A Champagne Gold desk for Diane

My good friend and best client, Diane (the one who loves and owns all of my metallic work) contacted me to say she was on the lookout for a cool desk.  I happened to come across this very cool desk for a reasonable price at Goodwill, so the project was on!!

It’s got neato wood casters and everything!

Diane wanted it done to match her (twice) lovely Antiqued Champagne Gold Nightstands with dark walnut stained top, and I was more than happy to oblige.  We have to keep these repeat customers happy!!  ;)

I removed the weird little shelfy thingy someone had added in front of the peculiar little recessed center drawer.  I painted the body of the desk with Krylon’s Carmel Latte Brushed Metallic Spray Paint, then glazed it with some Renaissance Brown Metallic Elegant Finish Glaze from Decoart.  (I’m honing in my glazing technique.  I picked up some great tips from my friend Mandie’s Altar’d Ebook, The Complete Guide to Painting Furniture.)

I picked up the knobs from Hobby Lobby (50% off this week, lucky me!)  The top was stripped and stained with Minwax Dark Walnut Gel Stain and sealed with a couple coats of Verathane Satin Finish, topped off with a coat of Minwax Finishing Wax.

Those of you who haven’t already, I wanted to invite you to check out (and maybe follow?) my friend Cassie’s blog, Reuse Reinvent Redesign.  She has fantastic style and dose some great furniture redo’s!!  She’s in a big push to top 100 followers by year-end, and I know you ladies can help her out!  Here’s her super cute living room:

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!

Linking to:

A Little Lovely, Funky Junk Interiors, Under the Table and Dreaming, I Heart Naptime, Stories of a House

Join the great parties with even greater prizes at The DIY Club!!

Transformed Hutch and Some News…

Well, I know the first thing everyone thinks of when they hear that there’s “news” is pregnancy, and if you were thinking that, this time, you would’ve been 100% correct!  I’m expecting baby #4 in August 2011!  I started feeling nauseous about a week ago, which was about a week before I even missed my period.  (TMI?)  Not sure how that bodes for me.  And I’m not sure how being pregnant then having a newborn will bode for the furniture refinishing and blogging, but I’m trying to just take things as they come.  But I thought I’d warn all my bloggy friends that if you aren’t hearing from me as much as you’re used to, or you start wondering “Hey!  What the heck happened to Ann Marie?  Did she drop off the face of the Earth or something?”, I’m just growin’ a baby over here!  I’m probably nauseous and/or tired and/or cranky and haven’t had the energy for projects, but I’m still here and still very much appreciate our readers!!

In other news, last week I finished up a hutch that went to a local boutique for display.  It’s also up for sale there.  Here’s how it started out:

My plan was to replace the glass on the top with chicken wire, strip and stain dark the top of the buffet part, and paint the rest a soft white.  I used mostly the original hardware, which (I thought) was very tarnished (nearly black) brass. 

I mixed up some homemade brass polish with white vinegar and salt.  When I was done, it turned out the pulls were not brass like I thought, but copper!  What a great surprise!  I love how the patinaed copper looks with the white paint!

So here she is all finished up!

And here she is all loaded with wares at the boutique:

I’m so glad I got this one done before I started feeling icky!  :)

Linking to:

Perfectly Imperfect, Thrifty Décor Chick, Stories of a House, House of Grace, Primitive and Proper, Domestically Speaking, My Backyard Eden, Miss Mustard Seed, The Shabby Nest, Finding Fabulous

White Bedroom Set, Shabbied Up!

I have a buyer for the white bedroom set I finished up just before the Camp Verde sale!  Hooray!  The lady who is buying the set for her little girl wanted to have the set distressed (since with kids, it gets that way no matter what you do!)  I was more than happy to oblige.  (Distressing makes me happy.)  I also highlighted the harlequin pattern on the top of the side table with some soft green paint to match her room. (This was a detail I wanted to add before, but decided to keep it neutral to appeal to a wider range of buyers.)

So here’s the before (which used to be the after):

And here’s the new after (and, yes, our willow tree finally decided to dump it’s leaves):

I love how the distressing brings out all the cool little details!  They’re coming tomorrow from Flagstaff (100 miles away) to pick them up and take them to their new home.

