63rd Avenue

Looks like a million bucks!

2012-08-04T20:43:00.000-05:00

My client, Mary, sent me an inspiration photo...

Photo from Pinterest

Pretty, right? She wanted a buffet that drawers and possibly doors for extra storage. I found this piece of potential at Goodwill, had surface issues but great bones! Done....

Patched the hole in the top, pulled off the veneer that could not be salvaged and sanded the wood underneath the veneer to ensure it was nice and smooth. Mary wanted it painted in Pacer White by Sherwin Williams with a gloss finish. Here's what she looks like after phase 1.

Back to the inspiration piece...Needed to bring in the mirror aspect from the picture. I took the doors to the local glass company and had them cut and apply the mirrors. I went to pick up the mirrors and realized they glued one crooked {who doesn't notice that}! Glad it wasn't me breaking that mirror, I don't need seven years bad luck! Couple days later, picked up the door and we were back in business. Here's phase 2.

Still not the inspiration photo...So, I remembered I had grills laying around from a secretary that I did last year. NEVER throw these little goodies away, you'll never know when you can re-purpose them!!! Sorry, bad pic.

So, I cut them to size {just use a VERY sharp razor to cut them...like butter}, painted them {be sure to paint BOTH sides as the mirror will reflect up what is down} and glued them down. I used a CLEAR silicone adhesive to secure the grills. I let them sit for 16hrs with 10 spray paint cans on each grill for the weight. After they were dried, I wasn't happy how the mirror edges looked so I had an idea. I wanted to apply paintable caulk around the edges to give it a more polished look. I'm the worst caulker EVER and if I was brave enough, I would show you my bathtub...UGH! I discovered a great tip. I used painters tape and lined the edges of the door and around the mirror itself, ensuring to tightly go over the edges of the grill as well. Sorry, no pic! Once the caulk was applied, I took a wet finger to smooth out the lines, pulled up the tape, NO caulk mess and great lines. I lightly sanded the caulk and painted it to match the set of the piece. Well, here is the finished product...stunning if you ask me! Enjoy Mary!

I'm melting...

2012-07-29T16:54:00.001-05:00

You know you did....you said "I'm melting" in the Wicked Witch of West voice. Seriously, this heat is for the birds, and you know it when you live in Wisconsin and your average high is beating Miami's. So, with that being said, put a fork in me because I'm officially done with this summer. I decided (as all good former retailers know) to move a season ahead. Enter Fall...

I had an idea that I wanted to do for my last show in June but ran out of time, so I decided to bust it out for the next show in a couple weeks. It was so easy to do and the results were so stinking cute that I wanted to share. Enter in old wooden tool carrier...

I started out by painting this lovely piece of potential in ASCP Old White. After she dried, on my Silhouette I choose a font and printed up "Fresh Flowers". FYI, if you're going to use vinyl for a quick application like this, buy cheap ole contact paper, the thicker vinyl can be expensive.

Next, I painted over everything in ASCP Emperors Silk, love this color. Once dried, I removed the letters and boy did it scream Christmas and that's a whole another mind set. NOT READY for that. I wanted a more worn, vintage feel so I distressed the blazes out of it with 150 grit piece of sandpaper. The more, the better. I wanted to see wood coming through on my letters. To give it even an older, dirtier feel, I pulled out my Ralph Lauren glaze in Tobacco and slathered it all over the piece. WARNING: ASCP is matte, so it will suck this stuff in fast, be prepared with a wet cloth!! I did multiple layers, to get that old feel.

Here's the finished product...stinking cute, right? Fast, easy and a great way to welcome Fall!

Just a "Spool" full of sugar??

2012-04-20T17:03:00.000-05:00

Forgive me ,titles a little dorky but I still have a little Disney still in my head and visions of Mary Poppins singing. My hubby found a cool old wire spool at GW and remembered that I showed him a picture found on Pinterest that inspired me.


Pic via Pinterest

Enter... the ~~new~~ old spool...Sorry, forgot to take the before pic, but picture old spool with a bad stain job on it! With summer coming up that I wanted a beachy feel with this sweet girl. In comes Annie Sloan in Old White, one of my favs! Once painted, called in my handsome assistant Dr.Zak to help with the dowel placement. I decided that I didn't want as many dowels as the pic showed so if someone wanted to display something other than books, they could. He started with a paddle drill bit in the bottom of the spool.

