Flash back to three weeks ago and my backyard was a DIY testing ground for nine painted-furniture projects. The paint has since dried, the hardware been screwed back on, the bugs picked out of the air-dried paint, and the furniture has been moved inside. Some of the projects were just paint touch-ups and others, you’ll see, were a decorative overhaul.
(Above) This desk and mirror just needed a fresh coat of white paint. They go so nicely together, I think I’m going to buy a little stool for it and use the setup as a vanity in the master bedroom.
This antique beveled mirror was originally a natural wood color, but we painted it poppy red to match the wallpapered accent wall in our guest bedroom.
We loved this Macky Blue sideboard’s tin top and exposed tin bread drawers—despite its brutally chipping framework. We bought it knowing that, even with serious sanding, this piece couldn’t be smoothed over. So we vowed to try our best and chalk the remaining rough spots up to “character.”
Though the original paint job had a palette like a Greenbay Packer, the two-tone legs were really inspiring. We painted the piece plum but left the feet primer-white to match the tin top.
I still have dreams of having a tall chinoiserie china cabinet in my kitchen, but for $100 and a fun weekend project, this is a cute placeholder.
The greatest lesson I learned from Painted Furniture Weekend Part 1 was: NEVER strip furniture. It was the most disgusting, toxic, arduous yet deceptively easy project I’ve ever attempted for my home. The majority of the paint may gum up and peel off nicely, but the other 40% is a battle to get off the wood.
After stripping two sides of this piece, I abandoned ship and just went on to sand the front and top.
As you can see, our entertainment center is not ready, but we’d like to ultimately use this sideboard as a media console (when we buy a TV from the 21st century). To do this properly we’d take the top two drawers, cut off the fronts, and reapply them with hinges so they fold down for easy access to the DVD player and fold up to cover unsightly equipment.
Another project added to the list.
The Met Home Dining Room of the Year?
The Met Home Living Room of the Year?
The Met Home Kitchen of the Year?
I tend to fall in love with run-down objects. I look right past the chipping paint and wobbly frame and see (with rose-colored glasses) a decorating project. Last week I mentioned how we went on an antique furniture spree at the Old Country Store outside Rhinebeck, NY—and this weekend was the restoration aftermath. Mike and I attempted to refinish 13 pieces of furniture in two days. Crazy, but doable. We staked out the common backyard in our shared brownstone with a 20’x15′ tarp, cans of paint, stripper, thinner, saws, drills, tons of sandpaper and set to work. I wish I had all the finished pieces to show you, trust me, but they are still drying in a scattered heap behind our house.
I adore this desk! I was told it is early Stickley but the clean lines and open sides (they’re bookshelves!) are what sold me. This piece was in pretty good condition, all we had to do to doctor it up was give it a sand down and a new coat of white.
The wood veneers were peeling from all sides of this buffet but I took one look at those legs, the original hardware, and the embossed detailing (see above) and I had to have it. If you sense a theme, I adore French flair in my furniture.
Mike is a fantastic photographer so knowing that photos will be big part of our wall decoration, we had to think of different ways to display them. We saw these 1940s windows and decided to turn them into 12-image picture frames. We bought two, painted them white, and have plans to hang one on each side of our living room-to-kitchen archway.
The lattice work makes this regal piece light and chic. It will go nicely in our living and it only needs a few paint touch-ups.
This mirror originally had a decorative wood overlay along the top but when we found it, only a chunk remained. So we pried off what was left, sanded the mirror frame down and painted it a rich red to match the flowers in our guest bedroom wallpaper.
This was the state of my backyard last night as we waited for the paint to dry. Hopefully in a few blogs all the drawers will be back in place and the furniture will be adorning my apartment with as few scuffs as possible.
