Queen of Chairs

The Things I don't Share :Part 2

2013-06-28T10:32:00.001-04:00

I like the idea of sharing things that I would not normally share, so I decided to turn it into a series. You can see Part One of the things I don't share here.

Just to refresh your memory, the reasons I don't share everything is because, in reality how many yellow painted china cabinets can I blog about, I have painted more than one, for me it becomes repetitive and boring. I am not saying I don't love what I do, but at times I get bored.

You might think I am negative, but I like to think I am just keeping it real.

The Flowers

2013-06-06T21:03:00.001-04:00

Today is about flowers.....I am have always loved to garden, last year around this time I completely neglected my gardens, I never pruned or fed my roses, I let the weeds take over, I let the furniture take over and for that my yard looked like crap last year. Well this year I decided to simplify my gardens, I got rid of all the gardens I had in the back yard, it was too much maintenance and I followed a rule my friend gave me, an hour a day for my garden. I can manage that.

I went outside today and took some pictures of my flowers, before the torrential downpours start.

Painting on Sheet Music: Artist Before Furniture

2013-05-01T10:03:00.001-04:00

If you look at my blog title, under Queen of Chairs, the first word I have listed is Artist. That is there for a reason. I love to paint, I get in a zone, like the world around me is silent, and the only thing I can hear are the ideas in my head.

I paint a lot of furniture, and it is fun being creative on a larger scale, but at the same time it can be exhausting. I decided that I was going to spend an hour a couple times a week painting pictures. For me it releases stress, it gives me confidence, knowing that I have an ability to create something that not everyone can do, it inspires me to push my creativity to new heights.

So, I decided to share some of my paintings that I have done in my hour time slot over the past couple of weeks.

French Blue Painted Dresser; Maison Blanche LaCraie Paint

2013-04-15T17:19:00.000-04:00

What furniture painters do not have a love affair with chalk paint. Part of what we do is jump all over any new products, it's so much fun to explore and nothing is created equally. So, a while back I received, a couple of paint samples from Maison Blanche Paint Company, This is how my package arrived.

Really pretty, I was so excited, I had no idea what the color samples were (what girl does not love a surprise) there was even a hand written note. Presentation and details.....A++ and in my opinion, the details do matter. I opened my pretty little boxes,

At this point, I grabbed a brush and started painting. Now the samples pots were not enough to paint anything large, but just enough to have me wanting more. I painted a picture frame with the Antique Blue and a little vanity seat with the Hurricane. Both are gorgeous colors.

A couple months went by, you know the kind of months filled with blizzards and holidays, and I received a custom order and the client wanted one of the Maison Blanche colors in Wrought Iron, which is basically black, so, I ordered the Wrought Iron, French Blue and some wax in light brown.

Now, I would only be human if I compared it to Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and ASCP wax. In my opinion it is very different, but does all the same things, The MBPC is thicker, creamer and has a different odor, not bad just different The paint is less chalky, and it levels, layers and distresses nicely. It also has really good coverage (example with the Wrought Iron, I painted two modern servers two coats, my iron bed and a floorcloth) and I still have 1/4 of the quart left. I feel like the finished project has more of a sheen almost a thicker shell of paint, if that makes any sense. Basically, if you were going to paint a piece without distressing, and wanted to use a chalk based paint, LaCraie would win my vote. And yes, you can mix LaCraie with ASCP, why not, it worked fine for me.

My bed with Wrought Iron (FYI my walls are painted in Milk paint, future post)

Now let's talk about the wax, I am not going to lie, I highly dislike waxing, but I will say the MBPC wax made me like it just a little bit more. It has a really nice fluid consistency you can brush it on with a crappy chip brush, wait 15 minutes then buff it off and you are left with a nice sheen.

Here is the French Blue painted dresser I recently completed,

And the detail

Like I said at the beginning of the post, not all paint is created equally, but overall I really love the LaCraie, great paint and great customer service, the only negative for some people is the price point at $38.95 per quart, but for me it's well worth it considering the time it's saves me from the prep work. A couple of things that would be nice, are gallons of this stuff, larger wax containers and a fan deck with over 250 colors, that would be nice, and then I could bath myself in it, without any prep work.

If you are curious about trying the Maison Blanche LaCraie paint and waxes they have a list of retailers on there website Maison Blanche Paint - Retailers

I do love my ASCP and am patiently waiting for the new colors.

