Matchmaker, Matchmaker

Hi friends! Every now and then we have the pleasure of refinishing a matching set of furniture, per custom request. Whenever a set comes in, whether it's a coffee table and end table set for a living room, or a matching bedroom set, it's always fun to imagine the room created around the pieces. 

I was definitely day dreaming about this while working on a bedroom set that was requested to be finished similarly to this beauty:

The dear gal who purchased this piece asked if I could use the same ultra distressed technique on her daughter's bedroom set. After she sent pictures of her daughters pieces, I knew it wouldn't be a stretch. The set had great bones and lines already! Here's what I came up with:

How to get this look:

I refinished these pieces in several layers, just as I did the large dresser several weeks ago. I painted them in Old White, by Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. Then I went over in Layla's Mint by Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint. The final coat is a mix of Pure White, (by ASCP), and Grain Sack, (by MMSMP). The mix of milk paint to chalk paint gives a chippy-er finish, drawing the paint up a bit so it flakes off easily. I finished by taking my electric sander with rough 100 grit sandpaper over both pieces and removing as much paint as possible in a few key spots - on the dresser I heavily distressed the frame of the drawer fronts and the protruding side panels. On the headboard, I focused on the protruding middle section, as you can see below.

The most important piece of information I about on the girl who this set will live with is that she is NOT a girly-girl. Her sweet Momma told me that she wanted the white distressed look, but nothing too 'sweet'. I think with the extra distressing, these pieces have an edgier, butt-kicking, 'don't mess with me' kind of look. Do you see it? :)

Love, love seeing side-by-side Before+Afters! These pieces were in great shape before - just needed a bit of character.

But then again, my stance is anything can be improved with a bit of character. ;)

Thank you all for stopping by!

Rustic Farmhouse Buffet ||Before+After||

We've got some fresh meat in the Garage Shop this week! Who's hungry?

I, for one, am ravenous! Since much of my free time, (i.e. my children's afternoon nap), is spent in the garage painting and flipping furniture, the winter gets brutal after I've been away from 'my office' for a couple months straight! It was time to lean into what I know, despite the negative temps and cue of snow storms.

What you're looking at above, (but doesn't pick up so well in pictures), is layers of varying hues of white and green, and lots of chippy charm. Getting this finish was not difficult, but lets start with The Beginning.

Not bad! Not bad at all. And major bonus - this beauty is on hidden casters! So, to begin, (nothing like a rogue 55 degree day to jump start the process), my Shire and I slapped on a first coat of Annie Sloan's Pure White and Old White. (We didn't mix the colors, we just worked side by side, Shire had the Pure White and I had the Old White). Since I knew I'd be layering multiple colors, the first coat didn't matter a single bit.

Oh how I love painting with this one! After a couple coats of white, our piece here was looking perty!

And then it was time to rough it up! I used 220 grit sandpaper in my electric sander to get a good bit of the paint off. I knew I'd be going over this with milk paint which crackles beautifully over smooth, non-porous surfaces. Chalk paint is extremely porous, so it was important to sand down to the wood a good bit so the milk paint would crackle and chip off in those spots.

And the milk paint did not disappoint! I used one of Miss Mustard Seed's newer colors, Layla's Mint. You can see here where it had crackled down to the wood on the side, and with gentle sanding, (I used a medium grit sanding sponge), revealed the white underneath.

The last coat of paint was more white on top of the green. Again, I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Pure White for the final coat.

After 4 coats of paint, it was time to get started on bringing this piece to life! I used fine 220 grit sandpaper again in my electric sander and just lightly went over most of the edges and corner surfaces - just a gentle touch with the sander took the already crackling and peeling paint off beautifully!

I circled a couple spots in the photo below where you can see the layers of green and white. I'm crazy for layered colors on a piece! It just has a way of adding decades of charm!

For the top surface I removed quite a bit more of that final coat of white in order to get down to the green underneath. 

On deck are two sleek and modern looking pieces! A far cry from today's time-worn goodness. We are style mutts here after all... :)

Charming Chippy Dresser, (or buffet or media center)
Available or sale
66" x 31.75" x 20"
$685
Contact chelsea@stylemutthome.com if interested in this or a similar custom order!

Thank you all for stopping by! 

Got any piece which you've shown some TLC? We'd love to see your handiwork! Share them directly to our Facebook page or tag #stylemuttrefinishes on Instagram!

