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!