**Disclaimer the sample pots were sent to me by Maison Blanche Paint company, simply from generosity and to get there paint in the hands of people like me. I did purchase the quarts and the wax on my own, and all opinions are mine and are 100% honest, great paint deserves a great review.

Blue and White Painted Furniture & When to Stop

2013-02-23T09:46:00.001-05:00

As I sit here looking through my photos, I realized the amount of white and blue furniture I had painted. Over the past couple of months there has been a huge request for white and blue, between custom orders and customers requesting it at the store, nothing but white and blue.

Around where I live most people only paint furniture in colors that sell well, white and black. I refuse to limit my paint cabinet to only two colors. Normally I don't even like to recreate something I have already done. At what point do you stop yourself and say.....the last ten dressers I painted where black, maybe it's time to stop.

I think the bristles on my paint brush are permanently dyed blue now.

Both the dresser and small china cabinet are painted in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Old White and Napoleonic Blue, finished with clear wax and I did use dark wax on the inside of the small china cabinet to darker the color a bit. I really dislike waxing the inside of china cabinets, so I normally mix mineral spirits in with the wax so I can apply it and then just wipe it off. I let it sit for an hour come back and give it a quick buff.

I left the grill work the natural wood finish, I like it.

This next blue and white painted china cabinet was a beast. I really think I could write an entire blog post on how heavy this thing was. I am just glad it's over.

I painted this one with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Pure White and Napoleonic Blue on the inside, clear wax both inside and out.

The last ten things I painted were not blue and white, I promise.

Anyways, I am working on my master bedroom, and I just finished painting the walls, with Milk Paint, yep Milk paint and I am in love.......more to come.

A Painted Dresser & A Hot Mess

2013-01-13T10:32:00.000-05:00

Well I have had a hell of week. Don't you just love when everything you plan goes wrong and everything you did not plan seems to happen. I had a throbbing pounding toothache that resulted in me losing a molar, now I have toothless hole in the back of my mouth, oh well. I am currently in the middle of painting a very large mahogany china cabinet, and no matter how many coats of Shellac I put on it, it keeps bleeding and bleeding through.

With high hopes that this week will be normal, today I am sharing a serpentine dresser I did before Christmas.

This was a curbside find and a good one, clean nothing was broken, it just needed a little paint. I painted the dresser in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Provence.

It's hard to see, but for the wax I mixed clear wax with olive paint, it was a subtle effect.

Gold rub-n-buff on all the hardware, it really just brings it back to life.

Let's talk about this color, Provence, turquoise, aqua whatever you want to call it. I call it the money color, everything single thing I paint in this color sells really fast. What's your money color?

I cannot find the before picture, I think I forgot to take it, told you a hot mess.

A Painted Wardrobe, My Word & A New Year

2013-01-03T00:35:00.003-05:00

2013.....I am glad it's here. I took a week off from everything. It was nice, short but nice. I did a lot of thinking, maybe too much and I decided I have a word for 2013, my first word was going to be "Share", then I changed my mind and decided it was going to be "Real", yup in 2013 I am going to keep it real. Real to myself and to this blog. I tend to edit out my personality somewhat when I write, I over think and according to my husband I take to many breaks, and, "Share" will be my back up word, because I do not share half of the things I do or my knowledge with you and I am going to start.

So get used to the real sharing me!

Just to get 2012 out of the way here is one (trust me there are more) thing I finished,

A wardrobe, this piece was painted in many different paints, ASCP in Old Violet on the inside, Milk Paint from OFMP, on the outside of the doors in Oyster White, with Salem Red OFMP under the gray, and the front and side panels are ASCP in cream. What can I say, I ran out of paint in the middle somewhere and had to improvise.

You can kind of see the red in this photo, just a little.

Just in case you were wondering what I have been doing, I have been sewing a slipcover for my new old couch the past couple of days, three cushions left and it's done. I also sewed some tablet covers, only because I am too cheap to buy one. My tree is still up and the Christmas lights on the front of my house are still on. Two days before Christmas we gutted our half bathroom and finished it, that was exhausting, only because the bathroom is the size of a port-a-potty, it needed it bad, since we moved into this house, ummm 4 1/2 years ago we have not had a sink, yes our guests had to pee then wash there hands in the kitchen, (sorry). I plan on sharing pics because it came out so cute, I made a DIY roman shade using mini blinds, love it, who ever had that idea first is a genius.

