From Toy Chest to Conversation Piece

Someone from church just hired me to change the toy box they grew up with, a plain jane brown box on casters, into a conversation piece. I don't know what you would call it now, but it's cool. I glammed it up. She requested it to have legs, a shelf, and neutral colors. Here's the before:

Pretend like my workshop behind the chest looks all cutesy like it belongs on Pinterest...

It's easy to see the finished project and think I always know what I'm doing.  So far from the truth, but I'm learning.  For instance this time I learned that you really have to have bracing for legs if you can't add them underneath a lip to secure them to.  I also learned that the way to attach bracing is with a kreg jig (thank you woodworking forums!)  This is what it looks like and what it does:

Here's the cool way I attached the shelf:  I screwed eye hooks into the legs, rested the shelf on them, and then screwed a short screw (plus a washer to make it even shorter) through the eye hook to hold it in place.  Pretty nifty.

Once done with the construction part, I painted it Yound Kansas Wheat by Cece Caldwell, whitewashed it with Old White Annie Sloan, and wet distressed.  This combo is a great way to keep it neutral but not boring.  I finished with clear wax.
Here's the after:

Casey's tables

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted.  I've been enjoying the summer with my boys, with not much time to work on furniture.  I committed to only taking 2 projects a month for the summer, and now I just have one project left!

I've done several things for Casey before and what I love about painting for her is 1: She's not afraid of color and 2: She tells me the color pallette and let's me be really creative with it.  I just finished 3 tables for her, all with similar ranges of blue and green, but all 3 with different finishes.

Magazine table:
Cece caldwell's Virginia Chestnut topped with a wash of blue over it, wet distressed and clear waxed.

Hexagonal table:
Custom blue washed with green, distressed and topped with dark wax.

Square table: 
Aubusson blue, washed with Antibes green and the French linen.  Wet distressed and then clear wax.  Love how it all layers up together!

Aubusson Blue Sideboard Reveal

 This is my latest project.  It was a beast!  I worked on it for a full month.  This is what it looked like when it came to me:

You might think, as I did when I first saw a text pic of it, that someone had already gone to the trouble of stripping it.  Well, the drawers were stripped, but the rest was actually a faded orange paint covered in mildew, flaking off everywhere.  And I discovered it was lead paint!  You're really not supposed to sand that stuff.  So I got to try something cool with the chalk paint for the first time.  I scraped it as best I could and removed all the paint chips.  Then, I left the lid off of a can of French Linen for 2 nights.  It made it into a "gesso", kind of like stucco.  I spackled it right on there to fill the ginormous holes left in the paint finish.  It still took a couple of coats, but there's no way you could spackle with filler and then expect to distress it.  It worked beautifully.  The only down side is that it used a lot of paint.  You can see the orange color better here:

 The top decorative piece was so warped if one end was against the piece the other end was 4 inches away.  I soaked it in my bathtub (Yay long bathtub!) 2 separate times and clamped it down to my work table.  I wasn't sure if it would work, but it did!

 The legs were dry rotted:

I cut them off and Frankensteined new feet on.  The back ones came from a table and the front round ones are bed spindles!

 I also retacked the bottom on, it was sagging a bit:

 Here's the end result:  I am quite proud of how it turned out.

Exciting News!

Beginning in February, I will be selling my furniture at Homestead Handcrafts on Blanco!!  I am super excited to have this venue to sell my creations!  My bread and butter is still custom work, but I have really wanted a creative outlet to do what I wanted with pieces, and this is the perfect fit.  I will offer pieces for sale first on facebook, so "like" Redemption Refinishing's page to be the first to see new items.

It has been much too long since I've posted, I've been crazy busy with holidays and custom work.  Here's a few pics of what's been keeping me busy:

If you have an old piece of yours you would like made new, email me pics and measurements and I will get you a quote.  I am booking custom orders for April.

FTD

Well, Fredericksburg was really interesting.  I never intended to keep doing Fredericksburg more than just this one time.  I don't have one weekend a month to commit nor is that enough time to come up with enough inventory.  My end goal is Roundtop Warrenton. It's twice a year for 10 days.  I think I need to wait til my kids are a bit older to do that, but that's the dream.  For the locations I'm dreaming of being in (Zapp, Sommerfeld, Marberger or something similar), I need to have pics of my space to submit with my application.  That was my absolute main goal here, and I got it!!  My friend Stefanie does beautiful work.  Unfortunately, I only sold one thing.  One.  Not gonna lie.  It was hard.  I made pity brownies and ate them.  In the tub.  But I'm moving forward now!

Here's what all I learned:

- I want to be at a show where people come with trucks, prepared to buy furniture.
- There were not many people in my intended market at FTD.  There were people who bought walking sticks.  They bought burled wood back scratchers.  They bought painted gourds, leather chaps, pillow pets, and older 70's oak furniture.  These are not my people.  Even the higher end shoppers were there just to get candles and clothes.
- My prices were not the problem, as I marked them down a ton just to see what would happen.  Nada. Wrong people.
- I know if I have help I can easily set up and take down in one day.
- All my stuff for a vendor space is now made and I can use it whenever.
- Several vendors there also do Warrenton and told me to bring a bike to get everywhere quickly.  Good to know.
- Thanks to my friend Crystal and her mom, I now know how to build a shop counter.  Or a table.  Or a bench.  Awesome.
- If I want to be super obnoxious, I can repeatedly and loudly ask people if I can "Earn their business today!" like the guy across the way did all. day. long.
- I also learned which local auctions are the best.  Nice info to have.
- I have friends who love me.  A lot.  Crystal and her mom came down and built stuff and put everything up.  Kelly and Stefanie stayed with me all weekend to help and encourage me.  I couldn't have done it without them!!

Crystal also said to be prepared to hear criticism or constructive feedback as people were browsing.  They talk to each other like you're not sitting right there.  And they did.  But I did not hear one single negative thing.  That was soooo encouraging!  I have confidence in my pieces, now to just find the right venue.   Lots of people took cards, so hopefully I'll get some custom work out of it.   For now, I'll be listing the furniture on facebook and craigslist until I have enough cashflow to consider Warrenton.

Here's the pics from the weekend:

 That is the piece that sold, btw!

 Kelly, me, and Stefanie

My wonderful set up crew: Stefanie, Crystal, Candie, and Cullen!

China Hutch of Much Toil

Here she is!  Excuse the less-than-ideal lighting, it was the best I could do while perched on a step ladder 10 feet in front of my workshop.  I need a wide angle lens.  News flash:  I am spoiled to Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  In gearing up for Fredericksurg Trade Days, I have spent all my money.  Well, I have about $4 left.  So, everything else I am painting will have to be with what I've got.  So this is Behr Pot of Cream left over from my kitchen cabinets, and a blue chalk paint custom mix.  Usually with chalk paint I can just start painting.  No sanding.  No priming.  For this, I sanded a little, used 2 coats of Bin Zinzer Primer, then 3 coats of Behr.  Then I glazed and waxed.  That's a lot of man hours, folks.  The most chalk paint I've ever had to use was 3 coats, without primer, and I was painting white over dark wood.  Never again will I gripe about the price!

Here is what she used to look like:

 LOVE this hardware!  And brass is back.

 This is a great neutral piece.  I tend to like chunky, masculine pieces with a hint of femininity and this fits the bill perfectly.  Hope somebody snaps it up!