Here's a fun little project! Sofa tables are super hot, so if you have one, I'd be happy to relieve you of it! Haha!! Ok, so it's your standard three faux drawer console table complete with bright brass hardware and sexy, curvy legs! This young lady (not vintage or antique, just a $17 yard sale score) got two coats of the best neutral color in the spectrum! That's right, you guessed it! Old Ochre! The piece was sealed in clear wax, and antiqued with dark wax. My resident furniture mover/wood glue master/hardware refinishing genius painted the handles for the faux drawers black, and DANG they look good! I painted the mirror shown in the "after" photo to match, and wouldn't you know it, they sold as a pair!

This antique piano had been left out in the elements for what looked like decades. I can't say just how many critters I vacuumed out of it, or how many hours of scrubbing some pretty vile nastiness off both the inside and outside of this dysfunctional instrument. It was a fascinating process dismantling the piano! Most of us know how one of these works... the keys move the hammers to strike the indicated string to produce the desired note or chord, but I now have a new found respect for it's complexity. I removed that ebony and ivory keys one at a time from left to right, numbering them as I went so I could use them for a future piece of restyled art. The hammers were a lost cause however, I was not about to try and de-funk each one, so out they went. I also bailed on the keyboard cover as well as the lower cover, but I did keep the decorative hammer cover! My plan was to remove the harp and use it for a piece of wall art in my home, but I could not bring myself to do so, it's just too cool right where it is! The exterior is painted with Chalk Paint® Decorative Paint by Annie Sloan in Emporer's Silk that is sealed with General Finishes Flat Out Flat top coat, and antiqued with Annie's dark wax. I placed a solid pine board that I stained with General Finishes Java Gel Stain where the piano keys once were, and the piece now serves as a display in the shop. At some point, I think I'll add t-moldings along the inside of the top to hold stemmed wine glasses, and racks in the bottom to house wine bottles!

May 26, 2014 · Edited · 

 and while it didn't look too bad when I got it, it did have scratches and dings that made it look a little "sorry". The top, drawers and bottom trim were all done in Old White, and the body and legs of the piece were painted in a spanking new color! ASCP Paris Grey! It's a "cooler" grey than French Linen, and I think it's lovely! Once I got the paint all over this thing, I did some serious distressing. This is probably the heaviest distressing I've ever done. I generally prefer a cleaner look, but I really think the amount of destruction really works for this piece. As usual, the entire piece was sealed in clear wax before being moderately antiqued with dark wax. 

I've been harboring this little lyre side table for a long time uncertain if I really wanted to paint it or not, but in the end I decided that it really needed color!! I used Chalk Paint® in Versailles and Old White that I sealed with clear wax, and antiqued with dark wax, and the metal "toes" were left with their original patina.

This was one of my favorite pieces to do thus far! The dresser was pretty nice as it sat. It was well built, even though it needed some tightening on the drawer slides, and the pulls were chipped a bit. There were a few scratches on the surface, and a couple of stains, but that was of no consequence for what I was about to do to it. The drawers were done in Emperor's Silk and the boarder detail done in Graphite and clear wax sealed. The body of the dresser was double coated in Old Ochre. I knew I was doing a harlequin pattern on the top, but I thought doing that on the sides was a little overkill, but they needed something! Stripes were the answer! One wide stripe of Emperors Silk with narrow Graphite stripes on either side was just the ticket! Now for the top... I had to do a bit of research, and found several methods for pulling off this look. Ultimately, I went with the easiest one that started with one big X from corner to corner. The rest were lines were drawn perpendicular to those base lines using a long level. Taping was an adventure... You have to tape the diamonds out "in shifts", and since tape wont just lay perfectly straight, I had a little assistance from my repair guy. (Dave does SO much to help me with my hobby! He's truly the greatest!) The result was the perfectly placed and even harlequin diamonds you see before you! I found this crazy unique mirror at a yard sale, and painted it to match the mirror! 

I wanted to do something fun and different with this little French Provincial secretary desk, so I tried my hand at new trick I learned at the Annie Sloan studio in New Orleans last month! The outside got two coats of Chalk Paint® in Old White and then I did a wash with French Linen!! LOVE!!! I decided on a fun bright color for the interior, and chose English Yellow! Not too shabby!