DIY Ring Pulls - and the first completed Flip List item

The other week I scored this great dresser on Craigslist for a great price.   It's solid wood and the seller had bought it and brought it back from India.  {How cool is that?  I love pieces with unusual history}.  , But she was selling it because it had some damage to the finish - so it became my first opportunity to cross something off my Flipper's New Years Resolutions.  Can you guess which item I went for first?  That's right!  I went for No.6 the paint-stripped dresser. 

Except it didn't actually turn out the way my inspiration piece looked... it came out WAY BETTER.  

I wasn't really sure how to go about re-recreating this effect from my inspiration piece other than just stripping off most of the paint finish on a piece to reveal the naked wood underneath.  My piece was already naked and part of me felt like it was a waste to paint it just to strip it off again.  So I decided I would only cover the piece with a thin coat of paint.  

But first I had to start by sanding the piece to prep it for paint.  Then on a whim I decided to wipe it down with some fabric softener because, as I discovered while painting my box trunk, it can keep the paint from taking in some areas.  Then I painted on a light coat of home-made chalk paint I had left over from my two-toned coffee table.  

After the paint dried, it was time to TAKE IT OFF BABY.  Using a fine grit sanding pad on my orbital sander {thanks for the xmas gift Scot & Joanie} I gently sanded some of the paint off.  

I could have kept sanding to reveal more of the naked wood, but I liked how the white was bringing out the natural wood grain. 

It kinda ended up like a dry-brush effect but without the dabbing-paint-on-a-rag-or-paper-towel process.

For the hardware I also tried something new - DIY ring pulls!  I can't take credit for this idea however - I found this post on Sarah M. Dorsey Designs, but no disrespect to Ms. Dorsey, I needed a little bit more info on where to find the parts: cotter pin, 1" ring, and washers.  I had never heard of a cotter pin before.  I had no idea if I was in a plumbing thingy or electrical do-hickey and therefore had no clue where to look for it in the store.

Turns out it's in with the screws, nuts, and bolts aisle.  And more specifically, it was in a drawer at Home Depot with a tiny picture on the front so it was kinda hard to spot at first when you have shopping tunnel vision on.  You can also find the finishing washers {which are beveled} and regular washers {which are flat} in this aisle.  The trick was finding the ring for the DIY pull.  There was nothing in that aisle that resembled Sarah Dorsey's find at her local hardware store so I had to expand my search.  I actually ADORE going to the hardware store and perusing all the aisles I really have no business being in to find odds and ends I can repurpose for something else.  And my aimless wandering did not disappoint.  I ended up striking gold in the window treatment aisle with a set of curtain rings for $7.97 that would be perfect understudy.

I'm gonna go ahead and assume I'm not the only one who did not know what a cotter pin looks like so here's a visual aid:

Supplies Needed:
Curtain ring {with removable clip}
Cotter pin {size 1/8" x 1-1/2" should do}
Finishing washer {I used size #8}
Washer {doesn't have to be pretty because you won't see it inside the drawer - just make sure the cotter pin can fit through the inner hole}
Pliers

1. Remove the clip from the curtain ring.  It was really easy to unhook the clip with just my fingers, but you can use the pliers just in case.

2. Much like sliding your finger through a bobby pin, slide the ring between the two prongs of the cotter pin until it reaches the eye at the end.  Cotter pins are made from much tougher metal than bobby pins {which is good because you want something stronger for furniture pulls}.  So this is really where you want to use pliers and put some elbow grease into it.

3.  Once the ring is on, pinch the prongs of the cotter pin and slide on the finishing washer with the beveled side facing the ring.

4. Now you've got the makings of the ring pull.  To secure it onto the drawer, thread the prongs through the hole in the drawer and slide the regular washer on the inside of the drawer.  Then bend the ends of the cotter pin like a brad to keep the pulls in place. 

Mighty fine looking for just about $2.11 a pull!

Could't help snap this pic of another of my chandelier terrariums.  If you want the tutorial on how to make your own, check out this post from last spring.

The only thing I was disappointed by is that Home Depot doesn't seem to carry cotter pins or finishing washers in brass.  If any of you readers have ideas on where I can get some please share!

White distressed dresser
43"W x 19.5"D x 43"H
Sold

If you are interested in this piece or a custom order like it, please email cate@stylemutthome.com.