The Horrendous Waterfall Desk

Ok. Feast your eyes on this beauty.  A CL find. It had been sitting out on a balcony.  Boy oh boy, she did not look good for her age.  The veneer was in shambles. No way to save it the bottom portion. The top was stained beyond recognition, the drawers were beat to hell and back.  Why did I buy this? (Gasp, "you actually paid money for this creature??") Um yeah,,15 bucks. What the heck; it's how we learn people! Besides, I just love me a good challenge! So here ya go,,,,feast your eyes:

 This baby put my wood finishing  skills to the test. 

Don't fret. When you see the finished top you will think I replaced it. I didn't. 

 I used, oh, about a pound of bondo and wood filler. 

 

                                         
     Since the veneer was peeling so badly from the inside panels, I chose to remove the worst part
                 and replace it with a piece of wood.  Sometimes you just have to improvise.

                                  Much to my surprise, the top sanded down rather nicely.......(Just you wait!)

Those wet stains are an attempt to bleach out the black stains (usually caused by water). 

It's supposed to set for a day or so. Uh no, I neither have the patience or inclination to wait.

 I hoped the stain would cover it. I used Minwax dark walnut (use a wood conditioner first).

Well Shut my mouth! Looka that finish! Not too B A D.....if I do say so myself. 

(Dont'cha yall peek now...just stay with me and scroll slowly to the bottom)

I believe I used a mixture of stains again. Gel walnut is great tho. 

 I like to use this Deft instead of poly. This is a waterbourne acrylic finish. It goes on beautifully. I turned the desk on it's back and painted it on like that. I didn't want it running down the front curved part. It dries fast and doesn't leave brush marks. Very important to use a quality brush. This was brand new. I clean them immediately and only use this for finishes. If you use a brush that was used with paint, you are likely to get little paint bits in the finish. Keep your brushes separate. 

So I had patched the knob holes but since I was leaving these unpainted, they were kind of noticeable. 

I decided to do some light stenciling with a metallic glaze on the drawer fronts, on the inside toe kick pieces and on the faux drawer right in front.

And here she is....all dressed up,,,

I am so diggin' this gorgeous walnut! I swear it's the same top. 

Paint color is a mixture of light blue and a gray/blue cut with some white. 

remember the replacement wood??? These were placed on the inside

as well as on the outside. I tried to make it seem like it was made that way. 

                           The flash has wiped out all the stenciling. You can barely see it.

You cant really tell in these pics, but the knobs are black w/a metallic-y iridescence.

Speaking of old-style decor. These blue baubles are from that era. They belonged to my mother.
I believe they are from the 50's-60's.  I remember her looking so glamorous when I was a kid.
Plus I just had to add one last shot of this vanity top.

Linking up at my fave parties!! :

Kammys Korner - Trash to Treasure Tuesdays

Domestically Speaking - The Power of Paint Party

Stacey Embracing Change - Thursday 

Miss Mustardseed - Furniture Feature Friday

Redoux - Friday Link Up Party

Funky Junk Interiors - Saturday Night Special

Knick of Time Interiors - Knick of Time Tuesday

Tuesday-Elizabeth and Co., My uncommon Slice of Suburbia,

Savvy Southern Style. Weds, Beyond the Picket Fence, PJH Designs

From my Front Porch to Yours,  The 36th Avenue,

Monday-Between Naps on the Porch, The Dedicated House,

My RePurposed Life, No Minimalist Here-Thurs.    
Under the Table and Dreaming-Sunday Party

Remodelaholic,  MinettesMaze-Sun party

The Agave Color Antique Dresser Make-over

Here is my newest re-do (I'm on a tear lately refinishing stuff!).

This was a nice little antique dresser I picked up from CL. I met a lady

who handles estate sales. She got this from the original owner, so it was in ok

 shape. The top was pretty messed up and it

had a lot of dings and scratches, but the drawers were in pretty

good condition for being 80 years old! 

two sided sticky tape was used to affix the mirror to the back:(
I'm still working on fixing and painting the mirror part.  

Mr. Agave!


