Swooning

swoon

  \ˈswün\

verb (used without object)
1.     to faint; lose consciousness
2.     to enter a state of hysterical rapture or ectasy

Things that make me swoon in no particular order:

• Scottish Accents
• Fresh Peonies
• Dinic's Roast Pork sandwich in Philadelphia
• Fall in Shenandoah
• Chivalry
• First Snow of the winter
• Beards
• Antique Maps
• Breakfast - anytime
• The score to Pride & Prejudice (The Secret Life of Daydreams in particular)
• This dresser:

The moment I saw this dresser I knew there was no walking away. I'd never seen a dresser with a shape quite like this one (think trapezoidal). I somehow managed to see through the orangey haze it was to get a pretty clear vision of what I'd like to see this piece become. The slightest hint of metallic gold is absolutely swoon-worthy, don't you think?

Globetrotting

I took a bit of a hiatus over the past couple of weeks while I was vacationing on my annual Reunion/Adventure with my best friend. Every year since college we travel abroad for a week to two weeks and this year was London, Vienna, The Alps, and Paris. I figure its a decent enough excuse to go on hiatus for a few weeks. Here's the cliff notes version in pictures:

Obligatory London telephone booth picture.

With The Bestie being touristy goobs on a double decker bus in London.

Vienna,  Austria

Vienna,  Austria

Swiss Alps, Interlaken, Switzerland

Swiss Alps, Interlaken, Switzerland

The streets of Paris. I drank the kool aid and now love, love, love Paris.

Paris

The trip was amazing. I consumed (because "ate" just could not accurately convey what actually went down) more crepes in a 12 hour timespan than anyone should in a lifetime, was propositioned by a homeless man riding a scooter in broken Frenglish (#blessed), perfected my already nearly flawless British accent, met and was inspired by several young women fearlessly exploring the world, was reminded why my best friend is my best friend (basically because she continues to put up with my ADHD), and satisfied my wanderlust for the time being...

Any who... on to the reason you are here for. Restoration projects! I have 3 projects in the pipeline at the moment. All of which were from that massive thrifting haul the week before I left. Here's a sneak peek of where I'm at. Hoping to have a post up very soon of the finished products!

So long orange paint with a distinctly 70's vibe! 

There is some seriously beautiful wood underneath the 15 bajillion coats of paint on this desk.

Thrifting

Its been a couple weeks since my last post. Mostly because I have not had anything to work on though not from lack of searching. That's the thing about thrifting. Some days you spend the entire day scouring every consignment, thrift, or antique store (and let's face it - your neighbor's curb on trash day) and come away with nothing but disappointment and a lingering scent of mothballs. Other days its like winning the Thrift Store Lottery.

Luckily, this Saturday was a lottery kind of day. 

Unfortunately, the Eau de Mothball lingers despite the outcome...

The Gov joined me on my search for new pieces. Here are a few of the eclectic, the odd, and the awesome things we found. 

Aisles and aisles of trinkets.

Cool leather and hardshell vintage suitcases.

Love the buckle on this one.

$1 for that street sign? Sold.

I will regret walking away from that purple velvet couch til the end of my days. Sigh.

And those were just the things we didn't buy. Are you ready to see what we DID buy?! Drum roll please...!

Would you believe we got all of this for UNDER $150. Yes, LESS THAN $150. Go ahead, take a moment to pick your jaws up.

The lesson here is never be afraid to ask people to come down on their prices. If that sounds intimidating to you (it totally was to me in the beginning) just try asking this one question my dad taught me, "What's your best price?" It never hurts to ask. I decided to ask and not only did they bring their prices down, but they were also having a deal where you got 50% off your entire purchase. WINNING!

Can't wait to show you all the finished products. I'm especially excited about that extra hideous orange dresser. She's gonna be so mod and sleek when I finish with her.

I've leave you with one last view of this amazing velvet couch. I'll be dreaming of it tonight.

Oh, the memories we could have made.

Introducing

I'd like to introduce you to The Beast (although I should probably rename her because she is anything but beastly now).

The Beast was entrusted to me recently by my roommate and friend (let's call her "The Gov"). The Beast was gifted to the The Gov with a rich legacy... of storing things (see below).

