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!  

Morrocan End Table

I think this table is adorable.  I actually envisioned this piece looking crisp and modern with no distressing.  That is not what the piece wanted to do and it doesn't take long to learn to work with a piece and not against it.  When I pulled the stencil off the top it ripped some of the veneer off with it.  So, instead of fixing it, I just roughed it up everywhere, all over, and I think it looks perfect. 

Here is the before:

I kept the original hardware.  Old brass is back, baby.

 Love how weathered it turned out.  Looks beachy.

So, I have another table identical to it.  Should I do it the same way in case someone wants a set or it's just so cute 2 people might want the same thing?  Or something totally different?

King Sized Headboard

I have finally finished both doors that I turned into headboards.  Doing crown moulding was MUCH harder than I anticipated, and my lack of being able to understand it made me really frustrated.  I just knew my Trigonometry and Calculus teacher could feel my failure and was shaking his head in disappointment somewhere... but I finally figured it out.  Turns out my saw is just not really right for the job.  It needs to be bigger and I would love to have a compound miter saw.  I'm not saying I'll never do crown moulding again...but I'll never use my saw for it again!  

Having said that, didn't this turn out GORGEOUS?  LOVE the color combo Sheala picked out - Pure White over Provence.  For the medallions I painted them Provence, waited til dry, then painted white and rubbed it through to the blue with a damp cloth.  

 In case you forgot what the original door looked like...

Old White table

Here is the sister to the aqua cabinet table I just finished.  I made this one a little more refined and neutral.

Love how the glass knob is perfect - I wanted the wood to be the focus of the piece, not the knob.

 This was a bit too plain jane, so I added a wodden applique to paint and distress.  This is Old White over Graphite, Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.

 Here's a close up of the wood.  It is reclaimed barn wood with several coats of dark wax on top.

 Isn't it just deliciously weathered?  I think this would be a perfect entry table with a bit of storage underneath.  This piece will be for sale in October at Fredericksburg Trade Days!  Click here for the link.