A Wilder Finish

Mid-Century Buffet's Transformation

2014-04-19T10:59:00.004-07:00

Today I reveal my mid-century buffet Before and After photos! I'm proud of this one - what a fresh look! Furthermore, I absolutely ADORE the sense of accomplishment associated with refinishing furniture.

Mid-Century Buffet BEFORE Going to the Furniture Spa

I purchased this dynamo mid-century buffet from a nice woman in Quincy, Massachusetts. It's had better days with several stains and scratches on the surface and the finish scratched off in places, but the detail and bones were spectacular. I planned to paint the body grey and stain the top Provincial color by Minwax.

You can hardly see it in the before shot, but there's a fair bit of detail on the left and right corners below the table top...this detail had to be highlighted in the process. Also, I wasn't terribly excited about the hardware and originally thought about changing it... But I used Brasso to bring back the original beauty of the brass hardware. Amazing!

I LOVE the look of a restained top and painted body. Isn't it just spectacular?

Mid-Century Buffet AFTER Going to the Furniture Spa

Thanks for stopping by, Bex Wilder

The middle school craft project gone wrong

2014-04-13T11:23:00.001-07:00

...well, it's done. I really wanted to replace this UGLY UGLY pendant light. My husband claims that he "likes it" but what that really meant was that he didn't want me to spend money on a new light. So I tried to come up with something creative and cute. I finished the project (finally) but it does remind me of that middle school craft project gone wrong :) Kelly, you are not the only one; lighting is difficult, in my view.

Here's to effort and how I did it.

We bought our home in October 2013 and it came with 1990s wall color (which is, by the way, was something akin to a Jackson Pollock painting) AND this lovely light fixture. (Sorry, this is the best photo that I have.)

I thought about this for a while; what do I want? I do like the standard shabby chic chandeliers adorned with soft colors and crystal drops but our home is a solid transitional style and shabby chic just doesn't mesh.

I saw this tutorial over at Crafty Nest on how to replicate the West Elm Abaca pendant lamp but I needed more light than what could be supplied by a 1-bulb pendant lamp. I decided on a hemp lampshade from this $8 chandelier I found at Good Deeds Thrift Shop in Pembroke, MA.

I tossed the shade and spray painted the small chandelier underneath white!

For how I made the shade, I will refer you again to the tutorial at Crafty Nest for the basic premise - by the way, I used the regular tacky glue and not the more expensive clear version and it worked just fine - but I did modify the method in two ways. First, I needed a bigger lamp, so I used a fitness ball instead of a small plastic ball. Second, I created more of a lamp shade to fit over my chandelier rather than a globe for a pendant light. Here are the pictures of my modified method.

And the easy part (for me) was putting the shade on the chandelier and hard-wiring the fixture into the ceiling. I am much more handy than I am crafty, so hard-wiring a light fixture is no problem. In the event that you are the opposite, go to Brittany's blog Pretty Handy Girl. There she has written a very thorough tutorial on safely installing hard-wired lighting.

In a true fit of self-deprecation, I can tell you with certainty that I really don't like the finished product. But I did learn a lot in the process. As an aside, do you recognize the chair in the background? Love that chair and table.

Fun fact: I used sticks found on a walk to attach the lampshade to the chandelier :) This was really a good idea! A dowel would have worked, too.

And here's why I like the hemp style shade - and why I will keep this light fixture up until I figure out how to improve it.

All in, I'm proud of myself for pushing through this long and slightly frustrating project. Unfortunately, though, I think that my cat Rudi would have done a better job :) I will improve this light fixture - perhaps I'll go back to the drawing board with the hemp.

Stay tuned...

Bex Wilder

How to Clean Vintage and Antique Brass Hardware

2014-04-11T18:37:00.002-07:00

Brasso!

A lot of the hardware I work with is brass, well tarnished 60-100 year old brass. The best way to spruce up the old hardware without having to give up the vintage appeal is to clean the hardware and bring back the original brass (gold) shimmer! I've done this for several pieces - see my vintage cedar chest makeover.

