A Vvvvery Interesting Piece, Indeed

Hi friends! I posted this stack of pieces the other day that we collected after a particularly lucky weekend on Craigslist a few weeks ago. I've already shared how the mid-century cabinet in the middle turned out, and how Shire flipped those accent tables on top. If you're an Instagram pal you may have seen a teaser of that bottom piece already. Well here it is, done and ready for a new home!

I really wanted this piece to be something unique when it was finished. It didn't need hardware as there is a deep lip underneath each drawer for easy opening and closing, but even before I began painting it just seemed to fall a little flat. As soon as I saw it I wanted to add some visual interest here. I sketched a few things out on paper, and while my drawings are at the artistic skill level of a 1st grader, seeing them side by side made the decision easy!

There was just something about these 'V' pulls that was so unique, but not in a 'what in the world are those' kind of way, (unless I'm missing something). So I measured out some 3/8" wood trim and cut all the pieces I'd need. Each individual pull is made up of two pieces, which you can see below. My '1' marked pieces were 4", and my '2' marked pieces were 3.6". I made 9 pairs in total, one for each drawer.

I used a very small nail to tap the pieces together as shown. It didn't really matter that they be attached well at this point, since I would ultimately attach both pieces to the drawers. At first I thought I would attach the pieces to the drawers facing down, as shown below. I didn't hate it but wanted to see both ways. I really loved the pieces opening upward; I can't explain why, but it just looked better!

Gentle distressing, (with my go-to tool, a medium grit sanding sponge), along all the edges and corners of the piece brings out the shape and lines without being too distracting.

Now available for sale!
66"L x 29.5"H x 18"D
$625
Contact chelsea@stylemutthome.com if interested in this piece of a custom order like it!

Thank you so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Hairpin Legged Map Chest ||2016 Flip List Item No.6||

*OCD Alert!* I warned you I'd once again be tackling my furniture flip bucket list out of order.  If you are prone to severe OCD tendencies, this series may not be for you.  I'll give you a courtesy buffer so you can jump ship before I jump right in...

5...4...3...2... Still with me? 1  

Well ok then!  I'm glad to see you've decided to stick around.

For those of you who don't know, every January I like to informally declare some DIY projects I'd like to tackle for the year.  And I infamously go out of order (or even run out of time - ahem *bakersrack*).

Here's what I set out to do last year (in order of completion):
No.6 - White chippy dresser 
No.5 - Best vintage chart hack
No.7 - Turn a swivel chair into an accent chair 
No.4 - Navy and gold dresser
No.3. - Rivet something
No.2 - Wood shim surface treatment 
No.1 - Build my own baker's rack (still pending ;)

Here's what I've set out to do this year (in order of original post):
No. 1 - DIY a baker's rack (because I didn't last year)
No.2 - Reupholster a chair
No.3 - Build a chandelier
No.4 - Grow-up my abstract art
No.5 - Jewel toned dresser
No.6 - Hairpin Legs
No.7 - Creative hardware

And true to form, this year I started with item No.7, and here I am a week later introducing you to item No.6.

You dazzled?!?!  No?  Well that's probably because this is what it looked like when I found it.  Let me try again: 

This flip list item didn't actually start with the map chest, it began with a weird $5 table painted like a football.  You heard me right - a football.  But I had no purpose for a 10" tall table with a laminate oval top but I did have use of the table's hairpin legs...  Once I had the legs I wanted, it was a matter of finding a suitable new top.  I new I wanted to make a storage piece so I started trolling wooden pieces with a vintage flare.  

I stripped the chest's orangey stain and went with a weathered wood look that would play up the vintage vibes my hairpin legged vision was going for.

Since he's a petite piece, I kept the styling minimal (I know - not usually my "collectionism" style).  I went with two simple vases and a brass seed pod from target encased within a little cloche.  The pant-hanger art is a traced Picasso line-drawing (hope you don't mind Pablo!).

If you are OCD and still reading, your supreme attention-to-detail skills may recognize the original knobs from the fugly twins.  I kept them for a less eyeballesque layout like the two columns on this piece.  They are real porcelain and truly vintage plus I liked the scale for such skinny little drawers.

Thank you again to my type-A personality friends who've been putting up with my crazy scatter-brainedness.  I'd like to think I'll do better next time but who am I kidding...

Please still accept me despite my faults ;)

Map Chest with Hairpin Legs
20"W X 17"D X 39"H
Price: $265 SOLD

My Daughter's Fresh Flip

Hi friends! As you can see by our recent posts, refinishing season is well under way for the StyleMutt Home girls - and I don't just mean Cate and me! My daughter, Shire, has been workin' on her own flipped finds to share with you! She started painting furniture a few years ago when she was 3. Her first piece was a child's chair she painted Antibes Green by Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. We listed it for sale and my Dad, Shire's 'Pops', bought it. :) These days she's learning more about the business of refinishing furniture - what sells and why. If you ask Shire what she would like to do when she grows up, this is it. In her 6 year old opinion, she's living the dream!

This is a healthy stack of pieces we stocked a couple weekends ago via our loaded DC Metro area Craigslist. Sometimes it's hot, sometimes not. We had a really hot week recently and I contacted around two dozen sellers. I've gotten picky in my old age, though. Since refinishing has become something I do more on the side as we're starting to focus on home styling and design, I invest only in pieces I'm really excited about. It's a lot of time and resources to refinish and it's got to be really worth it. The top of this stack, however, was not a premeditated purchase. Shire and I went to a mid-century modern warehouse flash sale in hopes of finding some authentic goodies, and she saw this pair of end tables stacked on top of a few other pieces. They were priced low and for the pair; done and done!

When the owner of this warehouse asked Shire how she was going to refinish this pair of tables, she didn't skip a beat when she answered, "white!"

She used a can of combined chalk paint, (Pure White) + milk paint, (Grain Sack), that we had on hand. Combining these two types of paint not only stretches my leftovers, but creates such an authentically time worn finish. Chippy pieces are so charming when they look aged by years and years of love. After Shire's pieces dried we sanded them gently using a medium grit sanding sponge, (favorite distressing tool), and the paint just flaked right off!

Before sanding I taped off the bottom 4" of the legs and took the power sander to that area to completely strip the paint and finish. Love the raw wood grounding this pair!

The best part about using milk paint is the unpredictability, in my opinion. The paint flakes where it wants to flake and there's not much you'll be able to do about it. It's fabulous! Perhaps not the best tool for a type A perfectionist since you really can't control where the chipping will happen. But it's for this reason that I think it looks the most real. Sometimes distressing looks a little too contrived. I want to look at a piece and be fooled into wondering if it actually has been sitting out on this antique store front's porch for the past 50 years. Shire painted these two tables at the same time in pretty much the same manner, and one tables top flaked way more than the other! How fun!

Shire's tables pictured below with a little teaser from Momma. :)

Chippy White Tables
$45 for the pair
Contact chelsea@stylemutthome.com if interested!

Thank you so much for coming by!