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Refinishing Furniture

To start any good project, it begins with the right tools! And to refinish anything there are a few very important tools needed: Electric sander, gloves, wide paint brush for dusting, paint brush for painting, screw drivers, and sand paper. 

This particular piece of furniture, has been sitting in my garage for about 4 years!! I love this night stand, but couldn't decide to keep it it's orginial off-white/yellow look, or do a distressed black finish.  I finally went with the distressed black look! So out of storage it came!

I love the little cubby in this night stand, most of them usually have a second drawer instead of the cubby, but this little cubby would be great for displaying books! Another neat feature about this nightstand is the plug-in and cord on the inside cubbie. (however as I found out after it was painted, in order to use the outlet you need a cord that dates back to this piece)

Here's a side view of the nightstand.  This particular type is called a French provincial nightstand. (and that is my little boy next to the table eating his pop-sickle)

Sometimes with antique furniture you find little surprises inside the drawers! I found this lovely crochet pillow inside, it has now become the pillow I sit on when I paint!

Ok so here it goes! First of all you want to try to get as much of the old finish off as possible, this is where the power tools come into play! (Que the Tim the tool man Taylor grunt!) Once you have it all nicely sanded, use a large paint brush to brush off as much of the dust as possible.

               

Once you have all of the dust off it's time to start painting! I like to spray paint the piece first, it just helps to cover better.  Be sure when spray painting, not to hold the spray paint too close to the furniture, or you can get streaks.

This is painting the inside of the piece.  Note I'm only painting on the inside on the parts you can actually see, the top part will have a drawer there, so no need to paint the inside.

After a layer of spray paint, I then go over it with black paint. Main thing to remember when painting is to go with the grain of the wood, and make long even strokes. 

I forgot to take a pic of the next step! (sorry!) But after the paint dries, I like to distress it with sandpaper.  I do not like to use the electric sander on this part, darn no power tools! I just use a sanding block, you can get them at any hardware store.

After the paint dries, I like to go over it with a protective coating. It helps to keep the furniture from getting scratched up! This particular brand is my favorite, it coats really well, and when dries looks fantastic!

This is what it looks like after the protective coating goes on.

Here is what it looks like after it is all done! Freshly sanded, spray painted, painted, distressed, and primed! I love the hardware on this night stand, it's so elegant!

And after all of the hard work, it's time to take a break in the top of your sand turtle!

Big Ben

One of my recent antique finds was this adorable Baby Ben alarm clock. (I may or may not have found this at my mother's house!)  These clocks are so cute, and even better this one actually works! These clocks are made by Westclox, they even make a larger version called a Big Ben.  The dial illuminates a beautiful green color in the dark.  The first Baby Ben was sold in 1910 making this a very timeless beautiful piece, there have been 10 different models produced since 1909 when the Big Ben was first introduced. 

I hope you enjoy this beautiful antique like I do!

Antiques and Technology

Normally when you think of antiques you think of something vintage, timeless, and used. The words modern, technology, and new do not come into mind. But times have changed and we have become a more technology advanced society. We depend on our smart phones and computers. Paper phone books, and newspapers have become a thing of the past. Now a days you can get your phone book, newspaper, and maps all online. More and more people are using the Internet to buy, sell, and find antiques. There are so many great websites to help find the perfect vintage piece for your home. Many people today are using sites like ebay, craigslist, and etsy to do most of their antiquing! Those sites are great tools to use to find what you are looking for and can definitely help cut down the time searching in antique store after antique store for the last apothecary jar to match your set you've started years before. As much as I love using the Internet to look for antiques, I still love rummaging through a dusty antique store for the perfect find. I love driving through small towns and seeing what great antique I can find, or finding a really great flea market. Since road maps are becoming a thing of the past as well...there are a lot of really great apps that can help you find the perfect flea market, garage sale, or estate sale. Here are a few of my favorite tools to help find a great antique!


Smart phone apps:


Garage Sale Tracker App ~ you can find garage sales, flea markets, and consignment shops. You can search area's with your zip code, pick a travel distance, select which week, and what item you are specifically looking for.

Tag Sell it ~ This great app uses google maps to pin point your location and all the the surrounding garage sales.

Flea Markets ~ This is an awesome app because you can pick any state, and see all of the flea markets for that state! (so if I wanted to travel to Texas I could see exactly which ones I wanted to check out!) You can view the flea markets by list or by the google map, and get directions to it!

There are also great apps for shopping for antiques on line! Some of my favorite include craigslist, ebay, etsy addict, and etsy lovers. All are great apps that help you find exactly what you are looking for! Hopefully the next time you are looking for some special antique, these great tools will help you find exactly what you need!