I did a lot of research and came down to three basic ingredients for cleaning tarnished brass hardware: lemon, salt, vinegar, and Brasso. So from the three ingredients, I test three bass methods.

Things you'll need no matter what method you use:

Warm water with soap
Gloves
A soft toothbrush for scrubbing in the crevices

Method 1: Lemon plus salt

I had originally read this method on Centsational Girl blog - there, Kate recommends roughly 1/4 cup of salt per squeeze of /2 lemon.

I used this method when refinishing my vintage cedar chest. I let it soak overnight two different times and the result was really quite good! I repeated the soaking process to get the result I wanted...

... but when I went to put the hardware back on to my vintage cedar chest, the screws didn't fit properly. By soaking the hardware overnight (or from simply the lemon, I don't know) rust developed in the screw holes. What a frustrating moment when I couldn't get the hardware back on!

Method 2: Vinegar Plus Salt

Mix 2-3 parts vinegar plus one part salt

In my research (don't remember where I saw this), I read that vinegar cleans brass well. I mixed vinegar, salt, and a little (just a little) bit of warm water to clean the mid-century buffet I'm currently working on. Wow, what a bust. The vinegar cleans the hardware, yes, but it does not remove the tarnish. You can see this in the picture below.

Method 3: Brasso

Squeeze Brasso directly out of the container and scrub with a toothbrush

Go buy the Brasso, this is the ticket!! I was frustrated with the vinegar, so I jumped in my car and drove to the local hardware store. I picked up Brasso for $3.99 and BOY WAS IT WORTH IT!! Don't bother with the home remedies - method 1 or method 2 - Brasso does the trick. And there's no need for soaking, so no rust in the screw holes! I just put the Brasso on the hardware, let it sit for a bit, and then scrubbed with a toothbrush (one I'll not be using again, of course :) ).

If, however, you want only natural ingredients, then method 1 is a distant second to Brasso.

Thanks for stopping by and please visit and like my Facebook Page!

If your washer/dryer ain't broke, don't replace it!

2014-04-04T12:52:00.001-07:00

I learned a valuable $2090 lesson today: if your washing machine ain't broke, don't replace it!

The story I went to Lowe's for a new laundry set. My washing machine was functioning but not cleaning my clothes well and my dryer took too much time, not to mention it practically burned my clothes. I found this wonderful set at Lowe's and figured well now is the time to buy!

After leaving Lowe's I decided to buy a really sturdy washing machine pan (our set is on the second floor, so one puts a pan underneath to catch the water in case it leaks from the machine), so I headed over to Atlantic Appliance Parts in Quincy, MA. Boy, am I glad that I did that.

Billy and Donna at Atlantic Appliance Parts are AWESOME. They told me that I should not throw away a perfectly good washing machine. Furthermore, they commented that the machines these days don't last as long! They asked me a couple of questions, got the model number of my machine (Kenmore Elite from 1999) and told me that my washing machine could be fixed with an $9 washer agitator dog. Wow. Donna took me through the fix and it was easy!

I pressed, as I was still not excited about burnt clothes. Well, she said, you probably need to clean the dryer hose and ensure that the air is venting properly. I pulled out the dryer; and lo and behold, there was lint sticking out of the hose connected to the dryer!

I removed the hose and cleaned the lint from the dryer connection and also from within the hose! Then I also cleaned out the hose and connection that leads to the exterior of the home. This one wasn't that bad but still needed a little TLC.

Look at all of this lint!!

I promptly returned the set I had just purchased at Lowe's after spending an hour with my current washing machine and dryer. So far, the set works much much better! Clothes clean and no burnt clothes.

Total savings $2090: $2100 for the super Whirlpool Cabrio 8900 washer/dryer set that I returned to Lowe's less the $10 ($9 plus a bit for tax) for an agitator dog.

Lesson learned: if your washer or dryer ain't broke, then don't replace it!

Thanks for stopping by! Bex Wilder

Storage Cabinet from Crate and Barrel Goes to the Furniture Spa!

