For Pete's sake...what color??

The absolute hardest part of my furniture business is picking and choosing how it should be finished! Naturally I am in the business to sell... But that always leaves me with the question of WHAT SELLS??

Everyone has different tastes! Case in point.. When I was trying to finalize a color for the secretary desk I asked over and over and over "what color"???? I didn't get that many responses. The one thing that did work was a text blast to people whose opinion I trust. I mean, these chics (and my dad) have great taste! I included two pictures in my text blast... Similar secretaries, but one was grey, the other black.

Of course I got mixed responses! Ugh!! Overall, though, there was one that won by popularity. And so it was that my secretary desk was painted gray! And he's just beautiful! Now if I could just stop getting asked what color I'm gonna paint it!
The finished secretary desk can be seen here :)
Haha!! I painted in milk paint, which gives a naturally worn look. So it kinda looks like it "needs" paint, but it's totally beautiful to me.


And now I've got a dresser sitting in the shed waiting on that infamous question yet again....what color do I paint it?? I don't always paint. Well....lately I do because its so rare that I find a piece that DOESN'T need work! When we have to repair using new pieces of wood or wood filler then it usually has to be painted.

I LOVE this chest of drawers! I am certain I will be leaving the top it's dark wood color.
But for her body and drawers, I'm thinking a navy blue, like Miss Mustard Seed's Artissimo 
Or possibly French enamel or linen?

I would absolutely LOVE to paint it another milk paint color. And I'm dying to know your thoughts on it!!!

I feel another text blast coming on very soon!! If I say purty please will y'all let me know your thoughts on a color for this gen?

Purty please???

Previously...

I wish I'd kept my photos of previous projects more organized. They're impossible to find now. Major note to self: start organizing photos right away. If you are doing projects, too (no matter the kind) go ahead and start keeping a photo journal as well. It will be helpful in the future!

Now I just gotta figure out the best way to journalize my photos so I can keep up with them. I take lots of pictures with my iPhones and iPads but I change devices more often than not and all the pictures don't always transfer over!

So, anyway.... Here's a couple pieces I've previously worked on but can't find all the photos that show all my hard work ;)

This is a waterfall vanity I painted with chalk paint and glossy acrylic to bring out some accents. We made a seat of wood and padded it and covered it in a cute fabric from Hobby Lobby. I made sure the seat was removable in case the buyer wanted to use it as a desk or vanity. 

An old trunk got a makeover with some white chalk paint and a paisley stamp in neutral acrylic colors! This is something anyone can do!

How about this updated child's glider? It had an ugly ugly (and smelly!) green cushion on it. I had someone sew a new cover over new cushions for me. And then I realized I can actually sew on a machine ;)

You can always update something with a little paint. Take these two whatnots for example. The frog was painted the standard green with a light belly. The fish was that iridescent pearly color. I coated them several times with nothing but flat white spray paint and they are super cute now!

This is one of my FAVE half moon tables. The blue is what I call "peacock blue" and the top is stained in "Kona" it's such a pretty dark stain for wood!

My lesson has been learned!! I'm off to search for effective ways to keep a photo journal! See you on Google and Pinterest!

The old home place

I wanted to share a story about the picture I use for The Picker's Barn.  

First, let me reiterate from a previous post... A great name is so hard to come up with! I eventually settled on The Picker's Barn (and I think it's quite catchy!) because for a few months now I've had a "picker" who buys furniture for me to resell. I don't remember how the words picker and barn came about to fit together but they absolutely did and it was perfect since my picker also keeps our stuff in his barn.

I thought to myself that i could get a picture of his barn, but I didn't think it would give the exact antique look I was going for. My second thought was to download pictures of barns (and I actually did, but obviously decided against it). My third thought was that I would go take pictures of a barn and use that. Who am I kidding??? I barely have time for all the stuff I don't have time to do now!

