make me pretty – geometric chair

I taught my “paint finishes and techniques for furniture” class again last weekend at the Visual Arts Center. It is such a fun class to teach. We went over seven different paint techniques for furniture and practiced them on wooden test tiles. I also brought in a chair and we re-did it from start to finish, as a class.

The students had three fabric choices and the class voted on which to use. Then we picked the paint color and the glaze. Everyone took turns sanding and painting and using the electric staple gun to reupholster the seat. I love watching people use power tools for the first time!

I am always surprised how well these chairs turn out, with 8 people deciding the fate of the furniture.

I am teaching the class again in July, if anyone is interested. Go to Visarts.org and search under “three dimensions”.

The chair before:

And after:

darling octopus and r•home magazine – the november issue

This months do-it-yourself article for R•Home Magazine is all about chalk paint. If you pay any attention to DIY, Pinterest, or painted furniture I’m sure you have heard of chalk paint. But you may not have tried it – there seems to be only one producer of chalk paint, Annie Sloan. And although her product is pretty wonderful it is also pretty expensive (usually costing upwards of $40 a quart, ouch!) And it is hard to come by – only stocked by a handful of stores. It is now available near Richmond, in Ashland, at a store called the Thrill of the Hunt.

But crafty people everywhere have been making their own recipes for chalk paint and I share one in my latest R•Home article. It is super easy to put together and pretty close to the Annie Sloan version.

Here are some pretty chalk paint pieces to inspire you:

from dittledattle.blogspot.com

 

from cherishedbliss.com

 

from alittlebitoshizzle.blogspot.com

 

from anniesloanunfolded.com

Annie Sloan also makes this amazing clear and dark wax. Even if you decide to make your own chalk paint I recommend trying her waxes. The clear is just a good finish for the chalk paint and the dark adds age.

 

an exciting new furniture consignment store

I have an exciting new shopping spot for you: Social Consignment. It’s located at 11 W. Broad street, right next door to the Books, Bikes and Beyond thrift store. And bonus, Tarrant’s is a couple of doors down, so when you are done shopping you can pick up a fish taco or a slice of pizza from their take out window! This is starting to sound like a fun Saturday afternoon to me!

Anyway, Social Consignment is full of all kinds of furniture finds. There are pieces that are in great shape and ready to go, but you can also find lots of good deals on fixer-upers too! Another thing that caught my eye was their book and dvd section. They had a bunch of cook books I had to resist taking home and a really great kids book section.

 

 

Like  a traditional consignment store, you can take in furniture to consign to make some money. But if there are pieces you wish to donate you can take them to Social Consignment and when your furniture sells 80% of the profits will be donated to the charity of your choice. This is a pretty awesome alternative to just dropping your stuff off at the thrift store. Now you can direct the money to the charities that you believe in.

 

You will find a Darling Octopus section at Social Consignments. I hope to keep a good selection of my furniture there and I will be marking stuff down regularly, so check back often!

With it’s prime location on Broad Street, right in the heart of the arts district, you can expect Social Consignments to jump into the First Friday’s hoopla with some fun events!

darling octopus and r•home magazine – the september issue

In the new R•Home magazine my DIY article is all about using an overhead projector to paint an image onto a piece of furniture. This is a really fun technique because you can take an image from anywhere – a favorite fabric, a drawing, wallpaper, or an illustration.

For more details about the project read the article online here.

Here are some other projector projects that I found online that might inspire you!

from sawdustandembryos.com

From paintedfurnitureonline.com

From designsponge.com

From sawdustandembryos.com

make me pretty – sweet antique estate sale chairs

Have you ever been to the Overbrook estate sale? If you haven’t you really should check it out. It’s held once a month in a warehouse on Overbrook Rd., kind of back behind the Diamond. They have a ton of stuff and the place seams to go on forever. I always seem to find something I want.

The last time I stopped by I fell in love with these chairs. They were only $10 each! I know most people would look at them and be like “ya, there’s a reason – there is no seat!” But I can fix that. So I picked up two of them and went to check out (bring cash or check, they don’t take plastic) and you know what the really nice Overbrook Estates lady did for me? She threw in the third chair for free! I didn’t even ask. I already thought I was getting a deal but the third chair seriously made my day!

So the first thing I had to do was tear out the old seat. Lots of hay, tacks, old leather and dust! I actually wore a mask it was so nasty!

Then I sanded, primed and painted. I distressed the chair to bring out all the detail and then covered it with a coat of furniture wax.