2014-04-01T17:59:00.002-07:00

I absolutely adore the output of this project! I came upon this Crate and Barrel tall storage cabinet. Judging from the prices of the pieces that are currently in stock at Crate and Barrel, I suspect that my "project" was somewhere around $1,000 when originally purchased. After being in the furniture refinishing business, I am shocked that Crate and Barrel can charge this for manufactured furniture.

I have always been a fan of buying wood furniture (and cars) used on CL. I haven't seen a study of this, but I would venture to guess that any piece of wood furniture depreciates around 40% as soon as you take it home. Think about how many "like new" bed frames from Restoration Hardware you've seen on CL - people just don't get it and try to sell their RH bed frame for 10% lower than retail. Needless to say, it never sells.

Nevertheless, this Crate and Barrel cabinet was indeed a score since it has great lines and interesting detail - crown molding and a frame inset on the door - so CB cabinet shall be transformed into a Bex Wilder original beauty!

Here is the before and after! I love it!!!

How I did it

Transforming this cabinet to its final beauty took quite a while. First I sanded down the entire piece to generate a surface for the paint to stick on to. This was not difficult, as the original finish was not overly thick.

I painted the inside of the cabinet two coats of semi-gloss black, including the three shelves. The black cleaned up the interior and contrasts nicely with the white. After painting the interior, I put FOUR coats of white paint on the cabinet. I added floetrol to the final two coats, so as to minimize - this stuff really works - the visibility of paint brush strokes. Wow, four coats!

I decided that the drawer needed a little character, so I painted it with vertical stripes. Funny, while at the office - remember I'm an economist in the finance industry when I'm not refinishing furniture, i.e., a full time and wonderful career - I spent my morning meetings contemplating horizontal or vertical stripes. I decided to go with vertical because the cabinet is tall and relatively skinny - vertical stripes are complimentary of skinny :) My stripes are perfect. You don't have to settle for imperfect stripes because the paint bleeds through the tape - see this post on how to paint the perfect stripe!

Here's a photo of the pre-distressing cabinet after the painting and prep work.

I could have finished here, as the cabinet looks great! But that's not my style, so now for the fun part...distressing! I spent an hour or two distressing the piece by hand. There are so many lines and details that a hand sander would have been too aggressive of a sanding choice. I even distressed my perfect stripes! Then I stained the cabinet using Minwax provincial in order to age the look of the paint.

Wow! I absolutely LOVE how it turned out!

And the distressed drawer!

I changed the hardware by filling in the original holes and drilling a new hole in order to accommodate this pink beauty :)

The detail of the molding is spectacular. Distressing a piece of furniture really brings out this detail - don't you think?

I took this picture late in the day, so the shadows peek through a bit here. The black border adds a ton of character.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope that you enjoyed this as much as I have.

Bex Wilder

Update: I've submitted this wonderful piece to the East Coast Creative Blog Link-Up #cwts2014.

How to fix a stripped screw hole in no time!

2014-03-29T17:08:00.001-07:00

I moved into my home in December 2013. Since then, my son's door has loosened up out of the frame because the silly painters put the wrong screws back into the holes and now the correct screws are too loose. I kept tightening the screws only to have to do it again two weeks later (or less) - this has been going on for near four months now. I was fed up and decided to fix the loose screw holes!

Unbeknownst to me, it's a simple job. I searched the internet and came up with matches, toothpicks, or any wood that is small enough to be smashed into a hole. My addition to this method is a dowel. This method requires NO dry time and NO wood filler. You're back to new in no time!

Here's what you'll need...

1 small dowel, the smallest diameter available at Lowe's in my case

Toothpicks - I used these ornate toothpicks, since they have a flat end (good for hammering)

Good scissors or wire cutters

Hammer

... and here's the method

Go to Lowe's or Home Depot or your local hardware store (mine is Hingham Lumber) and find a dowel that is just about the same size, even slightly smaller, as your screw hole (no bigger).
Insert the dowel into the screw hole and cut the end off at the surface of the wood.
Insert the sharp end of one, two, or three toothpicks (or more, depending on how big your dowel is) into the hole.
Take the hammer and lightly tap the blunt end of the toothpick until the toothpick starts to crack from the hammer's force. At this point the toothpicks and dowel are packed in like sardines.
Trim the end of the toothpicks to the wood's surface.
Hammer the ends of the dowel/toothpick concoction to be flat against the wood surface.
You may need to sand - I did not have to.
Turn your screw into the hole with an electrical drill bit/screwdriver.

That's it! Super simple and my son's door now shuts precisely as it should. Now it's time to fix the door to my lower level :)

Thanks for stopping by, Bex Wilder

How to Paint Perfect Stripes on Furniture

2014-03-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

I am painting this Crate and Barrel china cabinet - vintage and antique furniture is of WAY higher quality, by the way - and wanted to paint stripes on the bottom drawer. I have painted stripes before on furniture only to be frustrated because the paint bleeds through the furniture to make what could be a perfect stripe imperfect. Fortunately I distress furniture, so I can sand the seepage away - but I'm a bit of a perfectionist and knew/know now that the perfect stripe can be painted!

It's a very simple technique.

First, tape up your stripes; and make sure to use a level to ensure that your stripes are perfectly straight. On my china cabinet I painted three stripe colors but this technique works for as many layers of stripes as you can fit on to your piece of furniture.

After you tape up your stripes, take a brush (the small kind an artist would use to paint on canvas) and paint a thin layer of the BASE COLOR over the edge of the tape.

In the picture above, I had already painted one black and one pink stripe on the left and right sides of the drawer. I am now painting the two interior stripes. See how I painted a light coat of black to match the black base (left), white to match the white base (middle), and pink to match the pink base (right)?

Painting that thin layer allows the base coat paint color to seep through the tape and create a seal for the top layer. Let this thin layer dry for a bit (let's say 5-10 minutes).

Finally, paint on your stripe color! It works like a charm - a fool proof technique.

Never again will you settle for leaky stripes :)

Thanks for stopping by, Bex Wilder

Vintage Cedar Chest or Side Table Needs a Makeover

2014-03-16T17:51:00.000-07:00

In January I purchased this 1950s vintage Lane cedar chest with a pull-out drawer off of CL. I drove two towns over from Cohasset to meet this gentleman who had literally piles of stuff in his garage. It was 5pm and dark when I drove up - admittedly some alarm bells did go off but I looked around and decided it was safe enough to walk over and buy the darned chest. Overall, the situation was a little weird (and I am happy to still be alive), but my new chest has great bones and is in desperate need of a makeover!!

Vintage Chest's Makeover in Detail

What I didn't tell you is that the crazy guy that sold me the chest smooshed the chest into my Volvo (station wagon) in such a way that challenged the integrity of one of the legs. I had to fix this. Gorilla glue is the best stuff on the market and will hold this leg in place, no problem.

With that done, I chose the paint color and got going. See the fanned detail in the before and after photos? Yes, it's the same across both shots. The fan was in such good shape that I taped it up in order to preserve the original color and accent the detail when I was done. I chose a rusty cherry red as my paint color (this was an "oops" gallon of paint from Lowe's…you know, the paint color that a customer returned despite the fact that it says not returnable on the label but cost me only $5).

Overall, the chest was in good condition. However, I didn't really like the fact that there is just one drawer but 6 drawer pulls (not to mention several pulls were missing the handles) - the drawer is not picture below. Thus, I decided to remove the pulls and cover up the holes with wood filler.

I sanded and primed my chest. BTW, it's not difficult to sand a finish that's 65-odd years old. Finally, I primed the chest with Kilz water-based primer but added a bit of the paint color so that the white didn't peek through when I distressed the chest.

A day after the priming, I added two coats of paint and this bad boy was ready for distressing!! I took my orbital sander and 120-grit hand sand paper to the chest. It was a lot of fun on a 40 degree day. Hey, at least it was sunny :) See the snow in the background? It's been a brutal winter here in Massachusetts.

I added a bit of stain after I distressed the chest. I simply LOVE this step - it really ages the piece and finishes the look. Here are a few shots during the staining process. See how the stain changes the look of the paint?