I am not sure if you noticed a couple different things on my Blog, there are two, if you hoover over any image in a post a giant P pops up in the middle for Pinterest, it was really easy to do and if you are interested here is the link to the site Blogger Sentral.

Also, on my side bar, there are some new big icons, social sharing icons, I have been seeing them on blogs everywhere and at first I thought it was a Wordpress thing, but its not and it was fairly easy, but a little more time consuming, Sew Many Ways Blog has a great tutorial , she also has the link to get the icons in many different colors from Carrie Loves. I love these people, for making my life easier.

Happy New Year to Everyone!

Bench Girl

2012-12-17T23:25:00.001-05:00

I have a friend, her name is Shawna (aka Bench Girl). She builds a lot of different things but mainly benches. I really think she could turn anything into a bench, she once took a antique server and turned it into a bench and desk, pretty cool. I think the thing that amazes me the most is she will show me a piece of furniture she bought, and as I am staring at it, she will say to me isn't is beautiful, and the entire time I am thinking in my head, yeah, beautiful firewood. Then the next day she will post a picture of a gorgeous bathroom vanity, and I say, where did you get that, her response to me...... remember the firewood!

If you ever want to check out her awesome transformations, you can find them here
Shawna @ Tiger Lily's Furniture.

So, bench girl built a bench for my friend, and my friend asked me to paint and sew a box cushion for it, a collaboration. Here is the final result,

For the paint my friend choose, ASCP in Old White with dark wax, simple and timeless.

For the fabric I used Premier Prints french Stamp Dossett Grapvine, from Fabric.com. I sewed a complete box cushion, piping zipper and all.

Here is the before part 2.

Are you wondering how she built the bench yet? Cause I still am.

Rugs & Red

2012-11-28T08:17:00.004-05:00

Do you ever obsess over silly things? I found this really great deal on tapestry rugs at a local store, my house has all hardwood, so in the winter my feet get cold and I have been wanting to inject some color into my living room, so I bought two rugs got them home and did not like them, went back to the store returned them and bought two more, and I do not like the new ones either. So, in the past week, I have been searching the internet, pinning rugs like crazy and buying and returning them.

My furniture projects have been stacking up in my photo file on my computer, I figured it was time to stop obsessing over rugs and start sharing.

The red dresser, this thing has been sitting in my garage for almost a year, it's old needed lots of work and I never had the energy to do it, until last month we had to make room for the snow blower, so I was forced to fix it.

None of the drawers opened, the molding under the top was missing, the back splash and the hardware were missing too. I am sure you have all been in the same boat, when you realize somethings are not worth the the time and money, what was I thinking when I purchased it,

I could of at least bought a dresser that was an easy paint job.

I added quarter round in the place where the original oak molding was missing.

I used a 2 x 1 piece of pine for the black splash and I used a router to finish it. This was my first project with my router, and I can officially say that if you ever buy new counter tops and you need the edges routed, I am your girl for the job, ummmm I do not want to tell you how many pieces of wood I went through until I finally figured out how to use it.

I painted the entire piece in ASCP in Emperor's silk and finished with dark wax.

I also added new hardware.

I am not a red person, but I loved how it turned out, I even considered keeping it, I love the simple detail of the curves on the bottom, that made it all worth the work, and it sold really fast.

Here is the before pic, taken when it was still warm out, cause now it's way to cold in my garage and the thought of having the garage door open makes me go brrrrrrrr.

Now, I am off to go return my rugs and buy two new ones, wish me luck!

Milk Paint and a Hutch

2012-11-04T22:37:00.000-05:00

Ahhhh, Milk Paint, all the rage lately, I am going to be honest, as much as I love it, it can aggravate me at times, sometimes it chips when you don't want it to, I have even had it chip off after I added the bonding agent to the paint. When I put it in my sprayer it shoots out like cottage cheese, and it smells funny, for some reason I like the funny smell, I'm kind of weird like that. For this particular hutch it did everything I wanted it to do.

Now, I did not want it to look all perfect and neat, I wanted the chippy-ness, cracking, peeling look that you might see on a country hutch.

I used Old Fashioned Milk Paint in Slate & Snow White. I did not use a bonding agent for this, the finish on this hutch is rock maple, shiny sealed vintage rock maple. Other than chalk paint, nothing else would ever stick to rock maple without primer, and I have somewhat retired my primer,

unless it's for a wall.

Surprise, I got a little crackle, it just happened, I just went with it and let it do it's thing.

