TheSmithGarage: Carolina Sun Yellow

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Henry Link Bamboo Dresser

Another project for this weekend that will for sure be finished is this Henry Link Bamboo Dresser. Here is a before picture. By the way - on top is a drop leaf table that a friend of mine pulled out of a dumpster for me. Friends rock.

So this was a really rough piece. Mrs. Smith and my son picked it up last Summer at a garage (shed) sale for $5. I know - there are people out there that paid top dollar for this same dresser - I hope you are not one of them. There were leaves in the drawers, a mud wasp nest in the structure behind the bottom drawer - all kinds of dirt. This picture above is after I used my shop vac, and a wire brush to prep it. No sand paper on this piece, the paint was just a little too "chippy", so I thought a wire brush would do the trick, and it did.

So here it is after just one coat of CeCe Caldwell's Carolina Sun Yellow, which is appropriate for this piece since it originated in South Carolina at the Henry Link factory. Did I mention it has a Formica top (that is a type of shiny plastic for those of you that didn't know).

Looks nice huh? Still wet on the bottom when I took this photo. Notice how muted the color is. It went on like mustard (the color, not the texture). So I am applying a CeCe Caldwell's clear wax to this piece. I just like wax because it gives furniture a professional looking finish, and it feels good and protects the paint from dings and chips. This is actually the first time I used CCC paint, and I liked it a lot. I was testing it to see if TheSmithHotel would be a retailer for Northern California. And the verdict - yep. We will probably take delivery of our first shipment in early March and we will have it at Oregon Street Antique Mall and our online store. More about that later.

So I am waxing this piece when a sudden thought comes to me - I feel like i want a cup of tea! Why you ask? After all, I don't drink tea unless I am sick, and even then I prefer coffee. I am a coffee snob, love it, drink it, breath it. I have used a French Press for the last 2 years, and recently started using a single pour filter. Just love coffee! So why the thought of tea? The wax smells like honey! I like honey in my tea when I do drink it, so I thought about tea. This wax smells so good. The first ingredient is Beeswax. It is all natural with no petroleum, so no dizzy sensations. It is really good stuff and very easy to apply. Here is a picture after the wax was applied.

Look at how vibrant this turned out! Someone is going to love this piece when it goes in the shop. You have to let this wax cure, so in the morning I will finish it off and put the hardware back on. I didn't even mess with the hardware, Mrs. Smith said it looked good in its current capacity, so no changes there. Be back tomorrow for a finished product, stop back by to check it out.

Saturday Morning - bright and early before anyone was up - I stepped out into TheSmithGarage with my cup of joe. I buffed out the wax that I had applied the night before and put the hardware back on (as is). This piece looks smooth - very smooth. The wax settled in and the tone softened quite a bit overnight. Here is the finished product:

Someone will really enjoy this in their Beach Theme room. I hope you enjoy as well.

Mr. Smith

Linked to
Beyond The Picket Fence
You Are Talking Too Much
Redoux
Miss Mustard Seed Furniture Feature Fridays
Primitive & Proper
Funky Junk Interiors

Since I am not an "expert" on CeCe Caldwell's paint quite yet - here are some other blogs I follow that already carry CeCe Caldwell's and have a few more words to say about the product.
Orphaned Decor
Bungalow 47
Vintage Shabby Chicks

Friday, February 10, 2012

Antique Italian Hand-Carved Desk CeCe Caldwell Carolina Sun Yellow

Greetings from TheSmithGarage, just on the other side of the door is TheSmithHotel . So last Summer, we picked up this really rough desk - veneer falling off - but it had some character that I really liked. Needless to say, I have not had time to work on it. It also had a bow (warped) across the top, so I wasn't really sure what to do with it. See some pictures on my previous post - Italian Desk and Child's Dresser ASCP . So I finished pulling off 2 layers of veneer.

The wood left in here is rough-cut 1x1 slats. They were sandwiched between two layers of veneer, so there is still a layer of veneer under then which holds it all together. Remember I talked about the little bow in the desk. I decided to try an experiment - what did I have to loose - I already completely destroyed this hand made antique Italian desk - probably crafted by some carpenter in the 20s right after the Great War. So in hopes of taking out the bow, I slathered a large amount of old thick latex paint on this wood, then put a new piece of 3/16" veneer over the top, stapled it down, and turned it over on a flat surface. Then I stacked every gallon of paint I had in TheSmithGarage on the center of the desk - like so:

I called it my "Tower of Power" and asked Mrs. Smith and the kiddos to stay away for fear of certain death by falling paint cans. Notice I started priming the wood, not quite sure at the time what color the base was going to be. I let it sit like this for a week. The bow is gone. I can only assume the moisture of the latex paint combined with the weight brought the desk back to a flat surface. You can see in the photo below that the legs still have some warp in them, but the desk firmly sits on all fours. I did find a world map that I will be using on the top.

The next step was to pick a color. Originally I thought about a blue - to match the oceans on the map. But during my drying time - I ordered a can of CeCe Caldwell's Carolina Sun Yellow to paint a Henry Link 6-drawer Bamboo Dresser. I really liked the color, and it matched some of the countries on my map - so I went bold and painted it yellow. Here it is still upside down - easier to paint.

Isn't that a great color? Picture is with the new camera as well - which picks up the vibrant color. I love it and think someone will really enjoy this desk in their writing room. So come back at the end of the weekend to see the top take a journey and be transformed. My first experiment in Mod Podge - should be easy, right? Let me know what you think and if you have any tips for me when it comes to Mod Podge - please, any help you can give me would be appreciated.

Here is the top - wood filler is drying around the edges, after I sand it I will be ready for the map.

Thanks Tammy at Tattered and Timeless for the tips. Believe it or not - this really is my first time using Mod Podge. Here is a shot after a coat under the map , wait for drying, then a coat over the top and dried.

It went down well on the first undercoat. Mrs. Smith had some type of rolling thingy bob that I used to roll out most of the bubbles. After it dried, I cleaned up the edges with a scalpel. At first I thought I messed up, but again Mrs. Smith reminded me that Mod Podge is water based, so I got the edges a little wet and they cleaned up nicely. Thanks Mrs. Smith - what would I do without you? So I put the coat of Mod Podge on top and I kind of freaked out again - it started bubbling. An hour later - it was flat again. Why do these things happen to raise the stress level? Regardless - it looks pretty good right now. I will be putting some Polyurethane on it Sunday and see if we can finish it up some night this week. I will post a final picture when we get it all finished.