And the final touch. I wanted to bring the original gold color back to the old brass hardware. Wow, Censational Girl has just the trick! Lemons and salt worked like a charm.

The After

I'm really proud of this piece. It would be great as a sideboard, end table, or bar!

I love refinishing furniture :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Bex Wilder

Chair and table ensemble need a bit of love

2014-03-08T17:41:00.001-08:00

Oh wow, how my new passion for DIY keeps me busy! I finished up this chair and little table combo recently and I really like how it turned out! It was a lot of fun and I learned a ton!!

I purchased this cute little set on CL for $30. Don't know if I overpaid but the chair is very good quality. Does anyone know anything about this style of chair? I couldn't find anything with my resources. The chair has a rush weave seat and there are no screws on the entire chair! The table was a bit rickety - but trusty screwdriver fixed that right up so no problem!

Here's How I did it!

I was torn about refinishing the chair because it is quite nice without my help. The spindle detail is very appealing. Alas, I did go the route of painting in order to give it a bit of pizzazz - you know, color. I decided to use this "oops" color from Lowe's - I only recently found out what the colloquial term was for the paint colors that they mess up and so they sell a $35 gallon of paint for $5 - which is a purplish blue. I'm going to be mixing my own colors soon but for now I just want to focus on the methodologies of refinishing. The paint colors will come soon….

Okay, first thing I decided was the rush weave was NOT to be touched, so I diligently taped the seat off. Next up, I sanded and primed the set. The chair was a bit of a pain to sand, given the spindle detail. I had read about using twine to get into the crevices. It worked, but I'm skeptical that it made a meaningful difference.

Here's a picture or two of the table just after I sanded it and remembered to take a photo while I primed it. Oh, and by the way - I learned the hard way the following equation:

paint + primer = just paint

Don't be fooled by the packaging on the paint at Lowe's or Home Depot; it's just a marketing ploy. Always use primer first or you'll regret it (unless you're using chalk paint, of course. At some point I'll opine on chalk paint but not today).

Yay! With sanding and priming done, I'm ready for the "oops" paint color. Two coats and I'm good to go for distressing! I don't have interim pics here, so you'll have to take my word for it. I love love the blue oops paint but I wanted to give the chair a bit more of an antiquey old wood feel, so I painted thin and practically air brushed strokes of marscipone white paint (Benjamin Moore color and not oops…I take my whites seriously) and blended the white with the "oops" using a 320-grit sand paper.

On the table, I found a really cute stencil shop on Etsy via Uniquely Chic blog that added the right balance of "chic" with this rather masculine chair.

And just the table…

And the spindle bar and rush weave close up…

(phew - no paint seeped through onto the weave!)

And a final photo of my new sassy chair and table ensemble!

Bex Wilder

TV Console Needs a Trip to the Spa!

2014-03-02T10:08:00.001-08:00

Welcome back to A Wilder Finish!!

I'm excited to share this project with you. My parents are close to retirement - well, my Dad is already of retirement age but continues to work - and they have a home north of San Diego that they plan to move into in a couple of years. In the interim, my mother purchased a town home and some inexpensive furniture from CL. As you can see in the picture below, some of the pieces are not too appealing. But in her mind, this furniture means nothing to her so she isn't concerned with its look - their pieces are all in California.

Yay DIY furniture refinishing!

My son and I traveled to Houston for a visit over Valentine's Day weekend - it was just a mommy and son trip, where daddy stayed home. "Mom", I said, "let's take this old and tired TV console to the furniture spa!" It was my Valentine's Day present to my parents. They were pretty excited about it, so I guess they do care.

Here's the Project from Start to Finish!

Step 1: Supplies and Prep Work. Since I was not at home where I have all of my supplies, the first thing I needed to do was to buy supplies. One of the more prohibitive aspects of furniture refinishing is the amount of capital (supplies) required to get started. At Home Depot, I purchased the absolute bare minimum (which of course included the 1 in 14 painters tool shown in the pic below) that totaled $92. Once purchased many of these supplies can be used again, but it does reiterate the fixed (and marginal) cost of refinishing, not to mention the implicit costs via time and effort.