Once drilled, he placed the dowel through the hole, made sure it was straight with a level and marked where he needed to drill for proper placement. Using the paddle drill, drilled only half way so that it did not come through the top. Finally securing the dowel so it doesn't fall out of the bottom with a screw.

I attached three-3in heavy duty casters to add a little height and to add ease in moving her around. Construction is finished...thanks to handsome assistant! He will be thanked with a Leinenkugels later.....Summer Shandy, YUM!

Really wasn't feeling the all white look so I decided to add a couple of stripes in duck egg blue, gave her one more heavy distress job and here she is....

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice.....

2012-02-07T10:11:00.002-06:00

My newest project brought me back to the days when my now 16yr old daughter loved pink, pink everything and I dressed her as girly as I could and you'd think I would grow out of my obsession of dousing her in vat of Pepto Bismol goodness...Well, I did and and that baby has grown into a beautiful young lady with a great sense of style of her own minus the pink!

Alexa's 1yr pic!!

Alexa 16yrs @ Nana's

My new client Amy wanted to bring a piece of her childhood back to life for her little girl with a little paint. You can imagine how excited I was to to able to relive the little girl pink phase again vicariously through Amy!

This is a great little secretary, good bones just needed a little pink and a little love! We decided that a creamy white with peeps of pink will bring this little lovely back to life. Dipping it in the vat of Pepto that I have on reserve would probably not be the best choice.

After I primed with an adhesion primer, sanded her down, I sprayed her pink and used Valspar's Pink Frenzy. We wanted to have those pops of pink ready to go once I sprayed the final color.

I used Annie Sloan chalk paint in Old White as the final layer. Once she dried I used a technique that I learned from Kristi at 4 the love of wood, if you're not familiar with her, check her out she is ubber talented! I wanted to distress just enough get to those peeps of pink but not down to the wood. If you take a wet sponge to chalk paint it removes it almost as easy as sandpaper and it took me only to the pink.

I finished her up with 3 coats of polycrylic, sanding between each and then added fabric to the backing of the book shelf.

Here she is......

The Power of One...

2012-01-22T21:54:00.000-06:00

I started writing this blog back in July to help promote my VERY new furniture finishing business. I thought it would be a great way to link up to other blogger's sites and maybe get some traffic my way if they liked what they saw. My first link was with Miss Mustard Seed (go big or go home, right?) I linked this project...

Traffic thru the roof, at least in my eyes! Maybe got a couple followers and Thank You so much to those who did decide to follow!

I decided to attend my first Antique Flea Market as sort of an experiment, wanted to see if I could do it and I asked my hubby if he would help me as a birthday present. Well, we did ok, made a small profit but it really was more of a learning experience. It's funny how all the things you learn in a past experience you can apply on a daily basis. In my former life, I was a retail District Manager for a amazing retailer and some of the things we stressed to our teams was that you must understand traffic patterns, that visual is the key to pulling a potential customer to you and connecting with every customer possible is non-negotiable! So, I had one thing going for me, I connected with every customer I could. Visuals? Sort of. Staged a bit and just as a word of warning...Don't stage with anything you don't want to sell! Yep, sold some of my decor. Traffic?? We watched and paid attention. Who was coming to look, what were they looking at and listened to conversations being had about the furniture. My husband and I walked away with BIG take aways. Smalls and staging is HUGE, almost as important as the furniture itself. People loved the furniture and I was complimented on my finishing. :) I even left with more than I came with thanks to Carole, who bought some unfinished furniture sent me home with it. Some leap of faith and trust on her behalf!
After the flea market, the business took off where I was busy, busy, busy.
Notice the lack of the word BLOG?
Onward... decided to participate in one more Flea Market to see if I could apply my learnings from the last show and how it would work this time. HOLY SMOKES!! We had incredible traffic, staged to the nines and sales were out of this world. We were complimented that we had the best area in the market! Cloud nine and I couldn't have been happier and my hubby equally since he gave up going to the Bears vs. Packers game to support me! After the flea market I was approached by a local store to paint for her and I love the partnership and exposure I gained from Janet. She kept me busy.

