Sunday 27 July 2014

Natural all the way.

I've been wanting to do a completely natural dresser for a while now. And I chose this one hoping that the design on the dresser was actually in the wood. The wood was heavy enough that it could have been oak, but you never truly know till you strip it down right? 

Well I was wrong..Sometimes I want things so much I don't want to believe it might not turn out to be what I had hoped for. 
And sometimes I have to give up my wants for something equally as beautiful. 
This is one of those times. 
 I did my magic. Removed the pulls and treated them with a flat black as I think that always looks great against an antique piece.


 The wood came up beautifully!

 Someone decided to remove the lock though. I can never figure that one out. Just take away the key if you don't want it locked. I didn't fill it in, just in case someone came across a lock for it.


My "natural" instinct has been appeased. I'm happy, and ready for paint again...lol 

Sharing:
Miss Mustard Seed
  

Sunday 20 July 2014

Flea Markets and summer celebrations.

I love summer. 
But I don't get to blog as much as I would like. 
I have no one to blame but me of course. 
As I type this I'm sitting in a bed and breakfast in Northern Michigan. Enjoying my coffee and waiting for hubby to get out of the shower so we can be on our way again. 

We came here for a massive flea market and vintage car show/auction. 

So much fun and so many finds. 

Thought I would share one of my faves.

Snapped a quick pic once we placed it in the back of our truck..You can kinda see a childs chair in the background. 

Isn't the scale cute? I've been on the hunt for one of these for what seems like forever! I found 3 yesterday! 
Yup....did my happy dance and made hubby laugh at me. 
I found something else too....but that will have to wait. I didn't snap a picture and it's sitting snuggly in the back of the truck......can't wait to share. 
But for now...getting our stuff together and heading out again. 
Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend :) 


Tuesday 8 July 2014

A work in Progress. (the dirty side of what I do)

I love before and after pictures of all kinds of things. 
I ohhh and ahhhh along with everyone else when things are fixed or recreated. 
I love seeing what others do. 
But unlike a lot of people, I can appreciate what goes into getting that final product. The pride the people feel when a job is complete (that or simply grateful it was done and no one died in the process) 

I thought I would share one of the pieces I'm working on right now. 
I probably paid way to much considering the condition of this dresser. 
 Don't you love the shape? It's really hard to see on the pic above but the top was bowed up. Like REALLY bowed up, probably by almost a quarter inch. It was BAD!!
 But I love it..and felt that it was worth it. (still at the crossing fingers stage here

 I wasn't to worried about these deep gouges because I planned on planing it down.
So the work began. 
I brought out my trusty hand planer and got to work. Can you see how much I'm cutting away? I have no idea if this is the right method, but I crossed my fingers and dug in (see my pun there?) 

It worked! 

Warning. Planers created a HUGE mess. That pile is just about 5 inches deep. The pile actually looks pretty small in the pic. You know it's big when Hubby walks in the door after work and marvels at how much of a mess I made (he was proud of me...lol) 
 These are AFTER the planer and for the most part, after I used a belt sander to get rid of the worst of the ridges.
 See how rough the top is?
 Then starting the work with 150 grit sandpaper.

Not perfect yet, but it's getting there, and I believe I can save the top enough to do stain. 

Thankfully not everything I bring home requires this much work. 

So there you are. Some of the mess I create for myself. 
Crossing my fingers that I will have a finished product to show next week. :) 

Sharing:
Savvy Southern Style
Miss Mustard Seed 
  

Saturday 5 July 2014

Dresser to bench X 2

Good morning. 
I hope all my American friends are enjoying their long weekend. Happy Independence day to all of you! 
Here in Canada it's prime vacation season. 
Everyone going to the cottage or "tenting" it. Do you use that term? 

So I thought I would do some great summer projects. 

I started out with two dressers. 
I can't seem to locate the before picture of the second dresser. I seriously need to find a better system for filing pictures. 
But it looked kinda like this. 
 But the drawers were broken and I couldn't remove them from the frame in one piece...so I ripped them out and started the tear down.

I repaired the drawer with new bottom and fixed sides and back. 
And turned that dresser into this. 
 For some reason I wanted to add some toppers to it. So I used an old spindle from something..not sure what it was, but it works perfectly for this.
 Then I found this perfect material :)


All sides were done and it's ready to find a new home. 

Then this white dresser. I wish I had more pictures. This was in such bad shape. I'm not kidding. The top was lifted up and bowed probably more than 1/2 an inch. And the side were gouged so badly!
So instead of trying to straighten the top I decided to do a different kind of bench with it. 
 I completely removed the top, the top two drawers and structurally rebuilt the bottom. Then found a piece of wood that I could cut to the right size for a seat. 

 I spent a LONG time doing repair the painting seemed easy :)

 Some great material, amazing knobs...and she is also ready to find a new home. :)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.....Me? I watched Brasil win yesterday, going to work on some custom orders today and then watch the Netherlands play late this afternoon.


Thursday 3 July 2014

Precious yard sale find

I'm a real fan of history. 
I soak it up. 
I think that anyone who does what I do, has to love history.

Last weekend I went to a yard sale where I picked up some precious pieces of history. I just wanted to share with you. 

First this suitcase. 
Just looks like an old suitcase right?
Check a little closer.
This one has done some serious traveling. 
There are other stickers on it that confirm it has traveled through Europe pre-WW1. How cool is that. And to top it off...it's made of wood with a canvas covering on it. I love it! I want to clean it up without ruining the sticker. 

At the same yard sale I found this baby bath. 
 This one is roughly from 1900. Some of the decals are still showing.
 Adorable teddy bear and elephant.
 It's actually in GREAT shape for it's age and the use it must have gone through.


 Both handles are still firmly attached. and NO HOLES! It still holds water :)



Stuff like this makes me wonder about the people that used them. The babies that were bathes and people that traveled. 
I do know that the people that sold it to me were immigrants from the Netherlands...so the chances of these items coming from Europe are pretty good. 
I can so see these being used in some photography studio as props. 
But till I sell them, I will proudly display them in my home. :) 

Sharing:
Savvy Southern Style
Domestically Speaking
Coastal Charm 
Knick of Time
Elizabeth & Co.
Savvy Southern Style  
Miss Mustard Seed  
  

Tuesday 1 July 2014

Happy Canada Day!

July 1st. 
I love July!
Happy Canada Day! 

We are at the cottage and people have been celebrating all weekend long. Fireworks every evening. What an amazing show of Canadian pride :) 

Although my poor dog Mieko has not been a happy camper. 
Two dogs here. One doesn't care and the other totally freaks out. 

Hope you all have a wonderful day spent with family and friends.