Custom Chairs

A couple of weeks ago, Emily from Pigeon in the Parlor, asked us to look at some chairs she wanted us to paint. She had six chairs with the needle point seat covers, two captains & four side chairs. I told her to bring one in & we would take a look at it. Of course the only before picture I have is after we striped the chair down to the springs right before painting.

This is one of the Captains chairs.  We started with one of the side chairs that had the most salvageable seat cover. Emily wanted them painted Annie Sloan's Old White with the dark wax on the details. When we delivered the first chair we came home with the other five. Emily really hoped we could salvage a few of the needle point seats, but after we got them all home & looked them over really good, we were only able to save one out of the five.  So we painted out the one just like the previous needle point chair, now Emily had a matching pair.

Now we had our work cut out for us. The remaining four were in sad shape. The cushions were completely dry rotted inside. We had to strip them down to the springs & start over. Here they are all painted, waxed & ready for upholstery:

This was the easy part.

I just love how that dark wax enhances the detail.

Beautiful distressing....

Graceful curvy arms.... & just look at those industrial strength springs!  These are very well made chairs. They just don't make them like this anymore.

Now we were ready to upholster. Emily wanted drop cloth seat covers with different graphics on them. I found four different graphics from the Graphics Fairy. My Mom & I really learned a lot on this project. We thought we could use the old seat cover as a template for the new covers. NOT!!  They were so stretched out & we put on 2" foam, so needless to say the first covers were to small!

So we made new ones, big & square.  We cut where it needed it & stapled away.  This is defiantly a two person job.  Here is how they looked when we were finished:

We added nail head around the legs & arms....

I really need to make time to take better pictures. My Mom took these with her phone, which is fine, but I had a problem editing them. You get the idea..



Emily was very happy with these chairs. She now had a pair with the original needle point seats & four matching with the new drop cloth seat covers.

We grouped them with my Medallion table.  I wasn't sure how they would look together, but it looked pretty good.  Naturally I forgot to get a picture of them together. I really need to do better......

If you would like to see these chairs, they are for sale at Pigeon in the Parlor in Holly, Mi.  If you live in my area, & have a need for some custom furniture painting, feel free to contact us.  I love to read your comments.  Thanks for visiting & have a great day!  Dee



Queen Anne Nesting Tables

We are one week into the summer & I am already in need of a vacation. My mom & I have been working like crazy for the past week so I can go on vacation! Two weeks ago the family & I went to Midlands Antique Fair. This event happens three times in the summer & it is HUGE!

I was able to find a few smalls, after covering half the place I found these:

A set of perfectly French nesting tables with the sexy Queen Anne legs. On the largest table there are drawer pulls, but they're not drawers, they are handles so you can pick them up all at the same time. How cool is that!!?  They have leather tops & the smallest one was painted a high gloss cream. The color wasn't so bad, but the glossy finish had to go.

I gave them two coats of Annie Sloan's Old White & they were ready for graphics. This piece needed something feminine.

I just love how they came out!

On the first one I added a hand painted rose with the script.

The second one....

The third one...



These Queen Anne Nesting tables are for sale at Sassy Fabrics (V Trading) in Grand Blanc, Mi. Let me know what you think, I love reading your comments. Thanks for visiting & have a great day!  Dee

French Olive Side Table

This past spring, during the freak warm spell that gave us eighty degree weather in March, I found the cutest little side table at Collette's Vintage & Antique Mall's first Flea market.

It was so cute with it's little curved legs & it was just the right size to go any where. Perfect for a bedside table, or maybe next to the sofa or even in a guest bedroom.

I knew I had to have it the minute I seen it.  After alittle haggling I happily took it home with me.  Like I mentioned earlier, the weather was so warm for March.  We all had spring fever.  So I decided to paint this little cutie a nice spring green.

I took the last of my ASCP in "Olive" & added "Old White" to it & voila!  The perfect shade of spring green. Then I painted the rest in Old White. A funny thing about old furniture, you never know what is going to rise to the surface until your first coat dries.  This piece gave me fits, I kept getting a pinkish bleed leeching to the surface. I tried primer, then I tried Kilz (you know the "Stain blocking primer" NOT!).  Then I remembered reading somewhere that if you paint over the stain with flat varnish, let it dry, & paint again the varnish will seal in the bleed. Well, it totally works!!!  What a relieve.  That little problem was ruining the fun of painting. 

With that problem solved, I polished up the original hardware. Added a nice stencil I found at Hobby Lobby (love that place by the way). Did a couple of coats of clear wax & buffed to perfection.

Here is a close up of the top.

This little cutie is now available at Collette's Antique Mall in Burton, Mi.  Thanks for visiting, & have a great day!  Dee