Thursday, October 31, 2013

Lowery Blue Desk


 Do you still have the first piece of furniture you painted?

Well, I will be sixty in a few weeks and I still have the Lowery Blue Desk.

In 1975, I graduated from The University of South Carolina and moved 70 miles up I-20 to Camden, South Carolina to the King Haigler Apartments ...
 and my first teaching job.

I had a bed, a dresser, an orange plastic Parson's table and a black and white TV.  Oh, and a  round wicker chair.

So each grandparent, aunt, uncle, and cousin pitched in to pass their extra furniture to me.  My granny gave me my father's childhood desk.  It is a two-person desk - the drawer slides out both sides.



It was an indeterminate wood of a brown finish with tons of scratches and dings.

My first project in my new abode was to refinish this desk.  I spent some money  (gave up a couple of meals) for a Formby's (I think) antiquing kit in blue.

My parents refinished furniture when I was growing up so I had an idea of what to do and I followed the directions on the kit.

There are obviously no before photos from 1975.

People did have cameras. 

I did not.



I painted the desk the blue after mixing the paint - it was milk paint, by the way.  Yes, way back when. Then I glazed it with the gray gel provided.  It gunked up a little on the top, but I loved the outcome.

Fast forward to early last week when I pulled this desk from the attic where it had been for 20 years.

I still loved it!









I just took the hand sander to it and distressed it more and gave it two coats of Minwax.













 I think it is quite lovely.

I bet very few of you have an original piece from decades ago.

I call this Lowery Blue because my father's eyes were blue.

I do not.  I have Guillebeau brown eyes.













Here Lowery Blue sits outside the craft/computer/guest room waiting his turn to be shoved, er, carefully placed.

Sorry about the wonky photo.  I had to stand on the stairs to take it.

No, not my childhood play house though it is identical to mine.  It once belonged to the lady around the corner.  No one in her family wanted it.

Really?

We pulled some more memories from the attic this afternoon.

I will take photos for you to see.

I promise.

See y'all!










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Wednesday, October 30, 2013

A Bit of Buying

 I am trying very hard at not filling up the empty spaces with new old treasures.  I only did a bit of shopping, and I have excuses for all.

I promise!

First I was at Tractor Supply buying dog food and there was a long line.  You know they have those terribly inviting bins of stuff to buy along the checkout lines.  

There was a box of new but oh, so blue Mason jars.

I had to have them.

So I bought them.

And you see I am already using them to store my Scrabble letters and dice.

The blue Mason jars were oh, so necessary.



 Except for the third olive bucket, I have been determinedly deleting the Decor Steals daily alerts and flash deals.

Until the Chinese wooden caddy came into view one morning.

Yes, I clicked.  I bought. I love it.

I will be using it for Christmas stuff.

After the holidays I will turn it on its side, stick a dowel through the holes and use it to store all the spools of seam binding I have.

The wooden caddy was oh, so necessary.






While returning from an errand, I passed by Habitat Restore and saw the huge 50% OFF banner calling my name.

I stopped.

I shopped.

A quick look in the car.  It is all still there so technically it did not come into the house.

I needed some new pieces for the booth.

This bunch was oh, so necessary.


 I filled Chuck's truck with things for the thrift shop and away I went with no intentions of buying one little thing.

After unloading, I had to walk around and look, didn't I?

It wouldn't be polite to just dump stuff without maybe, just maybe, buying some small bauble or two.

This sprinkler caught my eye.

I loved its shape and style and patina.

It would look great hanging in the new craft room.

The sprinkler was oh, so necessary.



As I was purchasing the sprinkler, Jeff (you know you are in trouble when the manager of the thrift shop and you are on first name basis!). said he had something under the counter he had been saving for me.

Jeff said I needed to buy them.

Over a hundred of keys from an old apartment complex.

WITH NUMBERS!

I loved.

I bought.

The keys were oh, so necessary.

Okay, so I slipped just a bit.  To my defense I have had a hard week which is why I have been absent.  My cardiologist put me on a high protein diet with no grains or fruit.  I am not much of a meat eater so it made me terribly ill over the weekend, but I have switched to eggs and fish.  Because I had eaten more meat in three days than I had in a month, I had to floss more.  I popped a crown off late Saturday night.  I glued it back on until I could see the dentist on Monday.  Unfortunately I glued it backwards (the very last molar on the top left) and could not bite down.  I had that reset on Monday.  Tuesday started a whole mouth makeover with two crowns removed, the teeth bonded and temporary crowns put back on.

All this to say, I did not get my craft/computer/guest room finished by October 31 for the second year in a row.

But I am working on it.

(Don't you dare go back to see how many posts I have said that very thing.  I did - it was appallingly embarrassing!)

So just a bit of buying.

The items were oh, so necessary.

See y'all!












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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Tuula, The Pink Dresser



The very minute I mixed the paint for this small dresser I knew her name was Tuula.  

Most of you know Tuula McPhee of  The Thrifty Rebel.  I have been reading her blog for more than a year now and enjoy every post. 

 I thought at first she had to be a Southern US girl, but no, Tuula McPhee (probably one of the best Southern names I have ever heard!) is a Canadian of Finnish descent.  She has a deep love of color - especially pink.




 The small dresser sat in the downstairs foyer for years holding paper supplies.  I am moving furniture around to get my craft room organized and she had to go.

No before pic, but she was not in bad shape.  The drawer glides had to be reset and the whole dresser needed some serious sanding.  The top sported a burn mark.







 

The hardware just needed to be clean with some white vinegar.  The finish was definitely orange, but most of that came off with the sanding.

(If you are looking for the hardware, there is no photo.  I forgot!)










 


I did manage to get a small bit of what was under that finish.  Mostly bare wood.












I decided on a strange shade of red from the oops section, but there was not enough.  So I threw in some gray-white oops paint and some non-sanded grout and water.  There was a beautiful shade of pink chalk paint.

It was Tuula pink!














 After painting two coats, I wiped some off for distressing.

Wasn't quite distressed enough for me.
















 More sanding was needed.

I took her down hard around the edges and the top and the sides.

Okay, so I distressed her quite a bit all over.












After all that abuse distressing, I rubbed her down good with Minwax clear wax.  Then followed that with a rub down with Howard's Golden Oak wax.

Then I buffed,

and I buffed,

and I buffed

Until she gleamed in the setting sun.




Here she is, folks.  Tuula is patiently waiting for someone to take her home.

A funny side note:  I asked permission from the real Tuula to name a piece of furniture after her.  She agreed.  When I posted about how I had cleaned up my booths last week, Tuula commented she loved the pink dresser.  I could not hold the surprise any longer and told her it was Tuula, the pink dresser.


A Boast About My Booths here!

One of my customers renamed the paint color to PANK!

I think that says it all.



Now go and visit the real Tuula and see her beautiful creations, her makeovers, and her wonderful garden art.  Read The Thrifty Rebel here.

Thank you for allowing me to name a piece of furniture after you, Tuula

See y'all!









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