Aff Wood: February 2014

Monday, February 24, 2014

GRAPHIC TRANSFER STORAGE BENCH dog biscuit ephemera bench

I finished painting a storage bench white and decided to add a graphic to it.

This bench could be used in an entry, in a kids room, or at the foot of a bed, therefore the graphic

had to work in all these locations. I spend hours searching for the one that would work and

I stopped when I found this Vintage Clip Art – French Dog Biscuit Ephemera at The Graphics Fairy.

I edited this graphic into 6 pages to fit over the front of the box.

I did it manually on a program I have but you can try this

online program http://www.greatis.com/utilities/posterit/

Picking the right image or font is always a challenge and can take hours or even days but getting it

right makes the piece come alive. So stick with it and keep looking. I have a cabinet I painted in

the spring and now is waiting in my back room for that perfect image. It is a period piece

from the early 50s and I know I want to find a Woolworths / Woodwards vertical advert to put right

up the middle face that makes the piece feel like it came right out of the store back in the day.

Like a haberdashery counter!

Cross your fingers I will find it and make it look amazing,

but back to the present days project and the BEFORE & AFTER

********************************

Today I have listed some vintage sheet music, castors, and coat
hooks along with all the shabby chic hardware also available
at Firstfinds Etsy Shop

BEACH TIME aqua side tables

During my last workshop I found out I had meet one of these ladies before.

I used to make driftwood furniture long ago and she had come to see me back then.

How cool is that!

Fastward a few days and I get an email from

another lady who has been out to visit,

Hiya !!!!

When I first saw your wonderful blog, I was taken away with such talent.
Then we started to correspond with each other and your friendliness and
messages were a joy to receive.

Now this is something that is really going to blow your mind!! We met long
before this time. I couldnt believe what I found in a box. Years ago we use to
hop in the car and go to different areas checking for garage sales. One such
day we came across one. I bought a beautiful glass hummingbird feeder at
this one. It was glass with brass and flowers painted on it. I still have it, but,
what caught our eye was the different amazing furniture creations that this
lady made.

Lets go back to what I found in the box. It was a business card from this
lady who does amazing things with driftwood. Yes !!!!!! This very talented
lady was/is you!! I couldnt believe it. When I saw your picture on your
blog I thought we had met before and now I have the proof that we had.

Small world!!
The work you do is so...What can I say...Awesome, beautiful, wonderful, a
treasure to own...I can go on and on, but, what I want to say is that you are
a treasure in this world. You are a beautiful one of a kind treasure awaiting
to be found by others in this world. I am glad that I found a really awesome
lady who long ago sold me a beautiful hummingbird feeder and then appear
again in my life when I needed you to be there.

Thank you for being the beautiful person you are!!

I want to thank these 2 ladies and everyone who has supported me then and now!

Now lets get to some furniture and pretty pictures ...

I have finished a pair of knotty pine side tables with a mix of

the new ASCP color, Florence.

If you would like to see some more of the furniture I use to make click here.

A little off track today

I just thought I'd post something that I come across quite often. I'm a frequent shopper of Craigslist. Being 25 miles from Los Angeles to the west and the heart of Orange County to the south, there are a plethora of sales every single day. I can spend hours perusing the furniture sections looking for anything and everything. With that being said, people who want to sell their items are sometimes, well, clueless. I'm going to post a few pics of actual ads I've come across........

Are you kidding me??? Any idea what this person is selling??? How about the

lovely desk/organization center?? Hmmmmm????

Seriously people, clean up your mess!!! Good God.

The Agave Color Antique Dresser Make over

Here is my newest re-do (Im on a tear lately refinishing stuff!).

This was a nice little antique dresser I picked up from CL. I met a lady

who handles estate sales. She got this from the original owner, so it was in ok

shape. The top was pretty messed up and it

had a lot of dings and scratches, but the drawers were in pretty

good condition for being 80 years old!

two sided sticky tape was used to affix the mirror to the back:(
Im still working on fixing and painting the mirror part.

Mr. Agave!

So I wanted to do an aqua-y color, but I wanted a bit of green to show through.

I just love blues and greens. So I played around with the colors and used my

new shades from Martha.

This photo was used with a flash. You can see how the color washes out.

I brushed on Behrs "lilypad" before going over it with my chalk paint made from

MS "lagoon".

The top I refinished in Varathane "Gel Walnut". This stuff is the bomb people.

Forget the Minwax. This gel stain is fabuloso!!! So easy and nice and comes out

flawless. It dried so quickly because this wood was so dried out. I used one

coat of the gel, a seal-coat, and then finished it with dark paste wax.

The whole dresser got a coat of dark wax to tone down the color

and give it an aged look.

I really hate the waxing process. :)

It was a cloudy afternoon. Again, the flash just kills the colors.

I wasnt sure which hardware to go with. I tried on many different knobs.

I didnt have anything in the blue/green family except some light blue milk glass.

It looked a bit nursery-ish and too close to the color of the paint.

I was going to line the drawers with this fabric. Apparently Ill have to line it with the cat as well.

So here is a shot with a portion of the mirror done.
I still have to do the arm thingy-s that allow it to move.

The mirror by itself is actually a beautiful piece. Since the piece that was affixed to the top with
sticky tape was literally falling apart, Hub made a new one to set on the top. There is another piece
that attaches to the mirror (I dont have that in the photo)Im actually leaving that natural wood.