House Call

My sister-n-law, Jenn, has been getting ready for a couple of big events at her house...a graduation and a first communion celebration. There's always a certain amount of nesting that goes along with milestones such as these. A few weeks ago I decided to make a house call. I loaded up all of my paints, brushes, chemicals, tools, and kids and headed to to her house to help her out. We painted and repainted, waxed, pondered, tinkered, and toiled all day long while our kids played and played and played. It was bliss for everyone (except maybe my brother-n-law). LOL!

We tackled 3 big projects that weekend and a couple of mini ones that I forgot to photograph...oops.

PROJECT #1: Tweaking the antique hutch.

PROJECT #2:   Updating the bedroom armoire.

PROJECT #3:  Restoring a vintage handkerchief dresser.

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Project #1:  I was with my sister-n-law when she bought this antique hutch years ago (Oh how I love helping people spend their money!). It's a gorgeous piece of furniture with intricate details...nothing I would ever paint.... but still we decided it needed a little "tweaking". I asked Jenn to pick up this patterned burlap fabric at Walmart. It sells for about $5 a yard. I measured and cut strips of cardboard to fit snugly between the shelves. I used an adhesive spray to adhere the fabric to the cardboard and Frog tape to hold the edges down on the back. Easy peasy!

Then I purged. 

Downsizing sentimental pieces can be difficult

but when it's not actually your stuff it's rather easy. Ha!

What'ch think?

Pretty awesome for a $5 makeover, right?

Blue and white are so beautiful together.

They're dairy farmers 

so kept her collection of white milk pitchers 

and found a vintage milking can to set on top of the hutch.

 I think the ensemble looks fantastic.
Cha-ching!

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PROJECT #2:  Jenn picked up this armoire for $40 a couple years ago. I wasn't with her at the time but was thrilled with her purchase. I think it resembles a piece of Scandinavian furniture.

It was originally white...cute...but a little on the country side. 

We opted to darken it up a bit with ASCP French Linen.

I love, love, love the mellow tone of French Linen.



It's the perfect color for any room in your house.

 

The armoire had the original key holes but no hardware.

I thought it would be fun to make the handles for it

so we gave my nephew the task of fashioning some rope pulls.

He did a great job!

I love the unexpected combination 

of the detailed woodwork paired with the masculine rope handles.

Simply beautiful!

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PROJECT #3: The final project for the weekend was a handkerchief dresser for the master bedroom. It didn't take much to bring out the beauty in this piece.

We chose to paint the piece with ASCP Graphite.

It's just such an awesome blue hue.
These indoor pictures just don't do it justice.



I let some of the wood and black undercoat come through the finish to give it more character.

I also decided to stain the two top drawers

and accentuate the ornate legs with Dark Walnut.

The faux mercury glass knobs were purchased at Hobby Lobby.

They add the perfect amount to sparkle to the piece!

Just lovely!

All three of these projects are perfect examples

of how a little hard work, paint, and creativity can really pay off.

As always thanks for reading 13CCF. Be sure to stop by next week. I hope to have an open hutch finished and ready to sell!

~Wendy