Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Two Toned Black Cedar Shelf

Looking to update an ugly piece of furniture?! Me too, well I think we all have that one piece of furniture that is so embarrassing we just want to hide it. But don't worry; I'm here to help you!


Here is a detailed D.I.Y. post that you can use to update your old furniture, plus this one is two toned! This post is for more advanced DIY'ers, who may have experience in woodwork, cutting or maybe has a man that is! The two toned look is really popular right now, and I have had a bunch of my customers request a custom two toned look to their furniture. I will be posting another blog similar to this but with ASCP Old White & Dark Walnut stain two toned furniture (the most requested).

First I would like to tell you how I came across this beauty; well it was more "beastly" to say the least. My friend, Liz, has a boutique located in Weatherford called In Fine Feather and she has been updating the store next to her to expand the boutique. Well after they stripped the walls of all of the junk, wood, and other trash she called me :) Of course! I'm the junk lady, so who better to call to come take all your junk away but me! Well she had this shelf and another larger one that they were just going to trash so I took it. I also grabbed a bunch of cedar wood she had torn off the walls, which I used as a backing in my shelf.

Here is the final piece completely done and staged for you...


Now check out the before! Wowzah! Okay it wasn't that bad but still I wasn't into the splatter paint look along with the years of dirt piled up on it…yuck.













My plan for this piece was to use it in our own home for our office or spare room. So I wanted it to match our style in that room and to also try something new, I don't particularly like trying "crazy" new things on my customers furniture unless I'm completely sure of how it will turn out or have seen it in person before. So I thought I would give it a go on this ugly piece and make it into something beautiful to show off!

I started by sanding the shelf...a lot....like A LOT! There was so much splattered paint on it and I didn't want that showing through when I distressed the shelf so I needed to sand it all off. I then cleaned off the dirt and other gunk it had on it. Before I started painting, I cleaned off the dust with a rag. You really don't have to do this with ASCP but with all of the dirt that was on it, I wanted to.


The next step is always the best part, painting! I used a small angled synthetic nylon brush to paint with and started my first coat of "Graphite" by Annie Sloan. I painted everything, even the back where the wood would be nailed to just in case any of the cedar had holes or gaps in it. After letting it dry, I started on my second coat of "Graphite"; the shelf only took two coats of paint. For more in depth details on my painting techniques visit our blog post Blue Jay.

When the second coat of paint is dried, you can start distressing. I used a sander on this one, sometimes I had sand if I'm looking for a minimal distressed piece but I wanted it pretty distressed so I stuck with a sander. Quick and easy! I start by sanding the edges of the furniture in random spots, and then I move along to areas that may be worn after years of wear and tear. You really can't mess up distressing, just be sure to have a fine grit sand paper. If you get too heavy of grit it will cause circular scratches in your wood, which isn't pretty- I've learned that from experience.

 Now comes the longest part ever..just kidding but really, it's tedious. I wanted a wood or cedar backing on the shelf to give that two toned look. However I noticed that the support of the shelf was mainly from the backing, it wasn't sturdy enough to handle the backing torn off. So I compromised and starting measuring the height of the shelves so I could cut the cedar to fit inside. 
A tape measure, pencil, chop saw, and safety glasses will be needed for this part. 

Be sure and measure the width of your wood to see how many boards you will need to fill the width of the shelf. I believe it took me 4 1/4 cedar pieces to make the width of the shelf. Measure the height of each shelf as the number may vary, my top piece was a little over 9" however the height grew to 11" for the bottom shelf.

One by one I cut and fit the wood to nail on to the back of the shelf, after I got all of the pieces cut I started staining them.

I used my own homemade mixture for staining the wood, this was the first time I had done something like that so I was new to what it was going to turn out like. I filled an old jar full of white vinegar and put a steel wool pad in it, I let it set for a day or two- which was probably where I went wrong...it was only supposed to stay in the vinegar for 24 hours and shaking it occasionally but of course I forgot and left it there longer.


                                                                                                           Which is why I think it turned the wood a lot darker than it was supposed to, but it actually worked out perfectly!! The color looked great against the Graphite distressed shelf. 

