Small Console Table Gets a Face Lift

So, I have had this little table resting on the landing halfway up my stairway.  It's been there since we completed the re-paint of half the interior of the house.  The mirror in the image has been removed.  I realized a few days ago that the shape was just all wrong for the space.

As I told you earlier in the week in my blog post Color, Inspiration and School Buses,  I had let this console just sit because I hadn't experienced an "Ah Ha!" moment in terms of color selection.  This table can be seen as you entire my house just beyond my dining area.  (image below)

Okay......so here is the kinda crazy artist thing that happened.  I was in the car at the crack of dawn taking my son to school.  I am sitting at a light and a school bus pulls right up behind my little car.  All I can see out the back of my window is school bus yellow. 

It triggers the following image in my brain.....

Desk by Katie of Craptastic.

I saw this desk a few days ago on a Linky Party.   I have been seeing a lot of this yellow color on the blogs lately.  I have been wanting to try it out. I am sitting at this traffic light with this school bus in my back window thinking of this desk.  It all of a sudden occurs to me that THIS is the color I will paint the little table on the stairway landing.  

So I dragged the table out on the patio behind my bedroom.  I have set up this area as a paint studio for my master bedroom furniture makeover projects.  I tried to remove the hardware for the sanding process, but the base plate was not removable.  Well.....actually anything can be removed, but I realized that the damage would be too great to justify digging them off the front of this drawer.   I had to mask the pulls.

I lightly sanded the finish off the entire table and primed the surfaces.  I then came back with two coats of Sherwin William's 6903 "Cheerful" in a water based satin.  I picked this bright color because I know the antiquing process will seriously tone down the color.  Anything more subdued will not net the results, a dark mustard yellow, that I am targeting.

I then took the console into my studio for the next step....hand painting.  I had been collecting images of pineapples for quite some time and decided to use these images as inspiration.  My house is colorful, and tropical.   I think this yellow also a role in the decision. 

Here is the desk after I lay the first layers of color down for the table top.  I painted this while listening to one of my favorite CDs, Josh Groban's "Illuminations," playing at deafening levels.  When I hand paint, I have to have music playing, or I get too serious and uptight. 

Below is the desk with the hand painting completed, but waiting for the distressing and antiquing phase.

detail

So now for the distressing.  I take my trusty Black and Decker Mouse and sand off the finish on the edges of the piece and return with the tip of my Mouse to add distress marks here and there on the top and legs.

Distress Marks

I included distress marks on the hand painted parts.

Decided to distress a little heavier.

I also lightly sand the hardware.  I had earlier added a red acrylic paint.

I wiped down the entire table with a damp cloth.  After it dried, I took MinWax Dark Walnut Stain and rubbed a wash over the entire table, allowing the stain to remain in the detailed grooves on the legs.

Here it is back on the stairway landing.  It is a cloudy day, so the image is a little dark.

I also added some paper to line in the inside of the drawer.

I still have to finish this piece with a sealer.  I haven't decided whether it will be MinWax Finishing Wax or Wipe-On Poly.  I will wait a week or so for the paint and stain to completely cure.  I also have not decided what I am going to place on and around the table.  I have a few ideas that I need to work on.  I will update you at a later time.  I am super happy with how this turned out.  Hope you do too! 

As a final note, my yard sales today didn't yield very much.  But, I was super happy to find a relatively new staple gun for 2 bucks!  Mine broke this past week and I had it on my list to pick up a new one.   Nice savings! Yeah! 

-The End-

I am linking this project to:

Royal What? and Silver

Royal Jelly,  Royal Blue, Battle Royale, Casino Royale, Royal Caribbean, Royal Doulton,  Royal pain in the..... well you get the idea.  Did you awake early to watch the event of the season on your telly?  ....or are you one who hasn't figured out yet that I am referring to the Royal Wedding?   How anyone could not possibly know that today was the big day for Kate Middleton and Prince William, now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, is beyond me.  

In honor (not that I am that much into it) of the Royal Wedding, I sifted through the bottom of this china cabinet.  It is full of silver......the closest I will ever get to anything 'royal.'  I hadn't opened the door in years and had very little recollection of what was actually in there.  One thing I did remember, is that several pieces were covered in plastic wrap.  This was a trick my mother employed because she said it cut down on tarnish.  Most of this silver belonged to my mother.  No one in the family cared about this stuff, so she downloaded it to me.  I use to be a pretty heavy duty entertainer at the time, so I jump at it. 