While this legacy was quite noble considering the absurd lack of storage in the house we live in it was time to give her an update and hopefully find her a new home. Until then, she will be a more aesthetically pleasing addition to our basement.

I have been eyeing The Beast for quite some time itching to put her under the paintbrush so I went into this with a semi clear vision. Nearly 75% of the time my initial vision is not at all what the final product ends up being and The Beast was no exception. I'll save those photos for another post.

For this project I decided to go back to my roots and use good 'ole latex paint rather than the boutique paints I have been using lately. The outside is Behr Premium Plus with Primer in Graceful Gray and the interior is a custom mint green mix from leftover paints. Note to self: make sure you mix enough of a custom color when working on a project. Metallics and Rifle Paper Co. are my latest obsessions and this was the perfect piece to implement both. 

Amazingly, Behr's paint + primer makes it super easy to give your piece a quick update. I thoroughly wiped her down and started slapping on paint. I put 2 coats of each color, used Modge Podge to adhere the Rifle paper to the back, sponged on the ombre dots using metallic gold paint, 2 coats of water based poly on as a protective coat and voilà! Well, maybe not just voilà. This was actually my most labor intensive project yet, but that had more to do with the sheer girth of The Beast than it being a complicated process. That and being creatively stunted one or 10 times but again, that's another post...

Here are a few Before and Afters:

_____________

Photos of The Beast post makeover. Sadly, she was so large I had to take photos in the basement so the pictures really don't do the colors justice. Either way, she's a beaut if I do say so myself.

I'll leave you with this photo as a cautionary tale of what happens when you leave your projects unattended. Roommates will make mischief. 

Courtesy of The Roommates

Playing in the background while working:

• Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors
• Patty Griffin
• And several episodes of Parenthood which is not a great idea because painting is not conducive to sobbing uncontrollably. Such a good show.

Stylings

I was going back through photos of all the pieces I have worked on over the past couple of years to give you an idea of my style. I came away with two things.

The first being I have no idea what to label my style. My heart belongs to the super chippy, primitive milk paint look, but I love to experiment with all colors, paints, and stylings of furniture.

Second, my pieces have come a long way in both quality and presentation. I'm particularly amused by my attempts at staging in the beginning.

Feast your eyes.

The first piece I sold! She was the one that reignited it all.

Christmas lights? Why the heck not? Its amazing the difference between how things appear in your head (or a magazine) and how they appear in reality.

I clearly did not understand white balance at this point. Thank goodness for friends that are willing to explain cameras. 

Oh, boy. This is all kinds of rough. Maybe that is why she now acts as a pantry in our kitchen.

Shout out to my girl, Mindy! Mindy Project anyone?

Can you believe I found this piece on the side of the road?! One man's trash...

Getting better.
You can also see I finally got my hands on a better camera.

Mint Green. It's a recurring theme in my work.

The first large piece I tackled. She now resides with a couple in Dupont Circle.

This is painted using CeCe Caldwell's clay paint. Earthy paint smell? I  want to bathe in it. 

What I like to call my Galactic Chic piece. A custom piece for a friend's home office.

This screams Anthro Baby to me. Is that a thing at Anthropologie yet? 
It should be. Hipster moms would go berserk.

This is my favorite staging. The gun was a last minute addition by none other than my Dad.  Its an antique that has been passed down on my mom's side of the family. I was reluctant to include it, but ended up loving the addition. Sadly, I'm pretty sure this is the most masculine piece I've ever done. I should really change that...

My favorite piece. Ever.
Antique hutch refinished in emerald green milk paint without bonding agent.

A wedding gift for a fabulously creative couple late last year. Talk about pressure!

This is a picture of my room to give you an idea of my personal style. The lines are bit too clean for me at this point. I need something really beat up and aged to balance it out.

Latest. Now at home in Burke, VA.

This is actually the first time that I have sat down and looked at my progress from beginning to present. Humbling is the first word that comes to mind. Also, a quote from Zechariah, "Do not despise small beginnings." (Zechariah 4:10)

In other news, I am beyond excited for you all to see the latest piece that I have been working on. She's a beast. A big, beautiful, bodacious beast.