen onto it, distressed and waxed it.  It turned out really pretty and I think all the brown/grey tones on my porch don't do it justice.  But I didn't have a backdrop big enough!

 Love how it looks next to my turquoise door!

Bold Green Sideboard

I refinished my friend Casey's sideboard.  She wanted it to be a statement piece with plenty of color.  At first even I was a bit intimidated by her color combo (Antibes rubbed over Provence), but once I got the dark wax on I really liked it.  She said she loves it so much she wants to take naps on it :)

Here's the before:

And after:  Can't wait to see what hardware she puts on there!

A Lesson Learned...

    In real life, I seem to have the happy ability to learn from others' mistakes.  Not that I don't make plenty on my own, but in general, I watched others be idiots in high school and thought "that seems like a pretty dumb idea to ____",  fill in the blank with a stupid high school choice of your liking. (Some choices might include "Do drugs.  Drink.  Arrive at school drunk. Cuss at your parents.  Drop out of school").  I, on the other hand, was so clean I squeaked.  And so square I had corners.  I digress.   The point is, learn from others' mistakes.
     I have lost that ability when it comes to furniture!!  I have ruined other pieces of furniture from not covering them properly while working on another piece; I have given people quotes without asking for measurements and done huge pieces of work for not near enough; and  I've plowed ahead with new products and have had to figure out what I'm doing on the fly.
   So here's my latest escapade.  I refinished a table for my friend Allison.  She's opinionated and knows exactly what she wants - which is great because then I get a clear picture of what she wants.  Many times people just want me to "do something" with it and that's great, too, because I can do what I want. The inbetween is the hard one - when people kinda have an idea what they want, but can't describe it.   Then I'm hoping what I do matches what's in their head!  So, back to Allison.  She said she wanted a dark grey for the bottom.  I told her no problem, I could whip up a custom color.  She said she wanted Old White for the top, and the whole thing to have a lightly distressed/rubbed look.  Here's what I did:

I sent her a pic (SOOOO glad I did!) to see if she wanted any more distressing. It was already waxed and everything.  She texted back: "Is it too late to say I wanted grey for the bottom coat?  And Old White for the top coat?" What?! NOT cool. Total miscommunication!!  Now I know - I will always ask if they want it two tone or top and bottom coat.  I do both all the time!  We had a good laugh, and I redid it.  So glad it was a small piece!!  The bottom was easy to redo, since it already had grey on it, but the top took a bit longer.  And because she's awesome she gave me a Charming Charlie gift card for my trouble.  And I learned a lesson!