 

Linking to:

Funky Junk Interiors, The Shabby Nest, Miss Mustard Seed, Perfectly Imperfect, Tatertots and Jello

Copper Cabinet

Have you noticed all the copper popping up in all our favorite home and design stores and catalogs?  I have, and must say, I’m really diggin’ it.  Copper does not have to be southwest kitsch, like we find so much down here in AZ, the Copper State.  It can be chic!!

You’ve, of course, seen this “Copper Clad” dresser from Anthro.  (Although it’s awesome, it doesn’t really look very copper to me.)

Then Anthro hits the copper nail on the head with these rustically modern chairs!

Horchow has some similar copper chairs with a great worn patina!

Here’s a fantastic copper topped coffee table, also from Horchow.

Horchow is obviously running with this trend!  Here’s a Copper Ball Lamp from them too.

Some great hammered copper décor pieces from everyone’s fave, Pottery-to-the-Barn.

Restoration Hardware also jumps on the copper band wagon with a fantastic pendant fixture.

 

You see?!?!  It’s everywhere!!  And it’s fantastic!!

I decided to give it a go myself.  I had this sad little cabinet waiting for the muse to inspire.

This is actually the third life this little cabinet has had.  It was one of my first ever furniture redos.  We inherited it when we got married 10 plus years ago from my husband’s grandma.  (The same grandma from whom we got our bedroom dresser that I recently revamped as well.)  I sprayed it with black granite spray paint, added some funky pulls and called it a day.  It held our TV back in the day, and most recently held stuff in the hubby’s office, until it was replaced by his new armoire.

Well, I sanded as much of the bumpy spray-granite texture I could off, leaving it as pictured above.  I chose to use a new color in Decoart’s Elegant Finish Metallic Paints called “Worn Penny.” 

I’ve used the Elegant Finish Metallics on other projects in the past, and am a big fan!!  Although they have fantastic shine, they don’t have great coverage, so when using them, I always prime with a similar color.  I use much less paint that way. (This whole cabinet used less than half of the little jar of paint!)  So I primed it with some brownish red spray primer.  Then I used my Purdy brush (the fineness of which is really a must when working with metallic paints to minimize the inevitable brush strokes) and, with a light hand, brushed on the “Worn Penny” paint.  I used both a brown glaze and then a black glaze, to give it a rich patina.  Lastly, I added some copper pulls.

I finished up a big hutch today, too.  It’s off to a local boutique.  The owner’s going to send me some pictures, since I wasn’t able to take any before her (far too efficient) husband came to pick it up.  :)  She’s a professional photographer, so I’m sure they’ll be way better than mine would’ve been.

P.S. – We hit 1000 followers today!!!!  I’m so excited!!  You guys are awesome!

 

Linking to:

My Repurposed Life, The Shabby Nest, Finding Fabulous, Miss Mustard Seed, Chic on a Shoestring

Join the project party over at the DIY Club!  I am!  The winner gets over $1500 in prizes!!

White Twin Bedroom Set

Phew!  That was a super NICE and much needed week off, filled with family and food (two of my favorite things.)  With all the commotion around here leading up to the Camp Verde sale, then a week I promised myself would be time off from all things furniture and blog related, I didn’t get to post this set that I finished up!  I thought you might enjoy it.  :)

It wasn’t a set originally, but everything works together so swimmingly!  It began as this lovely appliqued sleigh headboard and footboard set:

Then I added a lovely little French shaped side table with a drawer  (LOVE the harlequin pattern!):

Finished it off with a Drexel Chest on Chest of Drawers (with killer bow-front drawers, I might add) from the 40’s.  (Sorry about the poor before pic.  This one was from the Craigslist ad when I purchased it.):

Add a gorgeous shade of white with the slightest hint of gray, and you have pure bliss!  (I couldn’t even bring myself to distress them.  They were too b… e… a… utiful, as is!)

These would be so perfection for a little girl’s room!  Hope you like!

 

Linking to:

House of Grace, Sassy Sites