I sealed the piece with Daddy Van's Beeswax in Lavender, its smells go good, it's easy on the arm, and it is also food safe, so whomever bought this hutch can eat off of it.

I have been painting with my MMS Milk paint, and I will say, I am loving the colors!!!

Here is the before of the hutch

I have been using milk paint for years, when I first started using it I would incorporate it in most of my art work, so it is a pretty versatile paint, I like that you can mix what you need,

unmixed it will last forever.

If you are questioning whether or not you want to try milk paint, I say go for it, it's just paint, if you don't like the outcome, start over.

I will keep using my milk paint, because today, I love it.

The Leftovers......

2012-10-10T23:02:00.000-04:00

The world of furniture refinishing and crafting sometimes has it's way of accumulating bits and pieces of what's left over from a project, fabric, left over wood, drawer pulls, handles, latches, screws, bolts, and the list goes on. I will admit I have a hard time just throwing things out because they don't match or because it's only fabric scraps from a left over sewing project. I can't sell myself as someone who reuses everything, unless I follow my own rules.

So, this is what I do with my leftovers,

This is old furniture hardware that I turned into a coat/towel hook, I used some floor boards that I pulled from a 100 year old barn. I screwed everything in.

For the signs I used hardware from an antique ice box that was beyond repair, the wood was given to me by a friend, it came from a demolished tree house.

A pillow from one of my husbands shirts, the sleeve was ripped, so I gave the shirt a new purpose.

This is a vintage curtain that was ripped everywhere, I managed to get just enough of it

to sew the inside of a clutch.

A vintage sugar sack, with the original writing completely washed away, but the holly border remained intact, for this I used a transfer method using Citra-Solv and images from The Graphics fairy blog.

Just a head board, it was basically garbage, but a friend of mine brought it to me, and asked me to paint the name of her company on it, so I turned it into a sign. I painted it by hand, in chalk paint and sealed with clear wax

Do you throw your leftovers out? Or do you save them for a rainy day?

The Ugly Duckling

2012-10-06T01:44:00.001-04:00

I really enjoy getting a piece of furniture that is clean, no need to whip out the wood fill or the sander, just nice and clean and all ready to get paint smacked on it.

I purchased this china cabinet awhile back, it was in excellent condition, there was nothing wrong with it, I had it for sale as is and it sat and sat and sat, for months, completely unnoticed.

I decided it was a lost cause, I even marked the price down to see if it would move, nothing....

At what point do you determine if you should paint a piece of furniture that is in great condition.

let's face it, some people don't want painted furniture, they want mahogany.

Well I don't, so I painted it, and I did not feel guilty, I don't think I ruined it, I think I gave it a new life.

Now personally I am not really into the formal or fancy china cabinets, I am more of a primitive pie safe kind of girl, I was actually surprised that I liked this once it was painted.

For the paint I choose, ASCP in French Linen, the detail in Pure White and the interior with

Aubusson Blue, lightly distressed with clear wax.

After all the things I have painted over the past 10 years, it still amazes me

how paint can transform anything.

I painted this cabinet a couple of months ago and when I brought it to the store, it sold in four days.

All it needed was paint.

The things I Don't Share.....

2012-10-01T00:36:00.001-04:00

Now I know we all have certain things we do that we choose not to share in blog land, maybe you didn't like the piece, or the color or the way it came out, but it was finished and you had to move on, sell it and be done with hope that someone else will like it even though you don't. I decided I would share my ( please get it out of my house) furniture makeovers and reasons why I dislike them.

Here we have a single end table, I painted it like six months ago, I liked the table but there was only one, I painted it gold, then blue, then white, blue again and finally pale yellow, then I took pictures of it, loaded pictures on the computer and thought to myself, am I really going to write an entire blog post about one end table?.....No. At this point I was so sick of looking at from painting it seven times I just wanted it gone.

The crackle rocker......ughhhhh, if the 4th of July exploded in your living room, this rocker is what it would look like. The crackle came out perfect, paint job was very good, I just don't like it at all.

Oh my goodness, now you probably think I am crazy, I was trying to channel my inner graffiti artist, I got bored one night in my basement and this is what happened, no one ever saw this until now, the desk has since been repainted, also seven times and I put zinc on the top (yes real zinc) that will be a future post, as soon as I teach myself how to solder the edges of the zinc. All the graffiti was done in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.