I sanded the TV console by hand since I didn't want to purchase an electric sander and primed the surface. As you can see, there was a very shiny finish to the piece, so I needed a good surface for the paint.

I tinted the primer with a little bit of the gray latex paint - I chose the color Behr Sparrow. My mom wanted gray, so I decided to try out one of these color codes for the latex paint substitutes to the famous Annie Sloan chalk paint colors. Behr Sparrow is all right, but I like Benjamin Moore Coventry Gray in satin finish better. Problem is, that the Benjamin Moore brand is $26 per quart!

Step 2: Paint. One long day later (sanding and priming did take a while), I was ready to paint. I always put on two coats of paint. However, I've noticed that some do only one. In my view with just one coat, the paint looks much thinner (obviously). However, this can alone make the piece look aged if you don't prime since the thin paint allows the wood to peek through in some areas. I prefer two coats of paint and primer. That's just me, I guess. I suspect that the durability of the job is better - what do you all think?

I decided to paint the drawers, inside of the front doors, and back of the console black. This added a bit of flare to the piece!

Yes, I had my helper. I painted a black face on this pumpkin. Why my parents have a pumpkin in their courtyard is anybody's guess.

Step 3: Distress!! Since this was for my parents, I asked them what degree of destressing they would prefer. On a 10-scale my mother wanted a 4. That was doable. However, I wasn't able to practice beating the piece up. I want to do that - you know, hit it with a wrench or chain links to really give it a good beating before glazing it. Ah well, next time.

I did a very standard distressing here and didn't age it with glaze or stain. I probably should have but I didn't buy those supplies. Besides, I really like the color of the wood peeking through so I was totally okay with it. What do you think?

Bex Wilder

The Economics of Furniture, Part I

2014-02-25T06:08:00.000-08:00

I am an economist in the financial industry. This is the first part of a series that I will dedicate to analyzing the economics of furniture. In short, I'll take a top down look at the industry from a macroeconomic point of view. A note to readers: if I use any terms here that are unfamiliar to you, please comment or send me an Email. I may build a glossary here at A Wilder Finish.

Within the context of the global economy, the US economy is considered a large open economy. What that means from an economic point of view is that we participate in the global financial and economic markets but are price setters. Basically, US policy matters for the rest of the world. For example, as the United States Federal Reserve Bank lowers interest rates, global rates in Germany or the UK fall as well. I am not here to discuss monetary policy - you could go to various other blogs in order to get that sort of information: David Beckworth's blog, Scott Sumner's blog, or Barry Ritholz's blog on markets and economics. And if you wish to read on the theory of Money, please see Randy Wray's blog.

How do the furniture goods and services industries fit in to the construct of the US economy? In short, furniture (the kind that you care about) is a small portion of US consumer spending.

Selling your furniture and offering repairing and refinishing services accounts for about 0.84% of all consumer spending (the largest component of US GDP) in the United States, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Total furniture and furniture services amounts to 97 billion of a total of $11.5 trillion spent on consumption goods in the US. As you can see in the chart below, the share of furniture and furniture repair, refinish (and repair of floor covering) has been declining since the 1980's.

Click on the chart for a closer view.

While the trend has been down since 1981, the US housing market crash took its toll on furniture and furniture services - the share of furniture in total consumption dropped from 1.05% in 2007 to just 0.84% in 2013. In real terms - real terms means that the statistical agency focuses on the output impact and adjusts the series for changing prices - furniture sales and services in refinishing and repairing has improved slightly increased $7.6 bn in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to the fourth quarter of 2013. This amounts to a 7.8% growth in spending on furniture and furniture services.

So what's the outlook? Pretty good, in my view. There's potential for the furniture and furniture related services industries to regain much of the lost momentum as the housing market recovers. There's a high correlation between US housing starts and furniture and furniture related services, +80% over the last 30 years. Housing starts grew 19% in 2013.

When houses are built, people need to furnish them. To the extent that homes were built in 2013, there will be a latent demand for furniture and furniture services moving into 2014 (blue line should rise with the green line). However, there's also scope for growth in new housing starts in 2014. Bill McBride's blog, Calculated Risk, outlines a balanced yet positive view on US housing going forward.

