Two Before & Afters

How is your week going?  We've been taking care of some much-needed work outside.  By "we" I mean I've done the hard work of hiring someone else to do the job!  Seriously, we have so many garden beds around the house there is just no way I can keep them weeded by myself, so I have some helpers.  Between everything that's been going on, I haven't had a chance to work on anything but the gardens in the front of the house, so the weeds have started to take over in the other beds. Two people worked for five hours Sunday, and there is probably another two day's worth of work to be done.   Plus we need some hardscape repairs, and we had to have a large dead tree taken down. I believe in DIY -- but there's a limit!

I do have a couple of paint projects though that I did all by my lonesome to show you today.  These are a couple of pieces that I sold at Lucketts.

I picked up this entry or side table at a thrift shop for about $30.  It was solid mahogany.

I loved the tiered edges and the spiral legs ...

But let me tell you, this was not my favorite thing to paint!  The six spiral legs were a pain in the 'ole patooti.

But I persevered, and painted it in ASCP Old White, followed by a light distressing and a couple of coats of clear wax. 

I loved it, and it got lots of comments, but I was surprised that it was one of the last things I sold at Lucketts.  One thing I noticed was my colored furniture (greys, blues and taupes) sold almost immediately, while the white furniture--which used to be so popular--sat for a bit. I saw that in some of the other booths around me as well. I'm still a big fan of white furniture, but for the pieces I'm painting to sell, I'm thinking I'll lean toward other colors. 

The dresser behind it started out like this.

I found it on Craigslist for $35. It was solid maple, with dovetail drawers, bracket feet and Chippendale hardware. It was in great condition structurally, but the top had some issues. 

The label inside said it was made by Jamestown Sterling Corp, Jamestown NY.  Whenever I find a label in something I bought, I try to find some info on it.  I wouldn't want to paint something that was rare or a true antique (hey, I watch Antiques Roadshow too!), plus I just like learning a bit about the history of the piece.  I found out that long before High Point or the Chicago Furniture Mart, Jamestown used to be known as the "Furniture Capital of the World."   The town opened its furniture exposition in 1917.  Jamestown Sterling used to be one of the biggies.

I decided to stain the top of the dresser.  I sanded it, conditioned it, and put on a coat of Dark Walnut.

I had a problem with some strange spotting where the stain didn't take, which you can barely see in the top left of the above photo.  So I sanded it, conditioned it, and stained it again.  This time it turned out fine, and after two coats of stain and two coats of wipe-on poly it was perfect.

I painted the body of the dresser in ASCP Paris Grey, and went over it lightly with a dark wax.

I taped off the drawers, and did the outer area in Paris Grey, and the inner area in Old White.  I lightly distressed the edges, and painted the hardware in Paris Grey.

Sorry I don't have nicely styled photos of either of these pieces, but I was in a hurry to get ready for the sale!

This piece sold pretty quickly--it was a really nicely built dresser.  But here's the thing, the person who bought it is going to paint it black.  Luckily she loved the top, otherwise all my work would have been for nothing! 

Now I understand that the paint treatment may not be everyone's style, but I wondered why she didn't just look on Craigslist and get a piece if she was going to paint it anyway. I guess not everyone is a Craigslist Junkie like me!  Apparently it was the perfect size, and she liked the style.

A sale is a sale, and she paid what I was asking for it.  I think it will look lovely in black!

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