DREAMING IN COLOR....FURNITURE FASHIONISTAS SERIES

Hi Everyone! I am so happy that Danni has invited me to share so of my furniture transformations with you. My name is Deneen and my blog is Dreamingincolor. I paint furniture but I also design, paint, craft and have recipes. I have even been telling about my recent trip to Italy too.

First let me say that I had the pleasure of meeting Danni and she is as sweet and spunky in person as she is on her blog. She has become a special friend. She even helped me out by guest posting when I was in Italy.

I never thought I would be painting furniture. I am an artist and I paint and sell canvas usually but I fell in love with furniture and transforming it into a work of art.

custom painting

Painting canvas has helped me when it came to painting furniture. I applied what I knew to give it my spin on things~

I have papered the fronts of pieces.

This red hutch was a fun piece to work on. I always love the before and afters!

I like using different hardware on furniture. I find knobs I like and buy them and hope I have a piece that will fit them. I know I am crazy but I guess you can say I am a knob kinda gal!

I loved these crystal knobs!

This grey buffet was beautiful at Christmas! Funny though I decided to put this in my living room when I needed a place for my husbands huge TV to sit upon!

As an artist I get bored with doing the same things so I decided to start painting and trying different patinas. I even layered colors to get the looks I was going for and Annie Sloan featured one of them.

My French Patina painted night stands.

The key to it all is have fun! Know that there are no rules and think outside the box! I really love doing this but after you paint so much it can be tiring so I have to try and recreate the wheel to keep it interesting!!

I will leave you with what I think is my biggest transformation of all time and my favorite piece I painted...

Biggest transformation

my roll top desk without the roll! The before was horrible! Brad Paisley would have loved it for his song Camouflage! ( Sorry Danni I put a country song in there) But it was ugh ly!  ....and there were lots of surprises!

The end result was soooooo much better!

My favorite painted piece is still My Audrey Hepburn Dresser!

I hope you have enjoyed the few that I shared. Please stop by my blog and look around at some more. You can search on the side bar.

Thanks again Danni! I love that our blogs have brought us together and started a friendship! 

Thanks to everyone for reading!

Transforming Furniture the Dreaming-n-Color Way

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FURNITURE FASHIONISTA'S....Tina from What We Keep!

 Hi, I'm Tina and my blog is What We Keep.

I'm so pleased to be here today!

My blog is filled with completely random posts about home decor, sewing, embroidery, painting, etc.

I guess I'm kind of a blog mutt...a mix of everything.

One of my long time hobbies is painting furniture.

Back in the day it was so labor intensive that I didn't have the time or the inclination to do many pieces.

It's a whole new world now!

You might have seen a post in my first days of blogging that featured this piece. 

I'm thinking of repainting it soon,

 so I thought I'd take the opportunity to share it here at the Inspiration Cafe.

Thanks for having me ladies!

This hall tree was found at an estate sale and was pretty dismal looking.

I started with Annie Sloan Old Ochre and topped that with Antibes Green.

A clear coat of AS wax and some rough handling and she was ready.

Antibes Green is cheerful and fun.

It's the "in yo face!" green and great for this high traffic and constantly grubby space.

This sits at my side door entrance to the porte cochere that is also adjacent to the back stairs.  

It's so narrow that it's difficult to photograph.

I used a small palm sander to beat the poor thing up pretty bad, but I wanted that look.

I can see a few things that I would have done differently now that

 I have more experience with Chalk Paint.

It will be a breeze to repaint- right over the waxing-slap it on and wax again.

One of my favorite things about painting furniture with AS is that I can repaint on a whim

and with no sanding or prep work.

Thank you, Annie....a million times, thank you.

I started using Chalk Paint over two years ago and I am still madly in love.

There are many different brands of  "chalk like" paint now and a wide array of colors. 

If you haven't tried painting furniture yet...what are you waiting for?

Grab that old chair that Uncle Fester left to you and make it pretty again.

