Red Delicious

I have to start by saying that red is not my favorite color.  I used to really dislike red.  Alot.  Wouldn't wear it, wouldn't have it in my home.  Not even a little bit.  But oh how things have changed!  It started slowly - a little bit of red in the artwork here and there.  A few little accent pieces - a vase here, a little box there.  And now I have a red side table in my living room!  My living room!!!  Crazy, I know.  But I've learned, or maybe just decided, that you need to mix things up.  Shake it up!  Add some pizzazz!  And  red sure does that.

 With that being said - here is my latest favorite creation.  My Red Delicous Dressing Table.

Isn't she pretty?  Don't you just love how the red looks with the beautiful Mahogany?  Yum.

A friend of mine gave me this dressing table.  Yes Gave it to me.  Thanks Nancy!!  I totally owe her.

Nancy had started to refinish this herself, and quit after a few days of hard work.  I must say it was an ugly job.  Stripping all the finish off the drawers and mirror was not fun.  Lots of crevices to get into.  I was so worried while working on the mirror.  It's a lovely beveled mirror with just the right amount of age.  And I've broken a few mirrors in my refinishing days.  Not fun! But I managed to get it done, and it was soooo worth all the hard work!

Look how nice this tweeked Annie Sloan Red (Emperor's Silk with a little Primer Red) looks with the Mahogany.  I think it's so rich and interesting!

I think I'm over my dislike of red.  I have some more red projects on the horizon.  I found this picture of some amazing fabric that is the inspiration for my next red piece.

 

I came across this beautiful piece of furniture somewhere on the internet, and I'm not sure, but it looks like it is done in a stain.  I'm thinking I could do something similar with a wash of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  I'm hoping to try it some day.  Kinda special, don't you think?

And then there are just endless pictures of interiors with little bits of red, big pops of red, and lots and lots of red!  I'm loving the red!!

    

Are these amazing or what?!

And to finish it all off, we should include some English inspiration.  Who doesn't love a Union Jack?  Or a British Phone Booth?  I'm thinking I need to paint an ugly old leather couch with a Union Jack, using some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  Yes - apparently you can paint fabric with it!  I'll be trying that!

Okay - really, I need to finish with a RED PIANO!!!  I need to do one of these too!!

Okay - I'm done. Really ;)

Sharing with;

http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/ http://missmustardseed.com/ http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/ 

http://www.decoratinginsanity.com/ http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/ 

http://micheleravendesigns.blogspot.com/ http://www.atthepicketfence.com/ 

http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/ http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/ 

http://www.somewhatsimple.com/ http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/ 

http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/ http://www.fivedaysfiveways.com/ 

http://www.remodelaholic.com/ http://www.findingfabulousblog.com/ 

http://tatertotsandjello.com/ http://www.theroosterandthehen.com/

http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/ http://www.myrepurposedlife.net/ 

http://www.sistersofthewildwest.blogspot.com/ http://www.redouxinteriors.com/

ttp//makinglemonadeblog.blogspot.com/ http://diyshowoff.com/ 

http://www.bystephanielynn.com/  

Desperately Seeking Lazy Susan.....

Okay, I'm not sure what that title means, but I found this amazing drum table, which has a lazy susan type top, and that is what I came up with........???

So this drum table is a Duncan Phyfe style table, with some nice Mahogany and some not so nice other wood, and it had this weird ugly leather inlay top. It sat in my living room in the corner for I don't know how long, waiting for a treatment. And it sat. And it sat. So after I did that shabby shabby dresser last week, and had such a nice response, I decided that maybe Lazy Susan should get the shabby shabby treatment too. And so she got it. And I'm not sure if I really like her, or if I really dislike her.

Susan before:

I had attempted something when I first got her - painted the top leather part a dark blue - it wasn't great.

And here she is now:

  

So what do you think? Is she weird? I seriously can't decide if she is great, or hideous. But either way, I think I like her. I mean the whole stinking table top rotates!! It's amazing. Someone who is reading this blog right now needs to go to La Casa Verde de Granada and buy her and then store all their fun games in the cubbies, and play a game of scrabble on her. When it's your turn, you just spin the whole table top around! Brilliant!

Let me know what you think about her. And if you aren't busy this Saturday, come down and see her, and me at La Casa Verde de Granada where I will be hosting a Furniture Painting Workshop. There are still a few spots left. Hope to see you there.;)

Sharing with;

http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/

http://missmustardseed.com/

http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/

http://www.decoratinginsanity.com/

http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/

http://micheleravendesigns.blogspot.com/

http://www.atthepicketfence.com/

http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/

http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/

http://www.somewhatsimple.com/

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/

http://www.fivedaysfiveways.com/

http://www.remodelaholic.com/

http://www.findingfabulousblog.com/

http://tatertotsandjello.com/

http://www.theroosterandthehen.com/

http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/

http://www.myrepurposedlife.net/

http://www.sistersofthewildwest.blogspot.com/

http://www.redouxinteriors.com/

http://makinglemonadeblog.blogspot.com/

http://diyshowoff.com/

http://www.bystephanielynn.com/

http://www.bystephanielynn.com/

Shabby Shabby!!

So I found this great Duncan Phyfe style dresser for a great price, but wasn't sure how I wanted to finish it. So I did what I always do, which is spend endless hours on the computer looking at other blogs and Pinterest, etc - looking at pretty things. I came across a picture of a dresser that is almost identical. It was super duper distressed - not my normal look, but I decided to go for it.

Here's my Shabby Shabby Duncan Phyfe.