It was time to break away from small tables and picture frames, and this little wine rack was just the ticket! It was pretty time consuming to paint all the "rungs" of this piece (for lack of a better term) and make sure there were no drips. The body of the piece is done in Emperor's Silk, and the top and "X" sides were in Graphite, and the entire piece was sealed in clear wax. This lovely little rack now resides in the home of a good friend of mine!

Gorgeous antique highboy restyled by yours truly using General Finishes Java Gel Stain on the top that I sealed with their new Flat Out Flat top coat! (They really knocked it out of the park with that formula!!!) I painted the body in Chalk Paint® by Annie Sloan in Pure White and the drawers and backsplash are in Duck Egg Blue! Just the right amount of distress gives the piece the right touch for its young age!!

May 26, 2014 · 

This is another early piece that also has no "before", so you'll have to settle for a "during"! wink emoticon This lovely little side table got two coats of Chalk Paint® Decorative paint by Annie Sloan in Old Ochre (LOVE!!) and a coat of clear wax before it was artfully antiques with dark wax.

My pal finally succumbed to letting me restyle her beautiful serpentine chest of drawers!! This mahogany beauty needed a full resurface on top, and that's what she got! The old finish, or what was left of it was stripped and sanded to bare. I stained the top with General Finishes Java Gel Stain that I sealed with GF High Performance Flat Top Coat. The base of the piece is hand painted with Chalk Paint® By @Annie Sloan in Old Ochre! It's easy to see why this is my most requested finish! It's a clean and timeless look for sure!

These are my little darlings, and what kind of mother would I be if I didn't paint for my own offspring? I don't know if any of you have teenagers, but they are seriously not down with my fancy-smancy antique looking designs on furniture! Zacky is a gamer, and a moody male testosterone factory, so black is just his color! I painted the body of his waterfall style low-boy with ASCP Graphite and sealed it with dark wax. The Triforce and Elemental Symbols from Nintendo The Legend of Zelda were painted freehand by yours truly, and then the entire piece got a coat of clear wax to deepen the color and give it that stunning shiny glow. Now for Alyssa's piece! Alyssa's taste is quite diverse, and I had a hard time deciding which direction to go. She's got a very scientific mind, and loves Star Wars, Star Trek, and Batman. She also has an affinity for the Brits! Dr Who, Gordon Ramsay, and of course Top Gear! (I adore Top Gear!! Those guys are hilarious!) So we went for the Union Jack Flag! This dresser is by no means Vintage. Actually, it's super new and nice! The front has a gentle curve to it, but the drawers close flush with the body, and it was absolutely perfect for this design, so I only painted the drawer section of the piece. The Chalk Paint® colors are Napoleonic Blue, Emperor's Silk, and Old White. It took several layers and lots of that awesome green masking tape! If you should ever decide to adorn a piece with this flag, hit me up! it should be laid out in a way that you're not re-taping and repainting to hide little errors that I made whilst painting the different colors. It got a coat of the Clear Wax and was ready for her garb!

My baby sister got married on Saturday, and I can't think of a better gift than a fantastic piece of restyled vintage furniture! She doesn't have any drawers in her kitchen, (seriously) so I found this little hutch to house her silverware! The outside got hand distressed Chalk Paint® By @Annie Sloan in Old White, and a pop of color in the backing with Versailles. I left the top of the cabinet and all the hardware in its original condition! Congrats to Ashli and Cody!!

Ok, so this little number was a $5 yard sale score! It was pretty disgusting when I got it. It was hella-dirty, and there was quite a bit of water damage to the inlay top, but is was solid and sturdy, and the bones are what count! I think this one took the last of what was my 1st can of Old White, or close to it. I painted the entire piece with that and that's when I noticed a problem. Because of the water damage, there was staining coming through the paint. If this happens to you, and it will if you paint long enough, run to Lowe's or Home Depot and grab a can of Bull's Eye Shellac. Shellac is an all natural sealant! I like the spray variety, but you can buy the brush-on type if you prefer. It dries in minutes, so a coat or 2 of that will "stop the bleeding". Another nice thing about shellac that you'll notice is that the paint seems to glide over it, and you don't need quite as much, which is good when you're spending close to $40 for a little quart of paint! Now, because the inlay was lifting in spots because of it's past neglect, I figured the best way to hide it was to color in the lines! Chevron patterns are pretty hot right now and so are yellow and grey, so Arles and French Linen it is! I sealed the whole this in Clear Wax, and low-lighted the details in Old White with Dark Wax! 