Many years of raising kids has cut down on dinner parties and the like, but I am thinking I might start to fold some of these pieces, if indeed they are worthy, back into my decor.  I got this idea from Mary of A Very Merry Vintage. She showed on her blog this week a simple way of displaying floors and it inspired me to peek inside this cabinet. Well that and the Royal Wedding, of course!  I especially like the idea of not having to fuss over cleaning the silver...one of the main reasons I rarely have used this in the last few years!  Lazy, yes, I realize.  But hey, I got stuff I'd rather be doing! 

So I creep up to the china cabinet and pull open the door and this is what I see......

Wow!  I had all that in there and forgot about it?!!  I quickly dug through the pile and pulled a few pieces out to inspect.  There are about 8 platters of varying sizes, two chaffing style serving pieces, a water pitcher, candlesticks and more.  I got a kick out of this relish platter.....

It still has the plastic wrap on it and I am positive that I have never used it.  As I stooped looking at this, I realized that my mother had to have wrapped this years ago.  I stopped and wondered if her finger prints were still on this wrap.  Does anyone ever think those things??  Well, I do.  Yes, I know, weirdo here.  If you look closely, it is amazing how untarnished this piece of silver is......  My mother was certainly onto something. 

There is a lot of tarnish on most of the silver and I don't know exactly how I am going to utilize it.  Some of the pieces definitely need cleaning. Ugg.  But, some I will leave in their 'charming' state.  I will try and remember to come back here and give you updates on this project. 

Until then......let me put my tiara on (albeit not the one given to me by the Queen Mother) and get painting.............

-The End-

Daughter, Distractions and a Multitude of Fabrics

New cushion on top.
Old cushion on the bottom.

Do you ever have one of those days filled with distractions?  Well, I am having one of those today.  You see, today is "Take Your Kid To Work" day.  My daughter is tagging along in my day to learn about "my work."   My finish carpenter has also brought his 7 year old child to work today.....which is at my house!   I have a ton of things to accomplish and this situation is slowing down the process.  So, I can either chose to allow it to annoy me or make the best of it.  I chose the latter.  I think this might be a good opportunity to show her what happens when she is at school working toward her future and establishing her goals. 

First stop, my friend and upholsterer Chris.  He has been working on a very complicated slipcover for my living room redo.  I realize that I haven't really talked about this project on the blogs.  The main reason is because this project is as old as the earth!  I started this past Fall, and it has been a long road of picking out 9 different coordinating, washable upholstery fabrics.  Don't get me wrong, I love this stuff.....it's just has taken a long time to get to this point.  Chris has had this sofa for a few weeks and it is time to help him design the four large and two smaller throw pillows.  So off we go.....

We arrive at his workroom and he has the backside of the slipcover on the cutting table. (above) The basic slipcover has 5 different pieced fabrics in the pattern.  This is the basic cover "before."  I have had this sofa for 9 years.  It's good quality stuff, just needs a new slipcover.

"Before"

We meet for about 15 minutes and determine that in order to figure the 6 pillows out correctly, I will need to return next week.   He hasn't yet finished the basic cover and can't determine the scraps we need to complete the framing on the four large pillows. Bummer, it is kinda a wasted trip, but a good experience for my daughter to see how someone can run a business out of a storage facility.  Notice in the upper left corner of the picture below.....that is my daughter "working" with me...... Um, what's that in her hands??!!  

Trying to figure the pillow covers.

I love the addition of this cheetah print.
It will be on the arms of the basic slipcover
and the backs of the two smaller throw pillows.

I will give you a little sneak peek at that console table that I am working on for the stairway landing.  Remember, earlier in the week, I talked about this piece in the blog,  Color, Inspiration and School Buses.

I know, I know......LOUD!  But, wait.  Remember the Secretary's Desk?  The blue paint was super loud on that piece as well.  The staining and aging process will tone down the brightness of the desk.  I hope to have the reveal, which will include some hand painting within the next two days.  I have some images of pineapples that I have collected.  I am thinking I might use them for inspiration. 

I also plan on getting my daughter involved in this today.  I kinda like seeing my finish carpentar's kid getting into 'helping' his dad.  This stuff is invaluable experience for our kids, so I am going with it. 


Cute....I know.

-The End-