Just a trunk, of all the things I could have done with this trunk, with the raised detail and carving in the moldings, I just painted it in a neutral color, boring, boring, boring. I am not saying that white is boring or this trunk is ugly, I just thought it needed more, but I had to let it go.

Midnight Navy by Benjamin Moore, great lines, underneath all that primer and latex paint is rock maple, now latex paint on furniture already has a mind of it's own, when paired with shiny 1970's rock maple it can be a nightmare. The primer would not adhere, I painted primer then color, then it all peeled off like the barbie nail polish I had when I was five. So, I had to strip and re-prime with an oil based primer. Now, they are perfect, but if they had sat in my house for one more day and someone chipped one and forced me to pull out the touch up paint, I might actually go crazy. Get them out of my house.

I like to try different things, explore with color and paint, I am not afraid of change, sometimes I like it and sometimes I don't. I guess it is true when they say, to each it's own.

Girly Girl

2012-09-14T10:33:00.002-04:00

I have never really been a true girly girl, although for awhile I did have some what of an expensive hand bag obession. I hated being stuffed into a wedding dress and I can't remember the last time I wore high heels. Lately my comfy clothes ( I refer to them as my strechies) have been some of the main pieces in my wardrobe. So, I decided it was time to channel my inner girly-ness and play with some Antoinette.

I left the table in the condition I received it, which was pretty bad, I cleaned it then painted it in ASCP, Antoinette and added clear & dark wax, I love the dark wax on the Antoinette, looooove.

I came to the conclusion that even though I am not 5, I am aloud to have

pink furniture in my house, yes!

Here is the before

A single french side chair

I reupholstered the seat using Ralph Lauren fabric.

Here is the issue, do you pick your fabric first, then paint or vice versa?

I painted the chair first, then rummaged my fabric stash hoping I had something to match, I like the way it turned out, a little unexpected.

The base is painted in ASCP in Louis Blue, and for the wax I mixed Graphite into clear wax.

Before, if you look closely you can see this chair had so much nail head trim, ughhh

Flowers, pink, french and gaudy Italian porcelain, perfect for a girly girl to sit and

write love notes or daydream what it would feel like to wear a tutu to work.

Lucky for me I have my paint covered stretchy pants on.

If you are ever curious as to where I get my fabulous Annie Sloan Chalk paint and Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint, click here, Patty at Classic Wall finishes is the BEST, not only is she a retailer for both paint lines, she has many, many years experience in the painting world and provides all her

customers with outstanding service, she is sooooo worth the click!

Everything and Anything

2012-08-27T23:08:00.000-04:00

I know, it's been way to long since my last post. I promise I have not been slacking. So here is what I have been up to,

My friend bought me this antique writing table, I painted it. If you ever need a lesson on how not to strip paint off furniture, just come back to this before picture.

Although, the poor stripping job really worked out for me.

Barefoot

2012-08-10T11:15:00.000-04:00

It's not always about paint, I like to do other things.

I started to go through the DIY board in my Pinterest, and I realized, wow I pin a lot of projects that I never do. So I decided to do one, and I was lucky enough to have some adorable models.

Barefoot Sandals and a Headband, made using old t-shirts.

I love the idea that goes behind reusing something old, the t-shirts that I cut up, they have stories.

The pink flowers were from a t-shirt my husband bought me when we first met 8 years ago, it was a skater brand, and I did not have the heart to tell him, I don't like skate boarding.

The tutorial was super easy, glue gun, t-shirt and felt, it came from Ucreate, here is the link,

Barefoot T-shirt Sandals

The Yellow t-shirt was an American Eagle shirt, I was shopping at a mall in Massachusetts with my best friend I think we were teenagers and we both purchased the same t-shirts, back then it was cool to wear matching shirts, so we thought.

The white t-shirt is recent, when my friend got married a coulple of years ago, I purchased the shirt for her bacholrette party, I had plans on doing an iron transfer on it, something naughty, well the first transfer did not take, so I ended up doing it on a white tank.

And I made one for my friends brand new daughter.

I go through phases or impulses, I see it, I want it, so I make it.

More knowledge is better, I guess I can add Barefoot sandals to my resume.

Italian Tole.......or not?

2012-08-04T14:32:00.000-04:00

Here is how it all started, I love Italian Tole chandeliers, everything about them, the gaudy colorful flowers, bright green leaves, old rusty white metal frame. I have been eyeballing them for years at Flea markets, antique stores, salvage yards and they almost always come with a hefty price tag $$$.

