Be a Freak.
Last week, I got an email from a reader.
I just love those. 🙂
They asked if I could do a post on what kinds of tools and supplies I use when I’m stripping or painting furniture.
And I thought to myself, “Duh. Why haven’t you done that before, Jenna?!”
So here it is. These are my must have products, tools and supplies for stripping and/or painting furniture. I’ve used these over and over again and I love them.
I knew there would come a day when I would want to strip the paint off a piece I had so meticulously painted.
I didn’t know that day would come so soon.
Don’t get me wrong.
I still love my boldly colored painted pieces. But…
After the black and white gallery wall in the living room was completed, I knew the finishing touch would be to make the red buffet stained once more…
Last year, I found out Fleetwood Mac was going on tour.
I immediately jumped up and down, hooped and hollered and nearly wet myself.
And then Grunt Labor said, “Who’s Fleetwood Mac?”
All excitement ceased.
I began to question our entire relationship.
How could I have married someone who didn’t know who Fleetwood Mac was?
Who didn’t know the sound of Stevie Nick’s one-of-a-kind voice by heart?
I went into panic mode.
I threw out song titles.
Landslide, Go Your Own Way, The Chain, Don’t Stop
Nothing. He knew none of them.
I started singing.
As we all know, I can’t get enough color.
In my opinion, too much color is always a good thing.
I’ve never met a bold kelly green or a pop of coral I couldn’t help but smile at.
And if you can’t smile at these bright spring colors that are popping up, then honey, you ain’t livin’ right.
Here are some of my own favorite colorful furniture makeovers.
After the amazing-out-of-this-world-discovery-that-changes-everything a few weeks ago (when I found out how to make glazes in any color – ok. maybe I’m being a bit dramatic. Just a little bit though.)
I wanted to see if it would work as a stain too – on unfinished wood.
It did…
So now you will not only know how to make glazes in any color, but you’ll know how to make colored stain too.
I KNOW.
AMAZING.
Up until last October, I wasn’t a big glazed furniture kind of gal.
Glazed donut kind of gal…abso-freakin-lutely….glazed furniture…not so much.
But then I used dark glaze on the IKEA Tarva drink bar.
At that point, dark glaze and I started to become friends.
We experimented. We plotted makeovers.
We worked together on a glamorous dresser makeover.
Dark glaze and I were skipping happily along off into the sunset….
And then I met clear glaze….
And he swept me off my feet….because he can turn any color into a glaze….
The first few pieces of painted furniture I did, I had no idea what a topcoat was or that I was supposed to use them to seal and protect furniture.
I quickly learned that if you paint a piece with a flat sheen of paint, you will eventually wind up with a bruised and scratched up piece of furniture – that ain’t pretty.
You live. You learn.
And then get Luvs.
Not really, those diapers were never great for us.
It took a few more tries, but I finally realized the benefit of a topcoat and when to use one.
I’ve begun a new love affair.
Grunt Labor doesn’t mind a bit.
Its more beautiful than I ever dreamed.
Its with green.
And black and white stripes.
Really, its just with the green, black and white combination in general.
I never considered the combination until my Enchanting green paint swatch accidentally fell on top of some black and white fabric and I was like…
Oh My Gosh.
Of course, I totally said that in the style of Usher’s song.
At that point, I did a walk-through of my house to determine which piece of furniture would be my next victim.
The lucky guy was this french country chair which ended up with a modern makeover.
Have I told you that my dad claims the title of “Rain on a Tin Roof Middle Tennessee Marketing Manager?”
I’m not kidding.
He even signs his emails to me that way.
And he hangs my business cards at the post office.
And tells all his friends about me.
And the people he works with.
I’m sure they loathe me by now.
One of his co-workers, Shannon, (who is forced to work right beside him – poor girl), offered me a dresser she had in her garage. Thanks, Shannon!
Seeing as I never turn down free furniture, I went and picked it up.
In my not-so-big SUV.
With my dad, the kid, and Will.
That was a tight squeeze fun ride home.
It was well worth it though for this glamorous dresser makeover.
If you read the longest blog post in history (a.k.a. the reader survey results), you know that there were some questions about furniture painting – what finish to use, why is the paint peeling, etc.
Since I am a woman for the people and cannot let my people down, I decided to start a little Painting 101 series with basic tips and tricks for painting furniture.
The first thing we are going to chat about is:
Why is my paint peeling?
Tips and tricks to keep paint from peeling and scratching off your furniture.
This one will be as short and sweet as possible, friends. The flu has struck our house and its first victim is me.
I love marble. Have I told you that before? I mean, I’m sure its apparent by looking at my bathroom.
I also love little side tables that can be moved around as needed to hold drinks and what not.
And I love a classic black – paired with gold.
The three loves combined in this DIY Marble Top Table.
I am kicking myself, y’all.
Kicking myself.
I’ve spray painted and Rub ‘N Buffed so many pulls and knobs over the years – I had no idea how to clean them.
Don’t get me wrong – there are sometimes when you want a bold colored knob, but sometimes I just want that hardware restored to its former glory.
I had no clue how to restore hardware to its former glory though.
Until a few weeks ago.
Grunt Labor has a man cave.
Did you know that?
But really, its only been his man cave for the past three months or so.
Prior to that, it was the dumping ground for yard sale items, the kid’s toys, an outdated computer, and just crap in general.
Said crap was moved elsewhere (a.k.a. shoved in the attic) and he is finally getting the room that he deserves.
That he deserved a long time ago.