Once all of the cedar planks were stained, I let them dry and then sanded them heavily. I was going for the more rustic worn look.

After sanding I applied a coat of Poly to them and let them dry.

When the pieces of wood were dried, I broke out the nail gun. This was a fun part also!! I just love my nail gun, it's so handy and makes me feel like the "who needs a man" type of woman. haha!

I layered the cut wood on the shelf that it would be backing and then I just started stacking and nailing them! I used 1 1/2" nails when I did this, just make sure that your backing and wood is thick enough to take the length of the nail, you don't want your nails sticking out the back where they can scratch up your walls or you!





After everything was nailed on I decided to add some trim work to the top to give it even more character. This trim work was given to me from Advanced Power Inc., they just remodeled their sales office so of course I get the left overs :) yay me! I cut the pieces in a 45 degree angle to fit flush with each other; this is where some skill comes in...but don't be intimidated! This was the first time I cut trim angled to fit something and I just made sure I cut a little long in case I had to go back to adjust anything.


Once they were cut I tacked them on with the nail gun and busted out the "Graphite" Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I put two coats on the trim work then distressed it again to match the rest of the shelf. After the distressing I applied a coat of ASCP wax and called it good!  










This shelf was definitely a challenge but I always love challenging myself with new things, that's the only way I will be able to better myself for my customers. I can't wait to refinish the other shelf I got with this one, just look at the transformation...


Just because something is ugly right now, doesn't mean it needs to be thrown away! All it took was some imagination and a few coats of paint to make it look better already; the cedar backing was the icing on the cake. :) The shelf, cedar backing, and trim work was all given to me so the only cost I have in it is the paint/wax, nails, poly, and my time. Can't beat that price with this kind of outcome!

This shelf had great "bones" and potential to be something really nice, if you have an ugly piece and you want it refinished then contact us! We would be happy to give you a quote, just send us a photo, dimensions and what you are wanting done to the furniture.






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Thursday, April 2, 2015

Bless My Bloomers Planter Chair



My mother-in-law had given me this chair to refinish a while back and I had completely forgotten about it (in other words it got buried in all of my junk and furniture ;). She was looking for something funky, fun, and that she could set her plants in. Well her birthday was in March so I decided to refinish it for her and surprise her with it!

Let me just inform y’all, we do a lot of shabby chic and rustic items, BUT we can definitely do funky and fun! I’m an artist in all areas so I love when customers come to me with freedom, that’s when I create the best pieces! I’m naturally a colorful and bright person and this planter chair certainly shows it!

Pam, my mother-in-law, is equally bright and colorful as me and LOVES turquoise (I mean, who doesn’t?!) When I do colorful pieces I always try to stick to 3-4 colors, generally if you use a lot of colors together it tends to look busy and overwhelming. Since she’ll be putting flowers in the middle of the chair I wanted to make sure I didn’t overwhelm the design of the chair. So I used turquoise, yellow, and threw in some black & white checker patterns to add some character and contrast against the bright colors. White and black will calm down bright colors, so when you use it correctly with colorful pieces it can really work beautifully. –Look at me talkin’ all artsy..who would’ve thought! Haha

Here is the before picture... Yikes! Look at all of those nails, and the trim work was just hanging on by tape!



 Since this piece was going to be used outdoors, I used a latex paint and coated it with Thompson's Water Seal. I started by painting the turquoise on first, trying to miss the areas that I wanted to paint yellow. Which I hadn't really planned out, I kind of just went with the flow and let my artistic talents take over.



 After I finished my turquoise and yellow coats I thought it could use a little more so that’s when I decided to do the black and white checkers.




It, of course, needed some kind of cute saying! Since she will be using it for holding a planted pot I thought it needed “Bless My Bloomers”, too cute!! I always use a pencil to sketch out my quotes, it helps me to keep the overall size the same and to see what adjustments I need to fit the whole quote on the chair without it looking scrunched.



Here is some more detailed pictures of the funky “Bless My Bloomers” Chair, check out the before and after! I will eventually get a photo of the chair with the plants in it, just need to get some planted!
















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Comment below and let us know what you think of the "Bless My Bloomers" chair, we would love to hear from you!