Lion's Head Nightstand - Destin Gulf Green

Another day at the Mount Shasta Mall - wow these mall shows are brutal - 9am to 9pm. I will have to say I can do quite a few painting demonstrations in 12 hours. I worked on 3 pieces (maybe 4), but I will blog on one tonight - since it's late and I have to get up and go back to the mall in the morning.

Here is the piece - it has a great lion's head brass pull on it.

Great legs, huh? So Mrs. Smith wanted me to paint with Destin Gulf Green (DGG) first, then with Simply White and sand it back so the DGG comes through (totally forgot to take a picture of the DGG). Here it is after the Simply White...

Just then - I had one of our very good customer's (Ms. Tony - we call her Tony, but I wanted you to know she was a she and not a he). Well Tony really liked the piece, but she wanted more of the DGG to come through then what was appearing. So - I went back and painted over the Simply White with the DGG, leaving lots of white...

Not sure I like it - little too "beachy" for me, but I sure hope Tony likes it when she comes back. I had one other person really like it that came by and she was sending her friend back the next day. So we will see who shows up first on Sunday morning. I hope it's Tony and I really hope she likes it.

Here it is under some different light - looks a little more green...

Please let me know what you think - too beachy OR way cool - I want it!

Mr. Smith

Linked to:
Funky Junk Interiors
Coastal Charm Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Primp

Ombre 3-Drawer Nightstand

It has been a week since I have shared a piece with you - my readers - and any visitors. This last weekend Mrs. Smith and I took part in Roses and Rust Home and Garden Market. Leading up to that event, I had worked on this little nightstand and wanted to create something different from my normal refinishing.

Here is a glance at what it looked like before the paint began. I could not find a better picture before, but this gives you an idea of the hardware and color of the wood.

The top was peeling away, so I used the "tower of power" and a little wood glue to keep the top where it should be.

So I have been wanting to do an "ombre" piece - and this had just the 3 drawers I needed to have a little fun. One drawer was a little dirty, so I decided to paint the drawers with CeCe Caldwell's Simply White. That really cleaned them up and created a finished look on the entire piece.

I used Georgia Clay as a color for the bottom drawer, then reduced down for each drawer by using Vintage White. The middle drawer was one part Georgia Clay and a half part Vintage White, and the top drawer and structure of the piece is one part Georgia Clay and 2 parts Vintage White. It created an almost "pink" tone to the piece. I can't say I love it, but I hope someone else will.

Please tell me what you think. I do appreciate the feedback. New pieces are bound to surprise. If you find the blog fresh and new - please follow along and I will be sure to "intrigue".

Mr. Smith

Nightstand Gets Renewed Life

Here is a story of another piece of furniture - destined for certain death, but given a second chance right here in TheSmithGarage. It was quite unhappy and a little chippy on top. Picked this up at a thrift store several weeks back, and I have been searching for what to do with it. I actually hoped to save it for another few weeks and give it a treatment of CeCe Caldwell's Paint, but I am so impatient, I needed to get in the garage this weekend and do something. So this little guy got his lucky day with some ASCP Provence Blue. Here is what he looked like before any work got started.

And I used a bit of sanding on top to remove some of the chippy paint/stain/lacquer that was on top. Looking back now, I should have removed it all, now I know. I had to apply a few extra coats of paint to build up the top enough to get a smooth finish.

You might be able to tell from the pictures this is 80s furniture. It has a rolling slider drawer, which is nice, but it was badly mistreated when it comes to the finish. So - as I mentioned before - I still have some of my ASCP $40 paint in TheSmithGarage, so why not use it if I need to repair and save an old piece. Provence it is.

This is a picture taken just after I applied some CeCe Caldwell's clear wax. Did I tell you before it smells like honey. I actually was tempted to slap a bit of it on some toast and give it a try. The wax is very nice and smells great, but it does take a night to cure, even with the sunlight.

So after a good nights sleep, and a little work with the buffer - I chose a simple old brass pull to add a bit of elegance to this piece. Of coarse I painted it with my VW muffler silver (AKA - nickel).