Then I remembered that I had taken pictures of this place about 4 or 5 years ago. And I knew it was perfect.  Although, its not a barn at all...... It's actually my maternal grandparents' old home place. It was located just outside of Douglas, Ga. My mama is the youngest of five children who grew up there. 

I'm 39 years old and when I was born this is the home that I came to! Nearly forty years later I'm sure it looks much different. I can imagine it in its original state, though. 

Except for the modern lawn mower I love this picture. It reminds me of the Dukes of Hazzard with that car hood :) I do realize the General Lee was orange, haha! But it still makes me think of the "Good Ole Boys" Waylon used to sing about.

I love the color of weathered and aged wood here. And look at that fireplace! It was built to last. You just don't see things made to last forever anymore.

Sadly, the house burned sometime within the last five years. I'm not sure to what extent. I keep telling myself I will make the trip to go check it out. 

I wish that I could remember this house from my childhood, these are the memories I would love to tell my son as he grows. I've got these pictures, though. That will have to be enough I suppose. 

One thing I will never forget or be ashamed of is where I came from. It's places and memories like these that make me the person I am today. Without the old, there is nothing new.  This is also my decorating style.  There's nothing I like more than a transitional space where the old and new are cohesive in the same room. Maybe it's because it fits me to a tee. 

This blog post is dedicated to my grandparents, Pete (who died before I was ever thought of) and Ella Adams because without them I may not have had this piece of history to share!

Now it's bedtime and I wish you well ;) 

Hopefully if nothing else I've inspired you to look into your past and find just where it is you came from. When you find it out please share it with me!

Goodnight ;)

Missi

Simple makeover tile table

Who hasn't bought a piece of furniture a million moons ago because it seemed to work for the space in that moment? I may be the worlds worst! I have to say I've gotten better. I won't buy something if its "ok" in the space. It has to be perfect. And sometimes there's more than one perfect. 

I bought this table forever ago and it was passed around from one to another. It ended up back with me. Since I now have a space to sell my furniture and collectibles I decided to refurb this and sell it in our shop (it's called Vintage Soul).  

As usual, I forgot the stinking before picture, but I think you can get the idea. 

Just a simple wood table with tile inlays. With all my furniture I do a damp wipe down (just an old rag dampened barely) to get the dust off. I make sure to clean it up with the damp rag too... You know, with this old furniture there's always some kind of gunk somewhere...

Let your piece sit for a few minutes to make sure it's dry. Then I painted!

I used two coats of a chalk paint I mixed up. Best I remember I mixed ultra white Valspar  with cream in my coffee, which is Valspar as well. If you like a creamy color then definitely check out cream in my coffee! I will have a blog coming later that features that color. 

I'm also working on a post talking about paints and such. Not that everybody else hasn't already, just wanna put it all in my perspective. 

So the table is distressed and all cute now. Sorry, I didn't get the pic of the distressing either! I was slacking bad. Really all I did with it though was take some medium grit sand paper and work on the edges of where is painted. 

When I'm distressing furniture I imagine where the piece would get scuffed naturally and sand those areas the most, and lightly sand other areas just for looks. 

The table sold fairly quick, it was an easy redo, and I'm satisfied with that! Turns out it was pretty cute and had I needed a small breakfast table I would have out it to use myself ;)

Enjoy your day! Me and Kellan and Monkey (that's what he calls my roommate hehe!) are on a little trip today. Just my luck, it's sunny and the beach is nowhere in sight. This is where I let out a big sigh and sign off......

Smiles :)

Pop of lime!

I had a client who was working on remodeling her salon in Hazelhurst, Ga.  When I got there the walls were white or grey, I can't remember for sure... The workstations were grey, the floor was that outdated white and black tile. Lets just say it was all just outdated.  I should have taken before pics! One thing I've learned is that with every project I learn something new.

She had been on a shopping spree of sorts. I think she hit the yard sales and flea markets, and every vintage store in between. I'm so jealous, though, because she found some great stuff!! 