About a week ago I was at this terrific place, a architectural salvage store, amazing is all I can say, among some fantastic finds I snapped a picture of this,

It is a vintage Italian Tole chandelier probably from the 1950's and I love it, but at $550 I just had to walk away. One day I will get a real one. So this past winter I decided to make a DIY Tole Chandelier.

I started with a builders grade plain old brass chandelier that I had spray painted white a couple years ago.

It stayed this way for a while, then I got bored, so I got some Plaster of Paris, dollar store white glue and fake roses.

I mixed the plaster per the directions on the label, dipped my fake flower in it, and then I let it harden on wax paper so it would not stick. I ended up using smaller fake roses then the ones from the picture above. Some of them I dipped in twice, if you do try it, be quick, the plaster thickens really fast.

Once the plaster was dry, I painted on the white glue with an artist brush, I did around three coats, and let it sit overnight to dry on the wax paper. Once it was dry I snipped all the stems off.

I painted the base with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in, Chateau Gray, Duck Egg Blue, and then went over with Old White and lightly sanded hoping the light fixture was not going to fall on my head, I painted the flowers before I glued them to the Chandelier with Duck Egg Blue and

Rub-n-Buff in gold on the edges.

Gluing the flowers to the chandelier was the worst part of this, I sat on the dining room table holding each flower in place one at a time until it stuck enough that I could let go.

I used Amazing Household Goop which I purchased at a local hardware store.

After living with this chandelier for the past 8 months I have decided I like it, for now, I have a, antique crystal brass chandelier in my basement, so this one might move up to the bedroom. No flowers fell off the Goop is really strong, but now that I see the pictures I might paint the flowers a brighter color so they stand out more, maybe yellow?

The cool thing about this project is you can dip anything you want in the plaster and stick it anywhere, around a mirror or picture frame, to a lamp, where ever you want.

If I can't buy I will try my best to make it.

You are Talking Too Much - Meet Me Monday

Backspace Day

2012-07-23T00:23:00.001-04:00

There are times that I will be in my basement working on something that I think is going to be fantastic, I will have the entire blog post written in my head, at this point I'm so excited I can't wait to share it with you all. Then, I look at the clock and it says 12:00 am, so I go to bed. I wake up the next morning, sit in front of my computer on Blogger, staring at my empty post box. At this point the backspace button on my laptop is my best friend.

Seeing how today is a backspace kind of day, I thought I would share custom pieces that I did in the past.

Cynthia,

ASCP in Provence and Old White

Then we have Norene,

ASCP in Coco, with Pure White & Louis Blue mixed

Sylvie,

ASCP in Coco with Old Ochre over.

I wrote a lot more, then I backspaced it. I swear I have a personality, just not tonight.

Nite Nite

Hello Flo

2012-07-11T13:30:00.001-04:00

I don't even know where to start this week, I am all sorts of all over the place, my best friend just had her first baby last week, a little girl and she is perfect, so I have taken a couple days off to spend some time with her. I got a new cell phone and I am not used to it yet, so all the noises it makes are driving me crazy, and to top it off I put my old SD card in the new phone and it wiped it clean, so for this post there will be no before picture.

Hello Florence, what an amazing color, there is just something about this color, it's subtle yet bold and rich at the same time. I can picture these chairs against white walls, so you get that Pow, those are fantastic chairs kind of a look.

Seeing how my new droid ate the SD card I will do my best to describe the before, they were dirty, stinky, broken, and half of the detail in the center was missing. I was at Joanne Fabric's looking for the fabric and I came across these small wooden pieces, they were perfect for rebuilding the design. I used a box cutter to cut the pieces, wood glue and clamps to adhere them.

The paint I choose was ASCP in Florence and for the wax, I mixed equal parts of Old Ochre and clear wax. You can see the Old Ochre in the the corners the best, it was subtle but just enough. Mixing the wax and the Chalk paint is a terrific marriage, I have done it in the past and I love it. If you have not tried it yet, I would go for it!

I splurged a little on the fabric, it was a pricey remnant. I am seriously in love with this color, I have been pacing back and forth through my entire house eyeballing furniture trying to figure out what I can paint with Florence?

Here is a trunk I also painted in Florence

For the top I painted it with ASCP Graphite, mixed clear wax & silver acrylic paint for a faux zinc look and between me and you, I do not love the word faux, I want the real thing, so I went over it with Old Ochre and mixed clear wax with Florence. The results are much better.

