Currently viewing the tag: "Distressed"
Better After reader Wendy needed a big, sturdy table for getting her craft on. That was kind of a dorky thing to say. Gettin’ crafty wit it? Yikes. She needed a craft table. Yes. We’ll just go with that. Anyway, she found this one at a used…
Continue Reading →Amber loved this $300 crib, but not the part where it costs $300. So, she scoured Craigslist until she found a nearly identical crib for a mere $100. It was a little roughed up, so she gave it a custom chalk paint job, and then roughed THAT up.&n…
Continue Reading →If you’ve ever checked out Jenny’s blog, Ava Blake Creations, you instantly know what her style is. Heck, just glance at her welcome photo, where she’s standing against the peeling paint of an ancient building, the few surviving panes of glass in…
Continue Reading →I’ve had this little project completed for a while, but it wasn’t my favorite, so I haven’t gotten around to posting it.
I built this bench based on plans that are in Ana White’s book The Handbuilt Home. I made mine a little longer to go with a table that has yet-to-be blogged about as well!
It’s just a simple little pine bench that is made special by some decorative cut-outs. I hand-drew my curves out on a piece of paper, cut them out, and then traced them onto my wood. I cut out the shapes with a jigsaw.
Would you believe I still have the piece I cut out for the leg? It was just too cute to throw away!
I had in mind that I wanted this bench to be aqua, but on the day I needed to buy paint, the line was SO LONG at Lowe’s that I picked up one of their pre-made sample pots instead of the color I wanted. I got “pale aqua” instead of “aqua.”
And it’s an OK color…just not the one I wanted!!
I distressed and glazed it, but I still thought the color was a little anemic for me. I mean, if I want color, I want COLOR!
Yes, I know it’s just paint and I could re-paint it…but it’s hard to get up enough ambition to re-do a project you just did!
So you guessed it………… I sold it….
On to the next project!
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Continue Reading → I hope you’re not tired of these tables yet! This is the third farmhouse table I built, although it is trifle smaller to fit in a smaller space. I think this one is just about 62” long. I also built a 48” bench to go along with this table, and I think they look so cute together!
It’s kind of fun to have an empty dining room so I can have revolving dining tables!
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Dining table is a modification of the Ana White Farmhouse Table.
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Continue Reading → I think I posted three times last week, but we all knew I would never keep that up!
I have busily been working on a batch of new signs which are going on display at Ruffles & Rust in Snohomish, on consignment. I am so excited to have my work appear in an actual store, for the first time! So cross your fingers for me…or if you’re in the area, drop in and rave about them, even if you don’t buy anything, OK??
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In my spare time, I have been working on a new bench for some of my favorite people (they commissioned a table, buffet, and coffee table previously).
This is Ana White’s Providence Bench, although this one has a top made from three 2×6’s rather than four 2×4’s, ala Shanty 2 Chic.
I was supposed to stain this bench gray…and what a disaster that turned out to be! I have been a faithful Minwax fan, but there’s been a lot of talk in the blogosphere about Rustoleum stains, so I decided to try the “sunbleached” color.
Can I just say….ugh!
Where the gray “took,” it was a lovely shade, but everywhere else the wood turned a very unflattering yellowish-orange shade. I was not impressed. Subsequent attempts to alter the color with additional coats of stain (first Rustoleum…then Minwax) did not impress it in the least.
So I resorted to my old friend…paint.
While I left the some of the gray-stained wood showing, I dry-brushed white and gray paint in layers over the orange. I finished up with a glaze of ebony stain (Minwax brand, for sure), and it highlighted all the carefully contrived distressing I allowed my 11-year-old boy to give to the bench (it was the highlight of his day, honestly).
I was nervous that the new owners might be disappointed in a painted finish rather than a stained one, but they don’t seem to be!
Whew!
And you know what? I think it looks pretty fabulous myself!
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Continue Reading → I have to show off one of my latest building projects. The wonderful family who bought this Farmhouse Table as well as the Buffet Table from me commissioned me to build a coffee table for them. I used the Rustic X Coffee Table plan from Ana White.
They wanted the color of the coffee table to complement their dining table, but not be exactly the same. So while I started out with the same custom mix, I gave it an extra coat of stain that was more heavily gray.
It always seems such a shame to sand and sand and sand a table to get it nice and smooth…and then beat the heck out of it with a hammer, chain screwdriver, pliers…anything to get the carefully manufactured “aged” look!
The original plan was for a 52-inch-long table, but I cut it down to 46 inches to suit this family. That has got to be the best feature of build-your-own furniture—being able to customize the size for your space!
Oh, and I must tell you…building the X’s was tricky for me! I think they turned out pretty well, but I will never try to fool you that they’re perfect by any stretch of the imagination!
It looks pretty good in my living room, don’t you think??
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This project has been featured at Elizabeth & Co. and My Repurposed Life.
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Continue Reading → I just finished a custom order for someone through my etsy shop. She sent a photo of a cute chalkboard design she liked (at least I think it was a chalkboard), and I re-created it for her on canvas.
Love the sentiment…I’m thinking maybe I need to hang one in my sons’ room!
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Continue Reading → Yay for you if you are enjoying a spring break at the beach, or visiting Disneyland, or headed to some other fabulous destination right now. Yay. For. You. We, on the other hand, are having a staycation, which is just like a vacation, except you …
Continue Reading →Remember that one time when I went on a rant about the dreaded double-knob? Ok, well pretend that never happened. Because today I am here to show you this beautiful aqua dresser from Pelham, and lo! Double knobs. But, no joke yo…
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