His words to me were, “Just do your thing.” when asked what he wanted done to the space.
So I’m doing my thang.
Because I like to do my thang, rather than my thing.
And I started with this vintage radio turned bar cabinet.
Remember when I turned that IKEA Tarva three drawer dresser into an awesome drink bar?
And remember how I mentioned it was part of a challenge presented by HomeRight to five of their bloggers?
Guess what?
All five of us ROCKED this challenge.
If I do say so myself.
And now, you can vote on whose is the best.
And the winner gets $500.
And one lucky voter wins a Finish Max Pro (You just have to be a registered user on the HomeRight website to be eligible for winning the Finish Max Pro).
So……….
Obviously, I would LOVE your vote.
And greatly appreciate it.
But……
All of these girls totally kicked their challenges outta the park.
Here are all of our projects:
Let’s be honest about a couple things:
1. I’m lazy on occasion.
2. I’m impatient.
How does this effect my furniture makeovers?
I hate having to prime a piece before I can put some glorious color on it.
Hate it.
I need instant gratification.
Anyone else?
And when the color is finally on, I can barely wait to get the piece back in its place.
Oh, but wait….it needs a topcoat.
That means I have to wait more.
Did I mention I was impatient?
Did I also mention I found a solution for this problem?
Well, not a solution for being lazy and impatient, but a solution for the priming and top coating.
There is a way to paint that requires no priming and no top coating.
Boom.
World altered.
If you follow me on Facebook, you may remember a month or so back when I posted a picture of an unfinished three drawer chest.
HomeRight offered a challenge to their brand ambassadors.
They offered to send us one of the IKEA Tarva 3 drawer chests and then have at it.
There are three things I have never passed up in life:
1. A Good Challenge
2. Free Furniture
3. Cheap Beer
My fingers and toes and arms and legs were crossed in hopes that I would be one of the five chosen ambassadors drawn from a hat for this challenge.
And I was.
*Insert 7th grade girl squeal here, along with fist bumps.*
So what did I turn my chest into?
A drink bar.
A green one.
With pretty gold accents.
As we have established multiple times, I am a chair hoarder.
I fully embrace it.
(You should too.)
I will fly my chair hoarding freak flag proudly.
I will especially fly that flag when I find six fabulous chairs on Craigslist for $25.
Yep, $25 for six chairs, two of which were armchairs.
I’ve had this table in my basement for nearly a year. I loved its shape so much, but just couldn’t decide what to do with it. When I finally did decide what to do with it, it was an utter failure (I’ll get there in a minute). Luckily, it made a spectacular comeback with the help of a little leopard print goodness.
Remember how I confessed that my latest chair makeover was a roadside find that sat untouched in my basement for nearly a year?
Yea, ummm, the same is true of this cart turned industrial DIY coffee table. I picked it up at a yard sale well over a year ago now. From the time I bought it, I had planned on turning it into a coffee table, but one thing led to another and it just now got completed.
Just like the chair though, I think this one was worth the wait.
This chair was a monumental find for me.
It was my first roadside find. I found it even before I found my metal cabinet that I turned into craft storage.
I was just, ummmm, slow, very slow about getting around to fixing it.
I think the wait was worth it though – I love how this chair makeover turned out.
My in-laws have totally been holding out on me. A few weeks ago, my mother-in-law and I were wondering through the garage gathering items for a yard sale and what did we stumble across? My father-in-law’s old army locker. Just sitting there. Waiting to be made into something awesome. Here’s how this baby started out….
You guys, Spring is finally starting to show up around these parts! I can hardly contain my excitement! I hope its warming up wherever you are as well. I thought I would share this nightstand makeover with you because its cheerful colors just beg Spring to come!
Welcome to another Fifteen on Friday! I hope you all are gearing up for a fun weekend!
Here’s a quick little project that adds a little pop to your furniture.
You may have noticed in the red buffet makeover, that the feet of said buffet were sporting a little touch of metal.
You see, I have this thing for metal feet on furniture. Once I saw brass feet on the vintage chair for Grunt Labor that now sits in our living room, it was a done deal.
I’m takin’ it home.
I’m sure you could buy these brass caps, also known as ferrules and sabots (look at me breaking out the big words – crazy what you learn as a blogger!), but I don’t know where and I did a version of it myself anyway.
Here’s how I made my faux brass capped feet.
When I walked through the back door, I knew he would either be in his recliner or at the kitchen table.
If he was in his recliner, there was a 50 / 50 chance he had fallen asleep with a cigarette in hand and either Bonanza or In the Heat of the Night blaring from the television.
If he was expecting me and it was morning, he would most likely be at the kitchen table, facing me when I walked through the door, flipping through a magazine he had pulled from the stack that was a foot tall and rising.
This kitchen table is more than a table to me.
I sat on this table and ate my first birthday cake and drank from a mustard bottle.
I sat at this table and watched my grannie make me milkshakes.
I sat at this table and watched my pap try to make those same milkshakes.
I sat at this table and said my first curse word as I stuck a fork into a potato.
I sat at this table as he told me he would work on the tractor and I would mow the grass. I may hurt myself on the tractor.
I sat at this table with every cookbook of my grannie’s open, looking for that one chicken spaghetti recipe that my pap wanted so much to make.
I sit at this table now and write this post.
This table has been around as long as I can remember. Its solid, its sturdy, and if there is one piece of furniture that I want to work at every day, its this one. Its got a good history.
And we all know a piece of furniture with a good history is the best.
