New York themed French bedroom set

Black and White Vintage New York theme French bedroom set 

After doing the New York table my manager at my real job lol saw it and said that he is 40 and has never had a bedroom set before. He saw the pictures of the bedroom makeover I did for Kerri and said I want do you have a set like the French ones that you can paint like the New York table and it just so happened that I had literally picked it up that morning before work. So before I could even post a picture it was sold. 

It took us a while to come up with the images for the top because they had to be high enough resolution and he wanted a certain baseball field. We never did find the right field in the right size but instead we found a pretty cool baseball player hitting a home run. So we used that and some other vintage images of New York. 

I painted them grey...a grey I made with a bunch of left over greys and blacks. Painted the drawers white and top black just around the edges. Make sure you get the back edge just incase the image is a little smaller or like me when your gluing it down it isn't quite right. Also there was a bubble in the dresser that layer down after a couple hours and when I clear coated came back up and layer back down so don't worry if that happens to you just try not to rip or tear the paper because there really is no going back from that. I used regular mod podge and an old library card to push it on. Then made sure all the edges were good before clear coating. Oh another thing....sorry I didn't take pictures of this I was too excited to get the images on there, but to make it fit a curvy dresser like this I took some of my mis prints and turned the dresser upside down on top of them and drew a template. I ended up just using half the template so that if a curve was too big or too small it would be the same on both sides. Use your template to cut the real thing.

I used wax on the drawers because I have turely found that clear coats on white just don't work out for me. There is always dust or something in it. Wax was easier to work with and made it very smooth but the highest shin your going to achieve is going to be satin. I clear coated the grey areas with poly satin and all the black details were done with a sharpie paint marker....ADVICE! Use the oil based and not the water based because the water based bled when I added the poly. You can also just use regular paint and a paint brush have plenty of q-tips around to wipe the areas you go over and if you are using the oil based wipe it off QUICKLY or it's not coming off. And there we go. 

His and Hers Nightstands

I have had these night stands forever it feels like, before the twin pregnancy. I held onto them because they were just so different, but the problem is with holding onto furniture and storing it here and there and moving it from place to place, it starts to get pretty beat up. Beat up furniture is usually not a problem but this one had some water damage that made some areas bubble a little. I fixed most everything but one of the tops just wouldn't return to flat so it is what it is. Everyone tell me they can't see it. I reply with BUT I CAN!  The perfectionist in me just can't allow it but since they came out so well I still put them up for sale just not at what I normally would. 

First my plan was to do something simple lol, like a black top white base with a simple stencil down the front....haha quite the difference to what the final project turned out to be. 

I started out simple with all white and black top and it wasn't enough so I added the black base....well the line where the wood meets wood wasn't straight and very noticeable when it was black against white so I decided to make the frame grey and leave the inside white but I couldn't get a nice straight line with that either but that was mostly just impaicenece. So that's when I decided to do the lines. The measurement inside the square was 11.5" and the tap was 1" and so it was a pain in booty to get them straight and the same size. After spending about an hour trying that I had an epiphany.  I decided to use my silhouette cutter and make lines that way I could at least figure out where I wanted the middle line to go and line up the next. 

I taped and painted it again with white to fill any holes that might still be there with the tape then painted with grey. I didn't tape well enough apparently and next time I will use frog tape so I had some leaks.  So I had to touch those up and it still wasn't the perfection I was going for so I decided to cover up the imperfections with some paper images. I used flowers for the girls and stop watches for the boys. 

Antique dresser makeover - Greys and black

                Little antique dresser up cycled into beauty! 

Here's a cute little dresser I got off craigslist. It's definitely a real antique, heavy and all real wood. Here is the before picture.

I decided to go with a black and grey coloring because I really feel like the neutral colors sell the best, so if I am not doing a custom piece for someone I like to use neutrals and since I'm not a huge fan of beige I went with the black version of neutral.

I added little details in black between the drawers and on the side detailing. I used tape for some parts, but most of the time it's easier just to do it with a small ain't brush and maybe just use the tape as a crutch. When it was done and time to put the drawers in of course they didn't fit. I don't know when I will ever learn...always belt sand the bottom of the drawer and really sand the top and sides. This helps prevent the drawer from sticking after you have painted on layer after layer.

