Duck Egg Blanket Box

I fully admit, I have been working on this thing since January.  Do not expect to ever see nailhead trim here again!  It was such a huge project.  I would work on it for a few days, get entirely frustrated with the nailhead trim, want to roll it into a ditch and burn it, and have to set it aside until I wanted to work on it again.  I am not a meticulous detail gal.  That is so obvious for those of you who know me.  Here's the deal with nailhead trim: 

     - you have to make sure each small box of upholstery nail exactly matches in tone.  There is a lot of        variation according to batch.

     - First you have to measure out and transfer an exact pattern from graph paper

     - To nail it in, you have to hold it with needle nose pliers with your left hand while hammering with your right

     - Many of the nails are weak and immediately go crooked and you have to pull it out and start with a new one.

     - For each parallel set, you have to use a level and make minute adjustments with the hammer.  So just know that I used the level about 5 million times.

 I will say that I LOVE the way it turned out... and I put the nailhead trim on front and back so that this piece could go against a wall or be used as a coffee table.  This is Kyle's favorite piece.  It will be for sale at Fredericksburg, but he made me promise to put a ridiculous price on it so that if it doesn't sale we can put it in the cabin.

When I got this blanket box, it was plain jane light colored box with clunky seventies wooden pulls on the sides.  The top was so fun to transform.  I sanded, then I pickled, I took my creme brulee torch and burned streaks into it, I whipped it with chains, dropped tools on it, hammered the edges, and finally put 3 coats of dark wax on it.

The color here is Annie Sloan's Duck Egg with dark wax all over.

Big Announcement!

I am thrilled to announce that I will be at Fredericksburg Trade Days this October 20 and 21, Saturday and Sunday only.  I getting so excited planning how my stall will look, and planning all the pieces I'm going to sell!!  As much as I love doing custom work, it is especially creatively fulfilling to get to do exactly what I want with a piece.  I am still taking custom orders, but you'll be scheduled for after FTD!!  Here's a couple of pieces I just finished for the show:

This is a kid's picnic table, in case you're wondering about scale...

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!

Green Window Frame

I bought this antique chippy window frame at Roundtop this year.  I wanted to try out my new color, Antibes on it. When you first put it on, it looks a bit garish, but I put load of dark wax on it, and I'm 

happy with the result.

 Love the random detail!

I ADORE how all the dark wax sticks into every little crevice and lets you see its crackled, chippy goodness.  The window measures 16 x 34 and would look awesome sitting up on a mantel, or propped against a larger window.  I'm selling it for $50.  Message/text/call/ me if you want it!  Sold the Duck Egg Hutch already...

Drum Roll Please...

Here she is!  A primitive high chest:  She is for sale for $130.

Remember when I posted on Facebook asking everyone to recommend a color for this?  Well, the vote was overwhelmingly red, so although I had none and really didn't have it in the budget, I just had to go buy some Emperor's Silk chalk paint.  I've been wanting some for months, anyway.

Because it's a pretty chippy piece, I knew I wanted to play that up and have several colors show through.  First I painted it French Linen, then put on random bits of Graphite and Aubusson Blue:

 Some close ups of the final piece:  I kept the original hardware, but purposely did not scrub all the old paint off.

Fun drawers!:

Look, a little bit of green peeked through from a paint job ages ago:  Love surprises like that!