VINTAGE KEY HANGERS combining wood with white

I find something very appealing about natural

worn wood working next to a fresh white

palette. The old pieces of wood I use for

projects like this are from vintage furniture

that have gone past the point of saving in

there original form. The wood used behind

this painted tree & house key hanger was

the side of a deep filing drawer in a turn of

the century desk almost a half inch thick.

All my frames are second hand finds found at thrift stores. Most of the time I will not go after

frames with usable art in them. I like the lonely discarded bare frames that no one else will buy.

They are perfect for projects like these.

The wood is washed with warm water and soap then let to dry before cutting.

You do have to be comfortable with cutting wood and have some experience with hand

tools to get the different thickness of wood attached to your frames.

I hope I have inspired you to create your own!

?

Till next time ... Kristy

WHITE INDIA DRESSER repair tips

I wasnt looking to buy any furniture the day

this dresser crossed my path. The lady who

owned it had bought it as a refinishing project

and was told the side panel that was split and

separated was an easy fix. I felt compelled to

save it and the owner, as this is NOT A

SIMPLE FIX for the average refinishing

project.

The two panels have to be leveled out, glued, and clamped back together. Inside I used a couple

 of broken metal hinges to stabilize the fix. The hinges are not the solution to holding the panels

together, rather they hold everything in place while the glue sets.

Once everything was fixed she got painted in a creamy white ASCP,

and new India bone knobs added. I found the six of them at my local HomeSense.

The plates you see behind the knobs are antique metal pieces also painted in the

 same creamy white ASCP then wet distressed.

Everything was lightly edged distressed and the three drawers were lined with a floral

black and white wallpaper.

  

 

Till next time ... Kristy

ORNATE SHABBY WHITE BUFFET reveal with a before and after

This buffet has been perched in my back room
for five months longingly looking my way every
time I pass by to use the shower. I had huge plans
for it right from the beginning but the work was
going so slow while other things were also
demanding my attention. The final hurdle was
to refinish the inside, and make it look as good
as the outside.

   

I found some vintage striped wallpaper in a soft turquoise and I used it on the back panel. To match

 the rest of the cabinet interior with the paper I mixed some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Florence and 

Pure White and painted away.

  TIP: 

Remove your backer board to make it super easy to paint inside and wallpaper the backer.

The middle door seen in the above photo came fixed in place so I ripped it out and made it useable.

Seriously why did they make so many pieces of furniture with fixed panels back in the day?

The underside of the cabinet got beefed up with some lumber so I could install an incredible set of

 legs and get it off the floor. I filled the original hardware holes and installed a set of antique drop pulls.

   

BEFORE                       AFTER

Till next time ... Kristy

UNWAXED WHITE CHALK PAINT shabby chic cabinet

 

 

Im happy to finally share with you my

beautiful white storage cabinet that sits

in the corner of my kitchen. It was a

found pieces sitting on the side of the

road. I fixed it up and painted it with

Annie Sloan Pure White Chalk Paint

almost two years ago. I never waxed

the paint and the finish is doing

incredibly well two years later.

 

 

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Below are the old photos of how the cabinet looked when I got it and the photos of the make over

process. It is a solid pine cabinet that was left on the side of the road in a heap of parts. 

It had been painted white and stamped with giant pink roses.

 

Yes, I said GIANT PINK ROSES!

All I can say is that I applaud everyone for their attempts at DIY, enough said!

 

   

 

The backer board for the bottom section was missing a huge chunk so I cut a replacement piece

from a large salvage piece of hardboard I had.

  

wallpaper paste can be found at Home Depot

?I lining the upper portion of the cabinet with a blue floral wallpaper, starting with the top backer
 board. I used my bucket of wallpaper paste (above top right) because this paper came un pasted.

 

  

 

After the inside was all papered I sanded, painted, then distressed the outside. 

  

 

Unfortunately the GIANT PINK ROSES had some texture to them so

I had to do extra sanding to get rid of them all.

  

 

In the end I needed a storage cabinet more than a display cabinet so I went one step farther and

applied some beautiful white Anaglypta wallpaper over the glass to hide what is inside.

The Anaglypta was adhered to the front of the glass with double sided tape

that can easily be removed in the future if need be.

 

 

I found a galvanized metal box with rope handles for the top that stores my extra

 rolls of paper towel. The three city names are actually punched out of the metal.

 

 

When I brush painted this cabinet 2 yrs ago with chalk paint I never waxed it. This is the only piece I

 have not waxed to date and did it on my piece to see how it would hold up.

 

I am seriously impressed with how durable the paint is without wax. Before I took these new photos

 I used a kitchen sponge and easily wipe away a few scuff marks from the painted surface.

Here is a close up of the finish today ...

 

 

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LOOKING FOR HARDWARE ...

Stop in to see whats new in shabby chic white hardware available at firstfinds.

 

There are 1000s of pieces of different up-cycled hardware to choose from including

light switch plates, door knockers, and metal numbers.

Etsy Shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Till next time ... Kristy