Found this amazing chandie this morning...

Large, heavy, solid, has almost all of its crystals. Seriously can't believe I got it for $10.

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Slow Down

A few weeks ago, I picked up this hutch

I had my 17 year old step son, Bradley, and his girlfriend, come over to paint it while I ran some errands. I should have known better...

I even had them apply a layer of gripper primer before they began painting the black top coat. I gave them a short lesson on painting and zipped away, hoping they would do a good job, but knowing that I could always sand and paint it again later.

I came home to a nightmare. It wasn't their fault, they had no previous experience and I left them with very little instruction. They had put the epoxy based primer on so thick, it was goopy, and the paint was turning gray because the primer wasn't completely dry when they gooped on another thick layer of paint.

Lesson learned, epoxy based primer, ten layers too thick + latex based paint, ten layers too thick= nearly unfixable furniture.

I have stripped and sanded, stripped and sanded and scraped, and the diagnosis is still unclear. It's currently on life support, I will keep you all updated as the prognosis changes.

But the worst thing it has done is suck away my mojo, throw me off my groove. I am struggling to stay motivated, losing my love for this work.

I can't really describe why.

So I am limping along, and this blog post shows my determination to proceed.

I have finished a few pieces, but in reflection of my lack luster feelings, they have sold slowly, and for much less than I hoped to get for them.

The first was this broken down old dresser I picked up at a yard sale in Tempe. The woman said her mother had brought it from New York when she moved here in the 50's. Someone had put it on casters, but only on the outside legs, so the center sagged.

Here is the after picture:

It sold for only double my investment, which is a disappointment.

Then on my way home, I stopped at my mechanics house to drop off some money, and noticed he had a VERY large three piece mirror leaning against his porch. It was hideous orange gold.

I asked him if I could buy it, and he let me have it for $10.

I painted it turquoise, then glazed it to make it look old. As I rubbed the glaze on, I was happy to see that the paint was rubbing off in spots to show a little of the original gold. I thought it looked more authentically vintage, and since orange and blue are complimentary colors, it popped.

It sold for about four times my investment, which was a good little boost.

Then I saw this hutch on CL.

I had my daughter paint it red, which I supervised this time and couldn't believe how well she did. I sanded and fixed it, and here is the after.

This is one of the more discouraging pieces I have had. I thought it turned out great, but I couldn't sell it to save my life.

I lowered the price fro $200 to $140, then to $100, and still no serious buyers.

Finally a lady called and asked if I could deliver it to Buckeye, which is about one and half hours away, and I said I would if she gave me another $40 for delivery. She agreed. It was a long drive. But at the end I had $140, minus the $30 in gas...

I went to the big Power Ranch Community Garage Sale a few weeks ago with all my friends. It was a lot of fun and I will disply some of my better finds in another post. But I found a bed that I didn't take a before picture of, but it was a dark medium brown color, dated. I painted it Rustoleum Heirloom White and distressed it.

To this day it hasn't sold. I am considering turning it into a bench.

Here's to getting back on the horse.

Big Black Bench

I drive past this house on about two acres of land just about every day. I have seen this large piece of wood that looked like it might be something good a bunch of times, but I didn't know how to go about acquiring it. It was sitting under a big trailer, weathering nicely in the sun.

I finally got up the nerve to go knock on the guys door. He was a little grumpy at first, but he warmed up when he realized I wasn't there to sell him something.

I asked him if I could buy his... well it turns out is was a big wooden bench, the kind that you make from headboards. It was missing the seat, but otherwise in great shape.

I asked Newell to grab a piece in the size I specified and then once I had it I screwed it down. Easy. I painted it black and distressed it, same ol', same ol'. Although, I will say, distressing now takes very little forethought for me now. It comes automatic, like riding a bike.

Media Cabinet from the Early 1900's

That's right. Media cabinet. Can't you just imagine them? Sitting around a warm fire, knitting, emboidering, reading from the Good Book, and this piece holding up a 70 inch flat screen plasma.

Ok, so I called it a media cabinet, but it was probably some kind of dresser, console, buffet.

It was seriously broken, probably the most broken piece I have ever worked on. The top was off, there were pieces of trim missing, but the door face was CARVED wood, like, by hand. Not glued on appliques. And I knew it would be vintage and shabby, so the little imperfections were part of it's charm.

My dad teases me for my poor photography skills. I read some of the other blogs out there, especially the one's I follow, and I can't believe how professional the pictures look. I have had some seriously talented photographers give me tips, but it seems it is hopeless.

I took these pictures with my cell phone camera, with low battery, meaning no flash, at night. Awesome.

This one sold in less than 24 hours, and the return was about four times my investment.