I felt that maybe I didn't need a blog nor did I have time to manage that, FB, Etsy, finish furniture as well as keeping up with a three kids and the hubby. Time management, not my strongest attribute.

Ok, so I know how your asking yourself how does just have anything to do with "The Power of One"? When, I was a DM, we sometimes incorporated in our meetings motivational items to pump everyone up. There was one in particular that always stood out. Have you ever seen this?

The 212° concept:

At 211° degrees water is hot
At 212° degrees, it boils.
And with boiling water comes steam
And with steam, you can power a machine

The one extra degree....Makes all the difference.

~Sam Parker 212° The Extra Degree

I connected on a FB thread through Rebecca @ youaretalkingtoomuch.com where she just said I'm going to throw it out there and let's all introduce ourselves and our blogs. I took the chance and put myself out there to introduce me and my so-called, non-existent blog. I received such wonderful compliments and it really just took one to make me realize what I am missing out on. The blog world is big, scary but there is so much camaraderie and it's not about what "traffic" you can pull to your site it's what I totally forgot/ lost site of numero uno....CONNECT with your customer/friends/colleagues.

Sorry so long winded, just passionate about where I was and what I want/hope to become....Better blogger, friend and colleague!! Remember it only takes one to lift you up and realize that your missing out on. I want to be that one....

Here's to the new 63rd Avenue....hope to make you laugh, inspire you and if I'm lucky, teach you something you didn't already know!

XOXO

Jorie

Yep, it's addicting!

2011-08-17T19:09:00.000-05:00

Craigslist is like crack, really it is. You find items that people think are out of date, trash or have zero value to them and with a little TLC you can bring pieces back to life. It's completely addicting! Take this little lovely...

Worn, little dated and had some cosmetic issues BUT had great bones! SOLD! I decided to update her and give this little lovely new lease on life. Fixed all her cosmetic issues, primed and painted in Creamy by Sherwin Williams. To give her a little something different, I stamped the doors with a french motif with a waterproof ink. Finally, distressed her in all the right places and finished with a polyacrylic finish. Well...here she is!

Remember Me?????

2011-07-28T18:13:00.001-05:00

Remember that Drexel dresser I scored? She is FINALLY finished! Primed, painted with American Accents in Black Canyon, new hardware added in an Antique Bronze finish and finally two coats of Polyurethane. She is stunning! Heading to Craigslist! SOLD!!

Primer

Before

STUNNING!

Beautiful, Curvy, Trendy........

2011-06-20T16:34:00.004-05:00

Yep....got a beautiful table looking for a loving home. I refinished this French Provincial table (can you say Va Va Va Voom) in Vintage by Valspar, lightly distressed and then Ralph Lauren glaze tinted in Canyon black used. This table would look stunning with bold and bright accessories.....oh, the possibilities! SOLD

Painted with Vintage by Valspar

Glazing process

Beautiful!!!!

Look what I found!!!

2011-06-16T07:05:00.003-05:00

Look what I found! Note to self: Take better befores!

Solid wood Drexler Dresser!!! It did have a laminate top which I did remove to replace. She's a beauty!

Before:

During:

Work in progress!

I plan on finishing her in Canyon Black adding new hardware and finishing with polyacrylic! Will post when finished.....Have a superfantastic day!

I'm in love....

2011-06-14T14:03:00.005-05:00

Is it wrong to be sooooo in love with a piece of furniture that you say, "Good Morning Beautiful!" to it on a daily basis? I think not! I found this dresser at the local Salvation Army for $35, YES, 35 dollars! She was in rough shape and needed lots of love but she had unbelievable lines it was love at first sight. I stripped her to discover a beautiful wood grain underneath but she was missing so much of the veneer finish that if I tried to keep it would look too patchy. Sooooo, I painted her in Black Canyon by American Accents added a light distressing, sealed with a satin finish by General Finishes and finally new hardware with an oil rubbed bronze finish. My, oh my she turned out gorgeous....judge for yourself!

Before:

After: