70s 6-drawer Credenza - Roadside Find

This is not technically "My" roadside find, however, it was indeed a roadside free furniture piece that one of my NEW customers found. The previous owner helped her load it in her truck, and then it found its way into her garage. She happened across Jindra's Antiques and saw some of our painted furniture, and that is how it happened into TheSmithGarage. Here are some before shots of the credenza.

It was blonde wood with some bluish gray wash over it. It was missing two doors, but all the drawers were in working condition. She is redoing her she asked that I paint it a light gray / almost white. So I made up a new color from CeCe Caldwell's Simply White (3 parts) and Seattle Mist (one part). I painted one drawer to see if it was the color she wanted.

Here it is against our white entertainment center and a piece of driftwood the customer had. She was happy with the color and dropped of the piece last weekend. It is a beast - solid wood.

It took about 7 oz. of my special brew to paint this. It is 6' long so you can imagine the presence this gives in a living or dining room. This picture is after it was painted, lightly sanded (220 grit), and waxed with CeCe Caldwell's Clear Wax (Tea Time!). I will leave the decorating to mt customer, but here are a few more shots of the finished  piece.

So happy to save this one from the fireplace. I trust my customer is happy with how it turned out. She has a table she may want me painting when she gets to her dining room remodel.

Mr. Smith

French Countryside Tall Dresser

In the spirit of The Tour de France, this is a story about a shabby tall dresser that was in much need of love. Inspired by some fine furniture pieces that I have seen on my travels (none of them from France, but definitely French inspired), I set out to give this tall dresser new life.

First - a picture of a 1958 Dunelt 10-speed.

This is the bike you may have found Brian Robinson riding - the first Briton to finish the Tour de France and also the first to win a stage in the 1958. It's had better days...haven't we all.

Here is a shot of the dresser in the "extended" Smith Garage - something we try to do in the Summer weather to get outdoors where there may be a breeze. Inside the garage - it gets too hot to work in the evenings.

My inspiration - a tall kitchen cabinet I saw while Mrs. Smith was walking through Anthropologie.

I know it is hard to see, but there are tones of rust, yellow and gold underneath the gray finish. So I went through my CeCe Caldwell's colors and came up with Georgia Clay, California Gold, Omaha Ochre, and Seattle Mist to try to get close enough to produce something Anthropologie might display in one of their stores.

Mrs. Smith helped me on this one as well. She has been itching to paint more, so here we go. Some of my worst fears - getting bit by a Rattle Snake on a long run in the woods, swimming in the water with beavers, and painting with Mrs. Smith. You ask why? Well, when you are running, your heart rate is elevated allowing the venom to course through your veins rapidly....  Oh... You were wondering why I fear painting with the Mrs. - you should go read Mrs. Smith's blog about that. I am getting better - it has only been a couple of weeks. And this piece turned out great, so she is getting better. It goes to show that anyone can paint with CeCe Caldwell's paint.

Now that is out of the way, let me show you what we did with this dresser. We painted on spots of Georgia Clay. After that dried (not long since we are out in the heat), we applied California Gold, and then a good covering of Seattle Mist. On the top, I had some residual oil/candle wax coming through the paint after everything dried. I slapped a coat of white latex paint over the spot to seal it from coming up into the chalk and clay paint. Then when I reapplied my CeCe Caldwell's paint, I forgot I had used California Gold and thought I was using Omaha Ochre - so - it got a little edgy. Four CeCe colors on one piece. Here it is before we started sanding it back down.

So you can see the Seattle Mist was over the whole thing, but we didn't paint it on real thick. When I started sanding, I started with 150 grit, and it worked great, so I didn't go any coarser. Here is the sanded piece - prior to wax.

Here is the important part of bringing out the colors - wax! The colors are there, you can see them, but they are not vibrant. The CeCe Clear Wax cures into the layers of paint and brings the colors out in a great way. Here it is waxed and buffed - keeping the original hardware untouched.

Sorry for the mess, but as in all my blog posts - this is a "garage" scene. This will go to TheSmithHotel side of the house, and Mrs. Smith will pretty it up in her booth space. I will leave you with a parting shot - The bike and the dresser....

Time for a ride...

Mr. Smith

Linked to

Funky Junk Interiors
Domestically Speaking
Kammy's Korner

Simple French Side Table

This is a story about a Simple French Side Table. Here is the table I received from a friend. Mrs. Smith and I bought a few pieces from her, but this was one of those - "You can have that, or it will go in the dumpster."

Well, this is the latest picture I could find before painted. You see, I had to add quite a bit of wood filler to the plywood top as the layers had begun peeling and chipping away from each other.

As I have begun painting with CeCe Caldwell's paint, I have been trying out some different styles with the many colors I have to work with - examples for customers to The Smith Hotel. While in Seattle with Mrs. Smith, we stopped in a few shops that lent me some inspiration. One place we happened upon (actually Mrs. Smith sought it out) was Watson Kennedy. We actually got to meet Ted. He had some great pieces in the First & Spring Store. Another store we visited was Salt & Sea Vintage Home on Bainbridge Island. So from these two stores, I decide I needed a two tone piece that looked old and weathered. I didn't want to try it on a large piece since I wasn't sure how it would turn out - so why not a free small table - a simple table.

I chose a Seattle Mist and Alaskan Tundra Green. I felt they would go on light and I could do some distressing and throw some glaze into my wax to make it look older. But I did want to also keep the table simple, something you might find in a cottage on the outskirts of Paris.

So here it is after the paint - a mere 30 minutes to get both colors on. Wow - CeCe Caldwell's paint is very easy to apply and clean up is simple as well (rinse the brush with warm water). In trying some different things with a new paint, I have sanded prior to waxing and sanded after waxing. I have found both to be fairly easy with this paint and wax. Either way, I have found that sanding polishes the paint slightly, but gives it a great look wherever the brush stokes have remained. One thing that I will say is that if you sand after waxing, the sand paper gums up pretty quickly. Sanding prior to wax renders more "dust", but I can use the same piece of sandpaper on the whole piece of furniture. I am all about cheap - so I sanded this one prior to waxing.

Did I mention the CeCe Caldwell's wax smells like honey? Maybe some tea with those crumpets?

After waxing, I used some Valspar Antiquing Glaze on the wax before it cured. I spread it out as thin as possible - trying to get an aged look, but not too dark. Here is what we came out with.

I added a simple brass ball pull for the hardware. There is no drawer, but the pull adds a little something that finishes the piece. Here are some other shots (thank you sun for coming out for one day).

So there you have it. Please tell me what you think - do you like the look? Is it simple? Would you put it in your French countryside cottage?

Until next time....

Mr. Smith

Linking to:
Primitive and Proper
Domestically Speaking