Kick the dogs off and start painting.

Just start.

I promise, you'll be hooked.

Yes, that's the same chair.

Ready to grab that brush and get after it?

I hope you will!

Thanks for reading and I'd love for you to visit me over at What We Keep.

Thank you, thank you to the inspirational ladies here...keep inspiring us.

We love seeing new and  inventive ways to craft and decorate. 

The recipes are great, too.

Danni, are those Downton bells in production yet???  ;)

I'd like to order 15 and have them by the time the new season begins...

you'll whip those up pronto, m'kay?

Have a great week and be sure to come back for the 

September feature of  Furniture Fashionistas

here at the Inspiration Cafe.

You'll love it!

A Side Table Meets Her Match - Furniture Fashionistas Series

It's time for our very first Furniture Fashionistas post and we're excited!  We have a fabulous line up of ladies who paint some awesome furniture.

Our first contributor is Karen from Somewhat Quirky Design.   Please make her feel welcome!

Hi guys! Karen from Somewhat Quirky Design here. I'm one of your lucky Furniture Fashionistas! Somewhat Quirky is my way to talk a little bit about my pretty ordinary life, bake and share some of the cakes I eat, and most importantly share my never ending stream of upcycling projects. 

Today I want to share a little bedside table that I fixed up to match another side table that I did last summer.

 

They were purchased at a garage sale for $5.00 each! Can you believe that? Both are very sturdy, well made pieces. They were actually purchased by a friend of mine. When I see them all fixed up I'm just a little bit envious.

Both of these pieces are painted with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White with French Linen accent painting

 

I went ahead and painted the hardware. The shape was wonderful and I thought they would look great highlighted with a dry brush of the French Linen. To do this I just got a tiny bit of paint on a small brush and tapped it on a paper towel then punched it into the crevices and removed the extra with a soft dry cloth.

I gotta say, I love the combination of Old White with the French Linen.

When I do accent painting I try to keep it as neat as possible but don't worry about getting it perfect.

The owner is not big on distressing so you won't find any on these pieces.

  

Wouldn't you like to have these tables sitting on each side of your bed?

Thanks to the ladies of Inspiration Cafe for inviting me to Inspiration Cafe! It's been fun. 

Please stop by and visit me at Somewhat Quirky. If you want to get to know me quickly you can check out my Best of 2012 posts here and here and here. Coming soon: I teach Danni @ Silo Hill Farm how to paint furniture! I can't wait!

Make something wonderful today!

Karen

Furniture Makeover Series #3 - Simply Vintageous....by Suzan

Good Morning Everyone - This is my last installment for furniture makeovers for the Inspiration Cafe - too bad - I was getting used to it LOL This makeover all started with a Craig's List find - and this was how it was advertised! Nothing like putting a little effort into your staging, is there?

John could not understand what I saw in this - but I saw Vintage French Provincial - I saw curved designs on the back of a chair - I saw a scallop edge on the table bottom - What I did NOT see was all the junk in the photo - I'm able to filter all of that out at this point - where that was ALL John could see - but isn't that an interesting array of items lol There's a phone - a colander - stacked cups - a goose necked lamp - a porcelain frying pan - a cutting board - a water bottle etc - I should save this, it could work well as a shower game - you have 30 seconds to look at it and list the items !!! John went to pick up the set - and I called him on his way back and asked him what it looked like Suzan says - Hi - did you get it? John says - Yup Suzan says - You don't sound very enthusiastic John says - Wait till you see it - I told you to come with me - Suzan says - I don't need to see all of it - I saw the photo - that was enough for....... John interrupts - IT'S GARBAGE - YOU SENT ME OUT TO PICK UP GARBAGE AGAIN Suzan says - I'll transform it John - you know that by now - John says - LISTEN, the minute I get in the house I'm taking a shower, do you understand me - you don't know where I've just been Suzan says - You're becoming a germaphobic I think John says - good-bye Suzan, I'm hanging up now - OK - what I also didn't see was this  ( and nor would I have thought it possible really ) and you will want to take a shower after looking at it lol

