Trying Out New Things

This is just a test post to see if I can get this livesignature thing to work.  I still can't post comments on my own blog, even using the OpenID. Weird!

Frustrating Friday!

I'm ready to call it quits here after an hour of messing around with Google blogger and not being able to correct the fact that I can't even comment on my own blog, let alone anyone else's.  I keep getting a notification that "user is not authorized to view that page." Even though I am a public follower (of my own blog!). I just don't get it. So, if you have come to this page, and are kind enough to leave a comment, if you can enlighten me as to what steps I need to take in order to be "authorized" and join in the blog-world, please do! Many thanks, and have a great weekend!

Marjorie

Presenting: Marie-Louise. Ta-DAH!

There's a neat little pull-out shelf that Mr I was instrumental in re-installing

Yes, I named "her." It's hard not to when you spend so much time with a thing, being intimate, as it were.  At first, I referred to her as "Marie," for obvious reasons, then as time progressed, I found myself singing that old Charles Boyer hit "Every Little Breeze Seems To Whisper Louise," and so, there you have it.  Finally finished the little darling and I am posting the after shots along with a few "befores."  A 1960's era French Provincial gets a 21st Century make-over using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and Wax, plus a few other materials (We won't get into the chains and garden tools.  You already know about the coffee and dirt).  All in all, I'd say I'm quite pleased with my first attempt at using chalk paint!  My eye has begun roving, searching the house for my next victim...


We started with this factory-finish "antique" white paint with heavy gilding, purchased at a local consignment shop, looking like it came out of any one of a thousand little girls' bedroom sets:

Gilding. Subtle like a sledge hammer.

The photo makes the piece seem whiter than it actually was.  The true color was a dingy cream

Now, a one of a kind hand-painted beauty

Thanks for viewing!

PS September 22, 2011:  For those who are interested, the ASCP paint colors are Emile and Old White on the drawers, Old White with a coat Versailles ragged over on the sides and shelf. I also used a tinted wax (Old White) on the drawers, and dark wax on the sides and shelf. ~M~

Linking with:

wax on, wax off, dark wax on, dark wax off, white wax on...

I've been waxing and polishing, and doing more of the same.  The thing is almost done. Almost...

Working, working, working

Still working on the little dresser "Marie Louise."  Coming very close to completion: the drawers were painted and waxed today, and I am now happy with my decision to incorporate the grey-green "Versailles" into the color scheme.  Perhaps a reveal tomorrow, fingers crossed!

Transformation progress photos

How we started...factory paint finish

As of this morning: Paint sanded off, distressed, coffee and dirt-stained

I have since applied the first coat of the Minwax Woodsheen (mixed Plantation Walnut with Manor Oak) and am waiting the proscribed two hours in order to apply the second coat.  Chalk Paint should be arriving today....

Let's have another cup of coffee, and get to staining

Today I tried my hand at coffee staining.  On purpose.  Took some coffee grounds fresh from Mr Insouciant's afternoon brew and rubbed them all over the freshly sanded top of the dresser I'm renovating for my daughter.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

In search of hardware

Now that I'm gearing up for some serious DIY furniture revamping, I've been on the hunt for materials to complete the projects.  I'm awaiting a shipment of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (which I can't wait to try!) in order to redo an old French chest of drawers for my younger daughter's room, and it's got me thinking seriously about the dresser that's been in my bedroom for the last 27 years.  It was in no great shape, but passable and inexpensive, when I bought it way back in 1984 at a consignment shop while sharing a house with a group of fellow recent college graduates:

 My first furniture purchase!



 Resale and Consigmment, Hope Street, Stamford, Connecticut

I knew even then that refinishing it, even professionally (which I could not dream of affording at that time) would be practically impossible given the veneer and decorative molding and painting, so I just let it sit and deteriorate over the next several decades.

Missing bits and pieces

The dresser has been in daily use, and several of the drawer pulls have been MIA for quite some time now.  It's actually ridiculous that I have not replaced it, but how can I part with something that I have owned all my adult life, and which has accompanied me all around the world, from Stamford, Connecticut to Japan, to England, and again back to the States?  There's way too great an emotional attachment to ever just give it away! So, now that I've found the chalk paint....can I find replacement drawer pulls?  The problem is that the current handles, which are sort of a neo-classical design, are 3 1/2" apart on center.  My quest: find ready-made drawer pulls to fit so that I don't have to fill the current holes and redrill!

Very sad indeed

I couldn't resist any longer....

So, I created this blog.  Welcome to my as yet unknown followers!