Image Transfer on old French dresser

This dresser was in some serious bad shape and with the amount of layers of paint on it I was not about to sand it all off, so instead I sanded what I could and decided that I would do an image transfer on the front to disguise all the imperfections on the front.  For the sides we used a skim coat, which you are supposed to use on walls when you are plastering to give it a nice smooth surface.  It worked wonders.....And it was so easy to sand off the plaster coating.

The before 

The after 

So I painted with a cream color paint and then I researched and researched and researched how to transfer an image onto furniture.  There were so many different ways and the way I wanted to do it was with paint thinner and you rub the image onto the surface, then go over with a sharpie or paint...kinda like tracing.  But every place I saw said to use a laser print and that it will only work with a laser print......well I don't know what I was doing wrong, but I went to kinkos which only does laser prints and the transfer method never worked.  It did however work when I used a print from my old printer, which I can't find the cord for so that was worthless.

Here's the image I used:

SO I found the mod podge method, which is time consuming and comes out looking very antique looking.  I liked the look it is just a lot of work.  You take an enlarged inverse of a print and glue it face down.  Then after it has had at least 6-8 hours to dry you get it wet and rub away the paper.  Sometimes more than you want comes off, but since I am going with an antique look it's not too bad. I am just working on perfecting where the papers meet since instead of paying kinks $60 for enlarged print I went to BlockPosters.com and it prints it out on several sheets for you.



A bit of advice double and triple check that you are putting the paper on the right way and in the right spot, because it is a pain in the butt to get the paper off if you do it wrong....which I DID.

Free china cabinet made into a beautiful sofa/entry table

So I got this for free and I am always down with free stuff. Even if I end up not doing anything with it I can just give it away or throw it away if it is in really bad shape. In the case of this one the top was definitely in bad shape. It needed new shelves new glass since pieces were missing and a whole new bottom piece of wood. So instead of spending a bunch of money on that I just worked with the bottom. Here is a before picture.

And here is the after.

This is where I learned that you can print black and white images 42" wide and as long as you want. I was just going to glue the image on so I went to the front and asked them to print the image I had made from a vintage image of New York.  The girl said ok it's ready for you at the back and it was only $4.30!  The last large image I printed there was just over $175 so I was shocked. But I guess when it's black and white and no wider than 42" it uses a different machine and paper which is awesome.

My father in law had been saying why all the Paris stuff and my reply was that so much goes with Paris, for example the fluer de lies and the scrolls. But New York is pretty amazing too and since I wanted this to be pretty simple with just the image and painting I went with the New York skyline and black white and grey for the painting. I'm really into the black white and grey right now for some reason but it's great because if I am doing images they are SOOO much cheaper and it's fun to play with the vintage images you can find.

Jewelry armoire makeover

Here's a custom makeover to a plain ole standing jewelry armoire. It was a custom order for a client that wanted it white, black and grey tones with some Paris and chandeliers.
**TIP: before you start anything that has felt drawers or lining make sure you tape them up and cover them with paper. They are hard to clean so you don't want sanding dust or paint to get on it. Also bag and label all the screws, handles and hinges in separate bags so you know which screws go where.

I first painted it black and used some wax in certain places before painting it white. From there I did some distressing and to give it a more cohesive feel I took some black stain to it to give it all those shades of grey.

I used the reverse transfer method for the images.....the thing I learned later which would have been great to know before is that kinkos can print out black and white on regular paper any size 42" and as long as you want?! I thought I had to just work with the 11x17" prints that I could print from the copiers there. So on the sides I used to sheets which is annoying because you are always left with some sort of a line where the two pages meet up.

For the inside part that you see when you open the door I made a vintage looking image with a fluer de lies that I found on Pinterest and messed with in Photoshop. For the outside I used a couple different images, some illegible script a chandelier and some crowns. All of it I got off Pinterest most of the images are from graphics fairy which gives you free good sized printable images. I also used a foggy background to match the other image.

I did the same with the front image just switched out the crown and chandelier with the Effiel tower and a large "Paris".

From there is was just about spraying the handles and clear coating.