One piece I painted for her was this already beautiful china cabinet. 

There was nothing wrong with, except it was just too blah for what she had in mind for her shop. 

This fabric for her curtains was the inspiration for the entire salon.

Love it!!

The walls were being painted that turquoise-ish color of the birds. 

I painted four vanities for her workstations in a distressed white chalk paint. She mentioned that she wanted the china cabinet painted white also. She pretty much told me over and over she didn't want black furniture... But it just made sense! It's a relatively small salon and we already had all those white vanities. So I made my suggestion and she agreed. 

Let me tell you that when she picked up her new "product" cabinet she was SO excited!!! It's so pretty!! I have to agree ;) how about you?

I have to toot my own horn a bit... I matched the lime paint with the curtain from memory! I was so impressed with myself!

That pop of lime makes this cabinet!! 

Don't be afraid to get a little bold with your furniture. I usually am not a fan of these bright colors on furniture. I do, however, feel that a pop of color here and there adds some interest ;)

Like this little table I painted to match...

LOVE IT TOO!

Mr. Ebert's secretary desk

My picker won a secretary desk at an auction a little while back. I didn't even know what that was! I do now and I love it.

Me and Heather have been working on him and the china cabinet lately. The china cabinet is done (can be seen in previous post). 

I found out the other night that this secretary is about a hundred years old!! I'm always super excited to find that out about a piece of furniture I have. This one is made of walnut and was made by The Ebert Furniture Company. 

I decided to paint him in Miss Mustard Seed's Shutter Gray milk paint. 

The first coat is on :)

I couldn't work on it For a day or so (you know, toddler, my regular full time job, and sometimes mommy is just tired!). When I came back to it, omg!, you should have seen what this milk paint did all by itself! I could already tell the chipping thing was going to be gorgeous!! 

After his second coat of paint I waited til next day, praying the flaking would still come through.  It didn't let me down!!

He's waxed down too :)

Can you tell the difference? The top part is where I've already applied wax, bottom part I haven't waxed yet in these pictures.

And Mr. Ebert's secretary desk is complete!!

My ironstone old lady!

Oh how I love you so!! I loved you from first sight!!

Have you ever fell in love with a piece of furniture even though it was obvious it needed a lot of love?? That's how I felt about this china cabinet.  This old lady was missing a drawer, some of her veneer was missing, she was just cosmetically not perfect. Her frame was solid, though.  Like she'd worked out her whole life. I was sooo happy my picker said she would be mine!!

What color? What color should my old lady be??  That's always a tough question to ask when you're in the business of refurbishing furniture to resell. What color will appeal to the most people? What color will match more decor? I'm always pulling my hair out on this one!!

Miss Mustard Seed Ironstone.  That's my choice and I'm sticking to it.  I honestly did post the china cabinet on our Facebook page called Vintage Soul, but no one offered any suggestions. So Ironstone it is.

Naturally the repairs come first... sometimes I wonder if I will ever find furniture that doesn't need repairs?? My roommate Heather does most of the repairs for me. She's getting pretty good at it, too!

The repairs are done and the old lady is ready for me!
I love painting!

I ended up putting three coats of paint on her. This is the part that I'm seriously impatient with.  The end result is always my favorite part.  Not that I don't like the work involved.  The work we do is what makes me appreciate the end result so much. The thing is it's rare that I paint a piece that doesn't get some sort of special technique. Usually it's some form of distressing. When you have to use more than one coat of paint you have to wait on each coat to completely dry before you can keep going. I've literally been so excited with this piece that I have just sat there chin in hand waiting... just waiting on her new coat to dry.

 

And now to make her even more beautiful with some natural looking aging. That's the cool thing about milk paint. It tells you where you can distress, not the other way around. 

Heather added a shelf to the area where the missing drawer once was. I've painted it with matching milk paint, added a knob to the door and she's finished!!

The cubby would be perfect for decorative bakeware or even some pretty baskets! 

All she needs now is a new home!