Cycling Fan - Tour de France Dresser

I am a cycling fan. I have been known to ride over 100 miles in a day, and I love old bikes too. Here is one I have had for some months, and I just was able to add some new whitewall tires today.

This is a Schwinn Spitfire 24", and it has been saved from a scrap heap. It is ready to ride for some little girl (just not Drama Queen since she is not fond of rust).

But you are looking at the title and your thinking - what about the dresser? And this is a Schwinn, not a French bike.

Well, the Tour de France is coming up shortly. I will not be watching it on the tele, but I will follow it on-line most days. Boy Wonder has been dying to get another "flag" dresser. He cleaned out one of his "wood-colored" dressers today and brought it out to the living room - in hope of a transformation. He asked for the Swiss flag, but in a strange turn of events, I mentioned France and he said YES! Which brings us back around to my tribute to the Tour de France.

Here is the plain-Jane dresser prior to it's transformation...

We picked this up second-hand some time ago. I think it may be a Target dresser - not real hardwood or anything, just particle board and laminate stickers to make it look like wood. Here comes the beauty of painting with CeCe Caldwell's paint. It sticks to anything, plastic, steel, wood, stickers, and apparently furniture upholstery. Notice at the time of this photo I had only Simply White and Traverse City Cherry on top of the dresser. Of course this was when we were thinking Swiss (Red with a white cross). So throw some Maine Harbor Blue in the mix, and you've got yourself a French flag...

As you can see, the wax is still curing. Once it sits overnight - sometime after church on Sunday - I will buff it out to give it a shine, and back into his room to take on a few more years of growing. Sorry for the mess in the background - but you do get to see inside TheSmithHotel instead of the normal "garage scene".

Here it is back in Boy Wonder's room - decor by him, not me.

I wanted to get this out there tonight, because I am about to get pretty busy on TheSmithGarage. I have a lot of furniture to get painting on - including a PIANO!

This is a big job ahead of me, but I am totally excited. I am going to have a piano guy come out and check it out before I get too deep into it. If it doesn't work out, you will see some of this wood going into other projects. If it does turn out to be a workable project, you will see this beauty upcycled back to life - and some lucky customer will love it.

Make sure you come back around to see what we have in store for the next few weeks as we prepare for a great new adventure this Fall.

Mr. Smith

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Domestically Speaking
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Decorating Insanity
I Should Be Mopping The Floor

Another Jack from a Trashed Nightstand

Day 3 at the Mount Shasta Mall. So glad that is over. Had a very productive weekend there painting, but wow did it drag on...and on...and on.........

Mrs. Smith's dad - Marshal, picked up this trashed nightstand. He didn't get a picture of it before he worked on it, but you can see that he used some glue and putty to get it in painting condition.

So I had in mind to paint it in CeCe Caldwell's Portland Rose (a very light pink). I thought it would be a cute girl's nightstand. Mrs. Smith asked that I paint it Maine Harbor Blue - so what do you think I did? ...Maine Harbor Blue...

So having all kinds of time Saturday - I decided to go one step further and paint a Union Jack flag on the top. I used Traverse City Cherry and Simply White.

I noticed that the drawer split just a bit, so I had to take it home to TheSmithGarage and glue it overnight.

Here is is finished with one of Mrs. Smith's little chicks and a mustache man postcard. Very fun and very fast. Freehand painting now since I have done a few before. just used brush widths. Hope you enjoy, Follow and come back for a few more finished pieces from the weekend. And something extra special coming soon - Mrs. Smith paints her first piece with CeCe Caldwell's paint - and it turns out to be incredible! You will want to see it.

Mr. Smith

Linked to:
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Primitive and Proper Power of Paint Party
Beyond the Picket Fence (under $100 - yeah - way under $100)
Shabby Creek Cottage - Transformation Thursday
Redoux
Decorating Insanity

Traverse City Cherry Console

This is a piece that I have not had a chance to share with my blog friends. We have been very busy with Spring shows, and I have been painting furniture on weekends - at least some of them. Last weekend I gardened - we are supposed to plant in our zone on Mother's Day weekend (or when the snow has melted on Shasta Bally), well, both happened and the garden didn't get planted.

But - on Mother's Day Weekend we had a two-day show - The Burlap Harlot. And I actually decided to paint a piece at the show because I was tired of the dingy white, and I had a new CeCe Caldwell color - Traverse City Cherry!

The white console right-center in this picture is the before picture.

It's a nice piece, but there is not much character to it. It has been in our booth at Oregon Street Antique Mall for quite some time, and we really thought it would go quickly at the price we were asking - $60. It has  4 shelves inside, looks like it was a canning console/cabinet.

So, I was itching to paint something in my new Traverse City Cherry (Traverse City is in Upper Michigan, and they have a national cherry festival - thus the name of the CeCe Caldwell color).

I painted it during the show, and it really only took me about 2 hours to paint, sand (distress), and wax/polish. I am sure some people were amazed by the transformation. Almost had it sold, but the gal didn't want to wait around. I told her if it didn't sell that we would have it at the next two shows. I did however sell a quart of Traverse City Cherry to someone wanting to paint their front door the same color - so it was a hit.

I really liked the way the color turned out on this piece. Here is a picture of it at the show in Willows - The Vintage Country Flea Market.

As you can see, we have some other fine pieces of furniture in this shot. Doesn't that color just POP? We might just have to raise the price on that now. It has been fun trying out new colors. I just got a couple of others that I will be trying in the coming weeks - Pickerington Violet, Portland Rose, and California Gold. Come back by to see what's new at TheSmithGarage. And if you like the colors and what to give them a try yourself - check out our shop at www.thesmithhotelboutique.com.

Mr. Smith

Linked to:

Kammy's Korner Trash 2 Treasure Tuesdays

Decorating Insanity