Orange Pottery Barn Desk

This is another piece that is in much better condition than the stuff I usually work on. I LOVE when clients are so brave with furniture that already looks nice.  Most of us are not so daring!  :)

So, here is the before...there was seriously nothing wrong with it, except a little dust from my garage.

 And After! Now it just has that extra something special!  It went from ordinary to extraordinary!

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Custom Order Executive Desk

Oh, how I wish I had been at DI the day this desk showed up!  I need one just like it!  But, luckily Emily had a good eye and saw the potential in this desk!

 We decided on the chocolate brown finish with black glazing. 

It looks so rich and I really like how the oak has a little texture so the glaze looked even better!  Hope you like it Emily!  (If you don't I'll buy it!!!)

A few months ago they were recarpeting my husband's work office so I took ALL his furniture home and refinished it like this.  There was the big metal filing cabinet, the light maple bookcase, the fake alder desk, and the desk with the sticker stuff on it that's supposed to look like wood. So, in one weekend we did the venitian plaster on the walls, and painted all the furniture so they wouldn't miss a beat on Monday when they returned to work.  The kicker?  I FORGOT to take before pics!!! Maybe I'll post the after but it's just not going to show the full effect.  I hate it when I do that!

Curvy Table & Chairs

The paint on this set was flaking off so I ended up sanding almost the whole thing.

 Don't you love the shape, once you look past the finish?

 I painted it white and glazed with a rich brown to bring out the great detail.  The chair fabric is in fun, fruity colors.

 I tried to get a close-up of the glaze on top.  It's brushed really lightly with brown.  To top it all off, it has three coats of polyacrylic in a glossy finish.  It looks so smooth and rich.

For Sale!  $175

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How to add embellishments to any project

A few times I've had a piece of furniture that I wanted to add some character to without spending a lot of money and I found the perfect solution with a little putty and a stencil.  Here are some of the projects I've dressed up using this technique...

 

1. You can use any kind of spackling.  This is what I had on hand.

2. Just line your stencil up where you would like it, and then spread a thin layer of putty over it using a putty knife.

 3.  Remove the stencil

 4.  After it's dry (about 1 hour) you can sand it very lightly with 220 sandpaper just to take off any clumps.

5.  Paint the base color on your furniture.

6.  Glaze over the embellishment.  I like to mix my own using 1/2 paint and 1/2 glaze.  For this project I used Americana Burnt Umber.

 7.  Brush on glaze

 8.  Wipe off glaze.  Easy, huh?  Sometimes I use a damp rag if it's not coming off like I want.

And that is it!  Fun, unique, and inexpensive!