After:

Apothecary, Ashmothecary

I went thrifting on Saturday last, (that sounded like Jane Austen, I know) and I have decided that thrifting for the purpose of finding furniture to make a living is not my favorite.  I could get lost in it if it's for fun, narrow dusty aisles of forgotten items, full of old spirits, buried in each other.  I could literally do it for days straight.  But if I have to find something specific, I hate it.  It's hurried and sometimes feels fruitless.  This last Saturday was no exception. 

I am going to try to stop posting prices.  I don't know why, but it makes me uncomfortable.  But I will say that the two pieces I picked up came at a steep price of a long day of thrifting, the kind I don't like.  But the dollar prices were very good. 

I was wandering aimlessly through suburbia, looking for garage sales, finding them but only seeing JUNK, and finally I remembered that Goodwill has it's 50% off everything in the store every other Saturday, and this was such a Saturday.  And since I had begun early, I made it to the door only an hour after they had opened. 

I wandered through the maze of broken junky furniture and came acrossed this strange little beauty.  I just went through my pictures and only found one, even though I am sure I took several before shots.  I swear my camera is losing pictures.  You can kind of get the idea with this picture.

 It's a reproduction apothecary cabinet, recently made, maybe even in the early 2000's. 

So it functions as a dresser, all the tiny drawers are actually a drawer face for two drawers. 

It was missing a leg so it wobbled terribly, and there were strange holes drilled into the back panel of the cubby on top.  It looked like something was missing. I knew it was nothing I couldn't fix. 

I painted almost all of it black, and wanted to keep the cool latin herbal titles that were on gold plaques.  So that meant I needed to keep the gold hardware, which I was okay with.  The six knobs on the mini drawer face facades were missing so I dug old brass knobs out of my growing collection. 

I distressed it a little and placed it on CL.  Within literally minutes I was getting calls and the first lady that called bought it when she arrived at my house 45 minutes later. 

I had no idea it would be such a hit.  I wont talk in dollars, but I will say it generated about triple my investment. 

Here is the after:

Mom's Redesign

My mom asked me to decorate a console table in her kitchen with "fresh eyes." She is a great designer herself, but we all get what I call "decor blind" with our own homes. We lose that fresh perspective.

I went in her craft room,which I will someday post a picture of because its a crafters dream, and dug through her cabinets. There was a bag full of moss green gems, a few small fake green apples, lichen moss, the clumpy expensive kind, a whole slew of beautiful glass ware, and candles galore.

I first filled the apothecary jar with the moss and kind of "buried" the apples in it.

Then I poured all the gems in another glass vase and pulled an old flower arrangement apart. All the flowers were orange, which I loved. I just pushed the stems into the gems. They made a perfect filler.

Then I put one of the adorable birdhouses that were already there on a candle holder and put a candle on one of her plates and put that on top of another cute distressed candle holder. Then I surrounded the candle with more of the moss.

Whew!

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Adding Loveliness to a Political Fundraiser

My parents recently hosted a fundraiser for Jeff Flake

I went to help set up. I couldn't attend, even though I wanted to, because I had other plans, but I figured I would contribute to my political party by contributing my meager skills to this one.

First task was arranging the beautiful roses my mom bought at Costco. She is all about frugality. She loves loveliness, just like her daughters, but she has never been one to hire a team to do work she can do herself.

She chose orange as a theme color. I agreed with this choice. Orange is becoming a fashinable color and represents energy, positivity, power. Perfect.

So we began with three dozen perfect orange roses and a simple, square vase. Mom wanted a designer look, the tight, square, low profile type arrangement. This is how I did it.

Start by filling the vase or bowl to about halfway with warm water, and pouring the powdered plant food into it.

Then begin cutting your rose stems. With a tight arrangement, you want to remove all or most of the leaves. Cut stems on a diagnal. There is some debate over this technique, but my arrangements always last a long time, ao if it ain't broke...

Cut about 1-2 inches longer than the depth of the vase. Start placing the roses in. It won't begin taking shape until the very end, when the rose buds begin to hold each other up. Just turn the piece continually, making sure you are filling holes.

When you have filled the vase to the point that there is no room for more, start checking it from every angle. Feel free to carefull tug one rose up and push another down to achieve a uniformity.

If the sight of the stems bothers you, take some extra leaves and push them down each of the four sides while holding that row of rose buds back with your other hand. I had my friend Kristin help me with this part.

Then place and enjoy!

There were a few extra buds, so my mom broke out her fabulous little bud vases. They are pure crystal, and will set you back about $25 a piece, but they are available in acrylic as well for much cheaper. I simply placed a single bud in each and we placed them randomly around the room.

Roses from Costco are very affordable, I believe these bunches were $19 a piece, and there are 18 in each bunch.

Go make some fresh flower loveliness somewhere in your home!