The finished piece -

Do you love it? I hope someone does - it already went to TheSmithHotel at Oregon Street Antique Mall. I know it's not an antique, but it is something that folks are looking for at antique malls. It's funny, our many of our thrift stores in town have started raising their prices so high, that people are looking in Antique stores for furniture now. It's kind of ridiculous that a place like Salvation Army ("doing the most good" is their slogan) could charge retail prices for used beat-up furniture, but they do. So if you are local and looking for clean, quality, redone furniture for reasonable prices - come to Oregon Street Antique Mall and you just might be surprised at what you find - make sure you come upstairs and visit our space at TheSmithHotel.

On another exciting note - my shipment of CeCe Caldwell's Paint will be here this week. Can't wait to have my first "paint party" for my friends here in town.

Linking to:
Between Naps on the Porch
I Should Be Mopping The Floor
DIY Home Sweet Home
Domestically Speaking
Primitive and Proper
{Primp}
Shades of Amber
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Beyond the Picket Fence - under $100
Decorating Insanity
Miss Mustard Seed
Until next time ...

Mr. Smith

The Pile Gets Bigger

For those of you that are looking for an update...the pile gets bigger! I have been quite busy with my real job - working very hard on gaining customers for our company in states across the Midwest and the Southeast. I made a trip to MN, and I an heading to LA (Louisiana) this next week. In between I have been diligently calling, emailing, and sending out correspondence as this is the key time to gain customers in our industry (mystery remains).

Meanwhile, TheSmithGarage has been strategically piling up with furniture projects. You ask - what is strategic about furniture projects piling up? Well...I am anxiously awaiting a shipment of CeCe Caldwell's paint to arrive - I think it will ship in the next few days. I will be receiving several colors in this shipment (15 variations) and I want to try all the colors on different pieces. So I have compiled some pictures so you can know what to look for in the coming weeks when I get back in the garage and start working on these projects.

This is a steel bookshelf with sliding doors - a guy's garage shelf. I would like to go with a racing theme on this one - maybe red with a racing strip. Needs a little body work on the left side there - and some rust removal.

A very nice heavy mirror that Mrs. Smith found - think it needs a little color!

This is a tough one - give me some ideas.

Nice little end-table - needs a refreshing color.

This great little antique piece will love a new coat of paint - looking for inspiration on this one.

This was a free pickup - well, it cost me about $4 in gas. Can't wait to see what it turns out to be.

If you would like to see the other items ready for painting - take a look at my earlier post - Summary of Upcoming Projects. So I wait, and collect. Mrs. Smith has a plan for all of these items - many will go to Oregon Street Antique Mall - upstairs, and some will go to Mrs. Smith's Spring shows. But all will get a coat or two of CeCe Caldwell's paint. Really looking forward to receiving the paint in the next few weeks.

I hope you have something to say - I could use some inspiration on colors for these pieces. Please leave your comments - and come back to see the finished product!

70's Nightstand redo

Well, I think you may have seen this from the last few postings, but here it is again so you can see the before and after.

So I have seen this furniture everywhere - normally really cheap. In fact, I have seen stuff like this on the side of the road with a FREE sign on it. I think my brother has some furniture like this in the spare room that I frequent on trips to Denver.

I actually paid a few dollars for this one, but only a few. The only real damage on this piece is the bottom drawer has a small broken drawer face on the bottom right-hand side (you can see a little notch out of the corner). I also had to glue the back of that same drawer box - but really nothing significant. The hardware is real brass - quite heavy.

So this one got a coat of one of my "oops" colors ($5 gallon of flat interior latex) applied - only one coat covered it - and I used a very light gray. Then after a little love (sanding and waxing) and a coat of gloss black spray for the hardware - here is the finished product.

In case you can't tell, the top drawer is a single drawer - even though the face looks like three. Tricky craftsmanship. I didn't even fix the chip on the bottom. This is a great solid piece of furniture as were many of those great big bulky pieces from the 70s. This will go very nicely in a kids room, or even in a reading area or living room. So the next time you see that free furniture on the side of the road - let me know so I can pick it up and give it some love and attention. It should NOT go to the dump!

Check out this similar piece I found at Hartwood Roses .

This is linked to the rockin parties at Decorating Insanity , Miss Mustard Seed

Mr. Smith