 

It had a great Mahogany top, so I sanded it, re-stained it and waxed it. I am painting a serious amount of furniture with Aqua, so I decided to be different and go with green. I put on the green and hated it, so put Aqua over it - so easy with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I did the body in good old "Old White" and then got out my orbital sander and distressed like crazy.

Like I said - not my usual look, but I kinda love it!

  

Stripes, Stripes, and More Stripes!!

I love, love, love stripes!  So today I'd like to share some fabulous furniture painted with stripes!  There are so many amazing pieces in my files, I think I'll have to do a part two sometime in the near future.

This is one of my favorite striped pieces done by myself. 

 A friend and client of mine, Patti Polucha, told me she was looking for a new coffee table, and asked if I could get her something and paint it.  Patti's house is very "Coastal Living" and I had this round table in my garage and new immediately how I wanted to paint it for her.  She has a few of those picture frames in her house that are made from reclaimed wood, in beautiful beachy colors.  So I painted up this table to go with it all, and it is one of my all time favorites!  I had told Patti that  I really wanted to paint her piano, and she said her mother said absolutely not - it was of course a family piece, so she had to go along with her mothers wishes.  However.....after her mother saw the coffee table, she gave her permission for me to paint the piano!  You can see it here in an earlier blog.

 Anyway - that was my first stripey piece of furniture.  Since then, I've done a few more beachy striped pieces:  

This little teak cart was nothing special as is, but with a few different shades of aqua and white, it is a little more interesting.  And so easy to do!!  No taping - just got out a small  brush and painted random stripes.  Quick and easy, and if you ask me, very cute!

 And who doesn't like Chevron stripes?!!  This one was a little more time consuming - I did have to break out the tape and ruler.  But it really wasn't that difficult, and it really dressed up these night stands.  I would like to do this again - in grey and white, yellow and white, green and white........you name it and white!  Love Chevron stripes!!

 Oh - just one more beachy, stripey table.  Well, actually, it's an Ikea shoe storage piece that I picked up at a garage sale for $2.  And now looks like a million bucks!  Or maybe $20?  :)

 

And here are some photo's I've found on line, from who-knows-where, that are beautiful and inspiring! 

How fun is this!?  I'm looking for the perfect piece to try something like this!

 I think this desk is really clever and different.  I love the wood showing through on top.  A great treatment if you have a nice piece with some small stains.  Cover the stains with stripes!  

 

I love this one too!  This was done by painting the drawers black and then using a paint pen to draw this pattern over it.  So interesting and clever!

 

And how about if we finish up with a stripey painted ceiling!  Oh how I'd love to do this some day!

 So are you inspired?  I am!  I'm going to go get my tape out and start painting.  Have a great week!

I've Been Busy!

I've been painting like crazy!  While my partner MAK has been lying on a beach somewhere in Hawaii, I've been producing some really fun stuff.  I was in a bit of a funk for a while, painting everything the usual Duck Egg and Old White.  You really just can't go wrong with that combo.  Paint it Duck Egg and they will come!!  But I've been a little obsessed with Pinterest, and it got me inspired to do some things a little bit different.  Here are a few of my recent projects:

This is what I call Red Delicious!  It was a time consuming project - stripping the Mahogany top and drawers, and the mirror.  Stripping a mirror frame is not fun.  Lots of crevices and it's fragile!  But the beautiful Mahogany together with the tweeked Annie Sloan red (a bit of Primer Red with Emperors Silk) look very rich and interesting.  It was well worth all the hard work.

This french cabinet was probably supposed to be Paris Grey.  I was planning on painting it Paris Grey.  But then I got on Pinterest, and all of a sudden I was painting it Provence.  And then I was covering it in a mix of Antibes Green and Olive.  I got completely inspired by amazing images of fabulous interiors in greens and aquas.  I decided to leave the detailed carvings in it's natural wood, as the wood was really beautiful.  It had lots of problems that needed to be painted over though, so a combo was perfect.  I'm really happy with the way this turned out. 

I found this table and benches on Craigslist.  It had been out in the weather too long, and was in sad shape.  The varnish had turned yellow and brittle and looked pretty sad.  The base was a mismatched wood, and it just didn't work.  But obviously there was potential.  Mr. Wilson spent an afternoon with a belt sander and stripped this baby.  We restained it, put a couple of fresh coats of marine varnish and then white washed the base with what else - Annie Sloan Old White!  It didn't last long in the store.  It sold immediately to a nice young San Clemente girl, who is using it for her dining room table.  I'm jealous ;)

This dresser with a secretary top was made from a cheap grade of wood, and definitely needed some paint.  I found some beautiful hand made paper at Cost Plus and I was dying to use it on something.  I painted the outside in Annie Sloan Barcelona Orange, and attached the paper to the inside back of the secretary.  I love it!  Another great transformation.

 And last, but certainly not least - some Duck Egg and Old White! 

I painted this dressing table that winning combination of Annie Sloan Duck Egg and Old White.  The bench seat needed recovering, and I thought I should go with something plain and neutral.  Kinda "old white".  But my favorite fabric store didn't have anything neutral that would work.  Then I found this fun paisly, and decided to go for it.  And I think it was meant to be.  It sold the first day it went in the store. 

And this is just a detail of a little side table painted in the Duck Egg and Old White.  Heavily distressed and waxed to a beautiful shine.  Yum!

I'm teaching a class this Saturday, March 31st, at La Casa Verde de Granada in downtown San Clemente.  We will be painting in the beautiful back garden from 1-4 pm.  There are still a couple of spots left if you'd like to learn how to turn your tired old furniture into something new and fabulous!  Call me at 949-412-4499 and I'll sign you up!