I didn't see the color of the filth on the wood either as a matter of fact but each chair took 3 buckets of soapy water before the water stayed clear - you can see that here if  you like photos of dirty water

So first order of the day was to remove that fabric and in some cases there were multiple layers of fabric - for the most part it practically disintegrated as I pulled - except where I needed it to - pliers were a neccesity here

then I cut out my new seat cushions - these had none at all - they were like sitting on wood chairs

Now here's an incredible tip supplied by JOHN himself - he's puffing like a penguin right now - You know when you're reupholstering seats sometimes it's hard to judge where the screw hole is, right? and if you try to screw in through the fabric - well, sometimes it works and sometimes it's a disaster, the fabric loops around the screws and fuggedaboudit - SO...................... I was explaining this to John - and he said - Well the solution is staring you right in the eyes - just keep the screws in while your stapling the fabric LIGHTBULB ANYONE????????????????

I removed them before I took this shot - ( STOOPID  ) but trust me when I tell you this is a powerful TIP. It's going to be such a breeze screwing the seats back in - ( unless all of you already do this - it honestly never dawned on me lol ) Oh and that piece of paper?  WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T REMOVE IT - there are chair police that go around imposing terrible fines for those of you that dare to do so

it used to be 50 to 500 dollars back in the day - I believe it's now at 75,000 dollars - and be careful who you try to sell your item to - if the potential buyer suddenly flips the chair over very quickly - chances are they're Chair Cops......................... and so finally I had one chair done

hmmm - lets rip that all off says the other Suzan ( don't know her? you can meet her here ) it doesn't go with the way I want to do the table now that I think of it perhaps this will look better

hmmm boring - 3rd time lucky?

Perfect for this set......................... Ok now I have an even more important tip for you - and this one's all mine Once you've painted the chairs - and cut the foam - and cut the fabric - and stapled it on - ( leaving the screws in place ) it's imperative that you stop and get yourself this

not 1 - not 2 - but 3 miniature cheese cakes smothered in chocolate - and a glass of milk ( just because it does the body good ) ...................................... John says - taking a picture of your dessert are you Suzan? Suzan says - yup - that I am John says - I suppose that fits in with the chair makeover post somehow? Suzan says - you got it mister - it's a tip actually John says - on what? how to gain weight while reupholstering? Suzan says - be careful John - be very very careful - your treading on dangerous ground now Ok - once you've finished you snack - and cut your eyes at your better half - it's time to get started on the table............................ I'm scared to show it to you - because this is really a love it or hate makeover SO PLEASE PLEASE BE KIND - BECAUSE JOHN SAID A VERY MEAN THING ABOUT MY DESSERT AND I'M FEELING KIND OF FRAGILE.........................and just because I'm nice I won't tell you what he can consume at one sitting - but it's quite astonishing really Oh wait - I'll show you the before again first - that way it can't help but look amazing! ( another tip for you diy bloggers )

and here's the curves I saw from the very beginning

the next photo is blurry because I couldn't get her to stop dancing - she was doing the can-can or some crazy french dance - I mean she was MOVING guys!
She has a " leaf " that I'm not finished yet - so can sit 6 to 8

The paint color is a creation of mine - Van Gogh paints allows each stocklister to create 4 designer colors, this is going to be one of mine - so can't divulge the secret recipe ladies lol
and I don't know if my camera does it justice because it's really beautiful
( if I do say so myself )

shhhh - did you hear something -
just now
a faint little voice?
isn't that sweet - look what she just whispered

(  Bienvenue ma cherie - Bienenue  )
Have a wonderful day !!!
Suzan
XOX 
and maybe just have 2 of those cakes - 3 will make you feel sick
And that's all she wrote everyone.................. Thanks so much to the ladies of this great blog for having me!!! A beintot! Hugs,