So I wanted to do an aqua-y color, but I wanted a bit of green to show through.

I just love blues and greens. So I played around with the colors and used my

new shades from Martha. 

This photo was used with a flash. You can see how the color washes out. 

 I brushed on Behr's "lilypad" before going over it with my chalk paint made from

MS "lagoon". 

The top I refinished in Varathane "Gel Walnut". This stuff is the bomb people.

Forget the Minwax. This gel stain is fabuloso!!! So easy and nice and comes out

flawless. It dried so quickly because this wood was so dried out. I used one

coat of the gel, a seal-coat, and then finished it with dark paste wax. 

The whole dresser got a coat of dark wax to tone down the color

and give it an aged look.  

I really hate the waxing process. :)

It was a cloudy afternoon. Again, the flash just kills the colors. 

I wasn't sure which hardware to go with. I tried on many different knobs.

I didn't have anything in the blue/green family except some light blue milk glass. 

It looked a bit nursery-ish and too close to the color of the paint. 

I was going to line the drawers with this fabric.  Apparently I'll have to line it with the cat as well.

 So here is a shot with a portion of the mirror done.
I still have to do the arm thingy-s that allow it to move.

The mirror by itself is actually a beautiful piece. Since the piece that was affixed to the top with
sticky tape was literally falling apart, Hub made a new one to set on the top. There is another piece
that attaches to the mirror (I dont have that in the photo)I'm actually leaving that natural wood.

New Buffet Re-do

So, as if combing through my local Craigslist isn't enough, I also am sick determined 

 to look at other states!  My husband went to Prescott AZ to visit his parents last month so I figured, "Hey, let see what kind of stuff they have there!" He was kind enough to go to a few places and came home with this buffet and two small tables (that I haven't even had the time to get to).

Sorry for the out of focus pic. Don't know what happened.

             


                                             

And here she is all spruced up!

So this buffet wasn't in horrible shape. It just had that worn and tired

finish. Since I love to refinish wood, I couldn't wait

to start on this to see what was underneath this old finish. 

                          So here's what the top looked liked after a final sanding. Not bad.

And here is the top after I stained it with my custom color mix of walnut, red mahogany and ebony. 

I put on a seal coat and gave a light brush over with some steel wool and then finished

it up with a dark paste wax.  I was going to use a poly, but I would have had to roll it to avoid

brush marks. I just didn't want to mess up this finish and have to worry about re-sanding and 

applying three coats. The dark wax, in my opinion, finishes off better than the poly. It's silky smooth

and shows off the wood beautifully. 

                     

Some of the small trim was missing in spots, so I had to fabricate the pieces using wood filler.

 I made my own chalk paint using "Divine Pleasure" from Behr.

You can find the how to on my version of chalk paint here...

Spray painted the original hardware with ORB. 

I got this to sell, but it really fits nicely in my dining room area. 

I've been wanting a buffet.  Hmmm, can't decide

if I want to keep it or sell it. 

How much would you guys list this piece for????

Union Jack table

I have been wanting to try a Jack for some time now. Couldn't find the right piece.  Then I saw
this one, from Restoration House Interiors.  I thought it looked so cool! Not to be copy-cat or anything, but I just had to copy it!!! hey, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.....right????!

This was just a standard '70s oak table. Hub cut it down. I sanded, mixed my chalk paint in a graphite, gray with a bit of blue added, and some white. Marking off the big cross wasn't that hard. But the lines going across just had me boggled. I'm a bit OCD when it comes to having things line up properly. I wanted to make sure the spaces were even all the way around.  After I don't know how long of trying to get the small stripes to match up, I decided to use a template. I found a leftover piece of flooring that was exactly 4" wide. I laid it diagonal across the cross and that was it! Easy peasy.  It's a lot of taping, but no biggie. After the harlequin pattern, this thing was a breeze! It would look better on something rectangular, like a dresser, but whatever.   I haven't decided if I'm keeping it or selling it.

After cutting it down.  This wasn't an
antiques by the way.

                                       My cat Athena matches perfectly!