Compass Rose Table

I'm blogging from my phone again. I know it's crazy, but its easier to get to the photos I take with my phone this way. Oh yea, I put the big gun back away so you all ate stuck with cellphone photos again.

So here is the before photo of the table I decided to redo. 

We bought it new 10 years ago. Back then the girls would fight endlessly over who got to sit next to mom. Tired of the fighting every time we sat down to eat, we switched from a small rectangular table to this round one. Now both girls could sit next to me. 

That was 10 years ago, they don't fight over who sits by me anymore. Often times they invite friends over for dinner and we didn't have enough seating at the old round table. 

So I replaced it with an old rectangular claw foot drop leaf, I'll show it to you some day. Today we're talking about the round table. I tried to sell it as is, but no one was interested. So I decided I might as well paint it, if nothing else it will be a learning experience. 

So I stripped and sanded the top. 

Transferred on my graphic using a projector and marker.

Painted my graphics using painters tape on the straight line areas. 

Sanded and distressed the graphic. This is where I learned to never, ever use marker to draw your graphic in, it doesn't sand off as easily as paint.

Then I restrained the table right over the paint. 

I wanted the chairs to be the North, south, east, and west so I started on them next. I sanded them to give them a distressed look and painted on the letter. 

By itself it was fine but I didn't like the way it looked with the table.

I didn't like the white with it. Ok I could fix that. I sanded down all the chairs and painted them black, then added the graphic in white. Much better! 

I also put a letter on the back side if each chair.

So here they are all together with the table.

It was a fun project and I learned a lot. Like black paint collects dust like a magnate. If you paint straight out of a fast drying can of paint your paint will get a thick skin on it that will transfer lumps onto your project. Most importantly I learned I will never, ever paint black paint over curvy white objects again. Every time you think your done you find another white area! 

So there is my before and after of my compass rose table. 

Happy painting,

D.

I broke out the big gun.

So as I was working on my little blue table I had a vision. I asked my youngest if she would help me with that vision and she said she would. So I broke out the big gun.

 

I have been taking most my photos with my i-phone lately. I miss the old 5D.

 

 

I don't however miss the all the photoshop work.

 

Ok, so I might miss the photoshop work a little also.

I miss taking photos of people.

But taking photos of inanimate objects has it's own rewards.

Happy shooting,

D.

PS & FYI all photos were taken with a canon 5D and a 24-70 2.8L lens. Shot using aperture priority set at 2.8.

My Granny's Table

 

Before and after of my Grans little side table

I have had this little side table for a long, long time. My grandmother, who we referred to as Granny stripped it years before she died in 2007. When my parents downsized and  moved out of the house they shared with my grandmother they gave her table to me. It has sat in my room next to my bed ever since.


Surprisingly I even have a photo of it in there. Like the rest of the house this room is a work in progress.

Wall paint is Sherman Williams Open Air, I love it!

I gave the piece a light sanding then I stained the whole thing with MinWax Jacobean stain. When it was dry - uh mostly - ok, it might have still been a bit sticky in a few spots! I'm not very patient. I dry brushed it with my own, really crazy mix of paints. I'll give you the top secret formula, are you ready?

The dry brush technique gave a transparency to the paint letting the darkness of the stain and the imperfections of the wood show though.

 

1/4 cup Kiltz white primer
2 Tbs Dutchboy Platinum (paint + primer) Flat - North Coast
3 tsp ASCP Louis Blue
1/2 tsp Valspar Ultra paint + primer (NEW LABEL!!!) Flat - Lincoln Cottage Black

I told you it was crazy! A much easier way to get this color would be to buy ASCP Duck Egg, but I didn't have any and don't have a retailer anywhere near me, so I used what I had on hand.

I kept the original hardware, but let them soak in some stain to cover some yellow corroded areas.

I used two coats of Fiddes & Son wax in Rugger Brown on the top. I love this wax over dark stain, it just makes it that much richer! It also makes it so soft, I can't help but touch it when I walk by.

MinWax Jacobean stain and two coats of Fiddes & Son wax, look at that shine! You can see the typewriter and silver cup reflecting on the wood.

I'll finish it in a soft wax, but I haven't done that yet. I like to wait a few days to be sure the piece doesn't have anything else to say to me. I haven't decided it I like the blue table against the blue wall yet. Maybe it will change a little more, we'll just have to wait and see.

Here's another look at the before and after photos:



Happy Painting!

D.

The Flip Contest!

Last month I found out my town was having a FLIP contest. Each team had to come up with three items to flip. 1) an item made from pallets 2.) a man cave item and 3) a storage item. We had to keep track of expenses and we had to sell our items on our main street during something our town calls "Market on Central". The winner was the team that made the most income after expenses.

Here is my man cave item and below it I added some photos of what it looked like before we started. 

 

 

 

We decided to do a tailgate bench for out man cave item. The tailgate was the most expensive item I purchased to flip at $40, but we made up for it by using salvaged wood $0. It was the last thing sold, but I already have orders for 2 more, + I want to make one for myself, only I want a blue one. 

 

 

Next up our pallets, I decided to go for a low set coffee table:

 

 

 



If I were making this for myself I would have put it on huge casters, but those casters were $30 each and I got these little ones FREE at a garage sale. I also got the pallets FREE off craigslist. I will probably never ever get to make one for myself though, because my husband says he's never ever going to work with pallets again. It was fun for me to paint and stain though so I had fun with the project. It was the 2nd thing gone and actually sold to the lady in the booth next to us!

Last and most difficult for me was the storage item. I just had so many choices for this one. A vanity, two dressers, a door I could make into a hall tree thingy. I finally decided on the vanity, but I also decided the vanity should be a desk:

It turned out soooo cute! I love the mirror as a chalkboard! 12 hours before the sale started my oldest daughter was telling me to keep it and flip something else! ummm, NO! It was actually in pretty good shape, but I did have to glue two of the drawers. I stripped the top and did a darker stain then painted the rest, distressed and sealed with wax. Clear wax on the painted areas and a dark brown wax on the desk top. I also talked the lady into buying it by promising to go to her home the next day and monogram it for it, that sold it! It was actually the 1st thing to sell in the whole competition.

Guess what?

I WON!!!!!

We made a $222 profit after expenses. I sold everything and I did let them go for a little less then I would normally, but it was a contest and I wanted to win! I won a $500 gift certificate to Lily Grace On Central. Both teams also got $20 gift certificates to a local restaurant, and of course we got to keep any money we made from our sales.

All in all it was a fun event and I would have enjoyed it even if I didn't win. I have already been to Lily Grace and picked up a few new things to flip, maybe I'll even remember to blog about them. :)

Happy painting!

Deanna