I hope that this helps to put the furniture industry into perspective. I'll be writing more about the economics of the furniture industry in future posts.

Bex Wilder

Coffee table needs a new look!

2014-02-22T13:10:00.004-08:00

Here's another find from CL. What I like about this table is its solid foundation and tiger wood top. What I do not like about this table are the square decorative metal inlays, the color, and the chipping varnish (I didn't test for the type of finish but my guess is varnish), and the reddish tone of the tiger wood stain.

Here's how this coffee table turned into this:

Well, the before is clear - this table is ready for a day (week or so) at the furniture spa!

First things first is to remove that ugly metal decor and sand this table down. I filled the gaps in the wood where the metal was inlaid in the shape of a square. I thought it would be glued on - but alas, it was not and required quite a bit of wood filler. Wood filler is so easy to use but it is important to let it dry sufficiently. I applied wood filler a couple of times because the square gaps in the wood were deep. I sanded it down to meet the surface of the table sides.

See the top of the table in the picture below? It's fully stained. I sanded it down to the raw wood and found out that the table top was a veneer, so I couldn't sand too much or else I'd sand the high quality top layer of wood right off. The top stained very well - Provincial by Minwax - and I am pleased with the result. This wood was very red to begin with, so I had to stain it a few times to get it to a brown color, as desired. The sides of the wood table top were a different composite (again, a veneer) and didn't take the stain well (see the finished picture below). Ron Hazelton recommends rubbing tinted shellac on to the uneven areas in order to smooth out the splotchy parts but I decided against this option. Due to the level of aging and distressing I planned for this table, I did not worry about the splotchy look on the sides of the table top as long as the top was an even Provincial color.

With the prepping done and the table top stained, I got to painting! I spend a lot of time in the preparation stage, sanding and repairing. My feeling is that you get what you put into it over the long run. This piece took 1.5 weekends and an hour or so after work during the week to prep. Perhaps I'll get speedier over time but I will not forgo the sanding…ever! I use Latex (and acrylic) paints.

I wanted try a chevron and striped compilation like this lovely piece at Twice Lovely! Compared to her, though, I added a hefty amount of glaze (mixed with onyx stain by Minwax) and distressed the piece quite a bit more. This was my first attempt at glazing and am very happy with the final result!!

New color, no metal inlays, distressed, solid brown provincial stain, and chevron/stripes for that cutsie look - I'm in coffee table heaven!

Thanks for stopping by, Bex Wilder

Antique Commode Chair

2014-02-22T06:02:00.000-08:00

I got really excited about this antique commode chair, $20 on CL. But as soon as I got this chair home, my husband was off to the races making fun of both me and my chair - yes, conversation piece but not exactly the creme of the crop in terms of desirable antique furniture. Nevertheless I was determined to make this a beauty.

Here's how I did it!

First, I decided this chair would no longer serve the purpose of a commode, rather a nice sitting chart with storage (don't think about this too much). So I went to Joann's fabric and got some rather thick padding and some discounted yet cute upholstery fabric.

I thought that I was ready to go but then I found out that this chair had been stained then painted then painted and then painted again over the years. Stripping the chair was essential. I don't mind stripping - I've tried two products, a non toxic chemical from Lowe's and Citristrip that I ordered from Amazon. Citristrip was the way to go, definitely. I had to strip three times to clean this chair. I repainted the chair a yellowish brown and stapled the commode top firmly in place.

Next, I decided that a nice blue streaky stain would look just wonderful - I had seen a neat technique over at beachbumlivin.

After two weekends and an hour or so after work during the week, I was ready for the fun part: distressing. First, I sanded to blend the blue stain with the paint. This is very important, as the stain looks just streaky and fake without the benefit of blending from the sander. I was rather heavy handed with the sander, since I wanted to synthesize the look of a really old chair.

I am happy with the end result. I placed this chair in our foyer and do sit it from time to time. The padding is really nice.

I haven't figured out what goes into the storage compartment. What would you store in this chair?

Bex Wilder