I'm not sure if you noticed, but I keep changing the background to my blog, there are so many choices, kind of like picking out your clothes in the morning for work. I would say I really like the one I have now, but I might change it again until I Love it.

Restore Interiors - Restored it Wednesday

Addicted to Adobe

2012-07-01T23:23:00.001-04:00

If you read my blog then you would know that I have moments of being obsessed, sometimes with a sewing machine, a certain color or a new project. Well, lately it has been with Adobe Elements. So, I made my self a new Facebook timeline picture, blog header and signature, I made some for friends to, hey why not. As I was designing I found my self searching all over the internet for the correct size everything has to be. I thought I would share the information in one post, so it would be easy for me and you to find.

I will start with Etsy, a close friend of mine makes really good cold process soap and she is going to start selling on Etsy, so I have helped her by designing all of her web elements, cigar bands, labels etc for her soap.

Etsy Banner 760 pixels wide x 100 pixels tall, 300dpi

I already uploaded it on to her Etsy page, and it was a perfect fit, as soon as it is up and running

I will share her soap and her story.

Here is the cigar band that will wrap around the soap. Now this was a pain to find, I had to print, change the size, print, change the size over and over until everything lined up on the bar the way is was supposed to. After the location of the images were where I wanted them, I created a template in MS Publisher and I inserted the label as a jpeg, then I made text boxes so she can edit certain fields.

Next is Facebook timeline, I have another friend who I like to refer to as, Bench Girl or Viv. She is an artist with power tools, give her a piece of furniture that was left in a collapsed barn through rain and snow and you will be amazed at what she does with it.

Facebook Timeline size, 851 pixels wide x 315 pixels tall 300 dpi

Perfect fit, I had to google, Facebook timeline correct size, it bothers me when the photo on the timeline looks all stretched out, so now I feel better.

Here is one I did for my Facebook page,

If you do design your own FB cover photo, make sure you keep the lower left corner free from any pictures or words you have in your photo, because your profile picture will cover it.

Facebook Profile Picture size, 180 pixels x 180 pixels 150 dpi

If you want to see how it looks, here is the link to my FB page,

Queen of Chairs Facebook

Now the Blog Header, the more and the more I read, the header is supposed to be smaller so it does not take away from the contents of your blog, and if you are like me and you read a lot of blogs you will notice the difference between the professionally designed blog headers vs the ones that are not. You do not have to be a graphic designer to have a professional header, it's fairly easy and I will do a post on how to create one in the near future.

Blog Header for Blogger, 950-1000 pixels wide x 200-300 pixels tall 300dpi

Here is a picture of my old blog header,

When I made it the correct size and uploaded to my blog it, was effortless and it fit perfectly, I did not have to fuss with centering it in HTML code. The old header was a pain to insert because

it was the incorrect size and I had to play around with the HTML

code for ever to get it centered on my blog.

I am not a graphic designer, I just thought I would share some tips about about making your images the correct size. Make sure you back up your blog before you do anything just in case you don't like the results. I used Adobe Elements for the things I created above, I also use Adobe Photoshop CS3, but Elements is more user friendly for beginners. I created my logo picture using photos via The Graphics Fairy blog, her free clip art is the best online, really. All the other images are original using my own photos

The Sky is Blue......

2012-06-28T22:08:00.000-04:00

I recently purchased a new sewing machine, nothing fancy but a definite improvement from my 1960 Brother. Thanks to the new machine I have been unable to focus on any current painting projects I have, I have gone sew crazy, 5 pillows, a slipcover, and tons of little pouches for my friend who is going to start selling her soap.

Moving on to another china cabinet. My aunt was down sizing and my mom called me to see if I wanted this china cabinet, of course I said yes before I even saw it. All I can say is, holy veneer nightmare, it took me a week to scrape and peel and wood fill and sand and wood fill some more. But the cabinet had terrific lines.

See what I mean, most china cabinets have a large bulky look, this one is light and airy.

I painted it with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Duck Egg Blue, with Old Ochre on the detail, then I did a dark wax wash, with my wax mixed with mineral spirits.

I love Duck Egg Blue, really!

That is a pretty sad before picture

The same time my sewing machine arrived so did Florence!

You're Talking too Much - Meet Me Mondays

Swedish Folk Art

2012-06-22T21:05:00.000-04:00

Some things just need to be kept simple.

