French bedroom set

I had this french provincial bedroom set in my bedroom for almost two years, I loved the curved shape at the front of the dressers, the legs, the hardware and the fact that was made of solid wood. I didn't like the fake wood grain and the color of the stain, but I got used to live with it until I found another set, very different, more modern looking, I'll post the pictures next time.

The original plan was to stain the tops dark and the rest of the dressers and night tables antique white, but when I applied the stain, dark circles started to appear, for me the easiest thing to do was to paint the whole piece white.

These are the before pictures

These are the water marks or should I say red wine marks from my husband's glass and maybe some marks from my daughter's glass of milk.

These are the night tables, the original set came with just one table, I found another table not identical but I liked the proportions and it is french style as well.

These are the after pictures, I regret that I didn't paint them sooner and enjoyed them in our bedroom. I think they look very nice.

The long dresser was missing a pull, I had a hard time finding one to match the other pulls, it's not easy to find hardware that is around 60 years old. I had to borrow the pull from another dresser, so I'm still looking.

Black dresser

I would say that ninety percent of the times I paint the furniture white, but this time the color I've chosen for this dresser is black, I love how it turns out.

Dining sets

 It's hard to find chairs that are in good condition, it's very common to find chairs that are wobbly and the foam on the seats very dirty so it has to be replaced, and that alone can be expensive. So far I found three dining sets I liked well enough to refinish them, all  the same style.

The first set, came with four chairs, but I found another two, once you paint and recover the seats they look perfect together. Can you spot miss barbie?

I didn't bring the table inside the house so I took pictures in the garage, sorry for the messy background, the bad lighting and the bad photographer, but unfortunately that happens a lot.

The second dining set, went to a young woman, I gave her the leftover fabric I had from the chairs, she was going to make a balance for the kitchen's window and some pillows to match her new dining set,

And this it's my last dining set so far, this is how the chairs looked before I worked on them, again the set had just four chairs but I was lucky to find another two, different but they look well together once I put the same uniform.

White buffet

   Buffet before: good condition but looking a little sad.

Buffet after: dark stained top, bottom part painted antique white, same hardware, very heavy piece I couldn't bring it inside, had to take pictures in the garage.

White dressers

My husband had these dressers before we got married, in this picture they are ready to be painted, I have already stripped the stain and sanded, we used them in our bedroom for a few years, but I got a french style bedroom set, so I decided to paint these in white and use them in my daughter's bedroom.

These were my beginnings painting furniture, this was the first time I used an air compressor and a spray gun, it took me a long time to get the right finish.

I apologize for the bad quality of the pictures, but like I said before at this time I was just beginning, experimenting,  I didn't intend to post the pictures or show my furniture anywhere, hopefully I get better.

Finally I finished the dressers and they look like this:

Instead of keeping them for my daughter as I intended, I put them up for sale. A woman emailed me twice letting me know that she was very interested, I emailed back gave her my phone number, she called me right away to assure me that she wanted the dressers the only problem she didn't have a car big enough to fit the dressers, she asked if I was able to deliver for an extra fee, if I wasn't able she was going to hire movers, of course I taught movers would be more expensive than the actual dressers so I told her I was going to deliver the dressers. When I delivered the dressers I found out that she is a designer and she works for Sarah Richardson, I was over the moon to know that a designer liked my furniture and on top of  that she works for a designer I am fan of and I admire. 

A thoughtful mother's day gift and a black desk

One day talking to my step daughter I mentioned that I needed to buy good brushes for my furniture painting, so for mother's day she gave me a gift card to buy brushes, I got them and started working on a desk that needed a lot of work.

     The desk it's very well made, I think it's from the 1940's or 1950's, but it was in very rough shape, I cleaned it, sand it, used wood filler to fix the corners, sand again and finally painted it.
     I changed the pulls for a more modern look.

It amazes me how a piece of furniture like this one,  that is very old and has been very neglected survived all this years, and with the proper care it will survive many more years, all comes down to the quality of the materials and craftsmanship.

Lovely peonies

     Since we don't spend as much time in the garden as I would like, I bring the garden inside the house whenever there are beautiful flowers in the backyard, yesterday my daughter and I picked some white and pink peonies, we brought in some hosta leaves and purple salvia to use as fillers in our flower arrangements.
     I've been collecting florist glass frogs for a while, every time I get one I think of the flower arrangements I can make with them, but I never use them, I always use regular tape and it works perfect.

 
  My only complaint about peonies is that they don't last long, so I might as well enjoy them when they are in season.