So I sold one of my display hutches this week, and needed a new home for the array of painting sundries that had been displaced. I had this lovely little farmhouse style number hanging out in my arsenal, and decided it was just the piece I needed!! After stripping and sanding the top of base, I applied two coats of General Finishes Java Gel Stain, which I sealed with several coats of GF High Performance Satin Top Coat. I'd been dying to paint with Florence Chalk Paint® for weeks now, so it was a no-brainer as to how to address the exterior. After moderate distressing, I sealed the paint and antiqued the entire piece with dark wax. I painted the interior Cream Chalk Paint® and left it clean. I kinda like it!

May 21, 2014 · 

Color! Color! Color! Ombre seems to be everywhere these days doesn't it? This is another early piece that I failed to get a "before" of, but imagine if you will, an all white corner shelf... Haha! I wanted to try mixing paint. Another awesome thing about ASCP is that all the colors are formulated to be mixed! I started this piece with a brand spankin' new color called Old Violet which I mixed in doses with (still my 1st can) Old White. The limbs of the shelf were already white, and I firmly believe that "if it isn't broken, don't fix it!" That just left the shelves themselves! I made 4 well balanced and different shades and painted each shelf. A little Clear Wax to seal the paint, and there you have it! 

July 29 at 6:28pm · 

Check out this adorable little spindle legged table! My "before" pic is after I had stripped and sanded the table to prepare it for a couple coats of General Finishes Gray Gel Stain that I sealed with GF Satin High Performance Top Coat. I dry-brushed Duck Egg Blue, Paris Gray, Old Ochre, and Pure White Chalk Paint® in layers for that salt air kissed, coastal look!

From May, 2014 "This was my second break with single color pieces. I really love color!! This is Aubusson Blue. Now if you could hear me say this color out loud, you'd hear just how much I love this color in my tone. I LOOOOOVE it!!! Ok, after a couple coats, I was certain that a little dark wax was not enough to liven up this little bookshelf! I grabbed another new color called Old Ochre, (Which incidentally, is my absolute FAVE neutral thus far in the ASCP palette!!) and hit the cute little knobby things on the middle shelf. It wasn't enough!! No, this needed something more!! Some of you know that I have some experience in tailoring. For those that don't, I used to make corsets, skirts, and chemises that I sold all over the world to Renaissance faire goers. When the market tanked, there wasn't enough business, and I lost my enthusiasm for it. I still have quite a bit of fine fabrics in what used to be my studio, (basement...LOL) and so I found a complimentary design and using plain old mod podge, placed the fabric in the back of the bookcase, and VOILA!!! Totes Adorbs! ...as my daughter would say! "

This creature came to me with one foot completely broken off. (Left foot in the "before" shot) After making the repair and cleaning the piece thoroughly, I was delighted to find the top in really good shape. I touched up the small scratches with General Finishes Java Gel Stain, and a few coats of GF Satin High Performance Top Coat to protect the newly freshened surface. The edges of the top and base were not as well off as the top, so I went with a color I had yet to try! Paloma is a wonderful shade of grayish-lavender on the Chalk Paint® by Annie Sloan palette!! I highlighted the details on the piecrust top and legs with Old White, which I sealed with clear wax, and antiqued with dark wax.

Chalk Paint® by Annie Sloan is not just for furniture! As a matter of fact, there aren't many surfaces that this paint won't bond to! This project was an older dark brown metal lamp. With all the grooves and curves in this piece, it was begging for paint and dark wax to accentuate it's positives. I hate that I don't have a "before" of this lamp, but I think I may have mentioned previously (and will probably reiterate later) that I SUCK at the "before" pics. Would you believe that the color used was Old White? Crazy right? AND, it's still the 1st quart! O love this stuff. Anywho, 2 coats went on, and a coat of clear wax. I slathered the dark wax everywhere, and proceeded to wipe it all off except what stayed in those little niches! Isn't it lovely?