My most recent obsession, Swedish folk art painted furniture from the late 1800's. If I could own it all I would. I purchased a Governor Winthrop Secretary desk, with the intention to keep it in my foyer to hide all my mail. My inspiration for this desk was based off of an old Scandinavian chest, that I Loooove!

via Vintage Veruca Antiques

At first I was going to hand paint the design all over it, but it was a little too much

I painted the outside with a equal mix of Annie Sloan Chalk paint in Old White and Pure White

and clear wax. Just plain and simple.

I love the claw and ball feet, it reminds me of a gremlin foot.

And here is my interpretation of Swedish Folk art, for the interior I choose ASCP in, Arles & Old White equal mix, Duck Egg Blue, Graphite, Pure white, and of course, Scandinavian Pink.

For the circles I used foam pieces that I cut to size and then stamped it on,

for the rest I used my hand and a artist paint brush.

I wanted there to be a subtle surprise when someone pulls down the front of the desk. I see these desks all the time, mahogany, mahogany, mahogany and I just wanted to see something else.

White does not always have to be boring, and it never made it to my foyer.....

what can I say, I like to share the love.

I am moving on to Antique mission furniture, Love Love Love!

You're Talking too Much - Meet me Monday

A Ray of Sunshine!

2012-06-07T22:07:00.003-04:00

The weather in CT has been not so great, so right about now I would take any sun I can get!

I was given a rather large china cabinet, it was already painted black in not such a great way.

Looking at the picture, I know what you are thinking, it's not that bad......well you are wrong. I think who ever painted this cabinet used black ceiling paint, it was horrible.

I took a mini vacation from my ASCP for this one, I used milk paint from

The Old Fashioned Milk Paint company, in Marigold. I added the bond to the milk paint so it would adhere better for a less distressed look and then I finished it with wipe on poly.

I changed it up a bit, the grill work was not working for me, and there was molding around the design on both side panels, I hammered it out with my chisel. It's clean, fresh and open now.

I painted the interior with a color from Benjamin Moore, Mascarpone.

Nice and bright, like a ray of sunshine, just what I needed!

The sunny china cabinet is currently for sale at KDM Antiques

Get out of My Head Please - Show It Off

Maria, Maria

2012-05-27T23:23:00.000-04:00

I always told myself, no custom work. I consider myself an artist, I have always painted what I want to paint, but when it comes to family and friends I always get suckered in.

Maria, she had very specific instructions, her exact words.....I want a Harlequin border on my oval side table in gold and distressed......hummmmm I thought to myself, diamonds in a circle is that even possible?

I measured the center point on all four sides, then I cut out a diamond shape from some scrap wood with my Dremel tool, I used chalk and I outlined my diamond stencil around the table, keeping my fingers crossed the entire time that when I got to the end I measured right.

I outlined the border freehand with Gold, painted in ASCP Chateau gray on the top only under

Old White, finished with clear wax.

In all honesty, I now have a different perspective on custom work,

seeing her face and her reaction made it all worth it.

Maria has opened up a can of worms in the custom world, soon to follow,

Sylvie, Cynthia, Norene, Jane and Jessica

The Busy, Busy Bees

2012-05-20T23:28:00.001-04:00

Farm Stories, published in 1946, I am a little obsessed with this book lately. It's a children's book about farm animals with 50 different short stories.

Some of the stories are cute in a weird way, The Beetle Battle, The Very Sensible Little Chipmunk,

The Finicky Calf, I think I know a couple of those calf's?

There was one short poem that caught my attention

The middle paragraph,

"The days are hardly long enough,

No matter how I try,

I never start or finish,

While the sun is in the sky"

Lately, I feel like a busy bee

Seeing how I am currently obsessed with this book, it has influenced some recent projects,

I made a sign, I used the wax paper tutorial and the image via The Graphics Fairy Blog, it's painted in ASCP, in Arles

Then there is the old chifferobe,

I wrote the entire poem on all the drawer fronts with chalk, then went over the chalk with

ASCP in Pure White.

I painted it with Milk Paint from The Old fashioned Milk Paint Co. I mixed two colors,

Snow White & Marigold. I guess I was going for the yellow bee thing.

I have been painting with Milk Paint for a long time, being an artist I have always loved that the paint comes in powder form, so I can make any color I want.

Here is the before,

My next Farm Stories obsession,

The Journey of a Pink Pig, No Use Crying & Who Does all the Work!

Your Talking too Much - Meet Me Monday's

Coastal Charm