Next I made a little template for the size of my seat and had my dad cut out a piece of wood for me. Then I attached some nice thick foam and covered it with fabric. You can attach the new seat from the bottom with “L” brackets.
When I was all finished I brought the chair upstairs to take pictures of it before I took it to the antiques mall and my mom, who was over watching my kids, saw it and decided she had to have it. So this chair is now living at my parents house.

And my helpful hint for the day – self drilling skills. They have these little teeth at the bottom that help the screw go into the wood. I know I sometimes have a hard time holding the drill and putting enough pressure behind it to get the screw in. These screws make it so much easier!

a space of my own

I have been selling my furniture creations for about three years now and honestly, it’s been challenging. I started out on Etsy but shipping furniture is expensive! Then I tried craft shows but people aren’t really thinking big ticket items at those kinds of events. I have had good luck selling my stuff at consignment at shops around town and in DC but it’s a lot of work keeping up with everyone, moving inventory around, etc. So I am now experimenting with another option – a booth at the West End Antiques Mall.

If you have never visited, it’s worth the trip. There are 250 booths over 50000 square feet. It can be pretty overwhelming but you can get a map at the front desk (and come find me! booth 56.) I am sharing a space with my friend Paige, of Old Moon Vintage. It’s a good partnership since she collects mostly smaller things and I collect mostly bigger things. I am going to give it three months and see what happens but I love having my own little space!

I hope you will stop by and let me know what you think! Here is some more info:
HOURS: Monday – Saturday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm; Sunday 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm

They are closed New Year’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Address: 2004 Staples Mill Road
Directions: West End Antiques Mall is located near the intersection of Staples Mill Rd. and West Broad St. in the Crossroads Shopping Center, minutes from I-95 and I-64. It’s right behind Kripsy Kreme.
Phone: 804.359.1600
Theme: Antiques
Website: http://www.westendantiquemall.com

paint techniques and finishes for furniture

I taught my first class at the Visual Arts Center this weekend and it was so much fun! I was a little nervous before we got started (ok, I had major butterflies). But once I met my students, and heard about all their crafty adventures, I knew we would have a good time!

The weekend workshop was about different paint techniques for furniture. We practiced on test tiles, covering seven different techniques. We also re-did a chair together.

I wasn’t sure how a chair re-do by consensus would turn out but I have to say I am impressed! And painting goes so much faster with four people!

Here are some of the paint finishes we practiced:

And here is our chair before:

And after we worked our magic:

I’m teaching this same workshop in the fall and an intensive at the end of August where everyone will bring their own piece of furniture and we will re-do them together. If you think you might like to sign up you should visit the Visual Arts Center’s website. They have tons of really great classes and it is such a fun space. I was a student there before I became a teacher!

make me pretty – ikea circa 1984

When I stumbled upon these sad chairs in the alley, waiting for the trash truck, I knew I needed to try and give them a new life. When I took off the crumbling seat cushion I discovered an old Ikea sticker. These lovelies must be Ikea circa 1984 – they have hat mid-80′s vibe to them!

Well, first I knew I needed to have new wood cut for the seats and I needed part of it to be a half circle – so I enlisted my dad since he has the proper saw. Then I went over to Quilting Adventures to pick out some laminated cotton fabric. If you haven’t seen this fabric yet it is super cool – like a cross between cotton fabric and oil cloth. It has a protective covering but is still flexible and easy to work with. I chose a pattern by Amy Butler. You can also find this fabric on Etsy.

I spray painted the chairs after tediously sanding away all the rusty bits and put new foam and fabric on my seats and ta-da! like new, cute, outdoor chairs!

Come see these guys, and me, at my open house art party this Saturday! I hope to see you there!

wanted: the ugliest furniture out there

The way I shop for furniture is a little different than most people. I love to find the piece that no one sees the beauty in any more. Things that are so old and beat up that at first glance there seems to be no potential.

I live for before and afters – the more dramatic the better. Starting out with something truly ugly only adds to the effect.

So I find myself at lots of thrift stores and yard sales, and of course Richmond’s great provider – the alleys! This recent Salvation Army find is the perfect illustration of what I am talking about.

The first thing I look for is ugly fabric. I am no upholstery genius, although I would like to be, but this kind of chair is super easy to change the fabric on. Seriously, you need a screw driver and a staple gun – that’s it!

Not only is this fabric super ugly but the chair also has a ripped up plastic seat cover dangling from the edges – nice!

The second thing I look for is a bad stain or paint job. A lot of these old pieces have seen a re-do or two and it doesn’t always turn out pretty. I am just going to sand and paint it anyway so it doesn’t scare me.

Dripping stain and chipped varnish are my friends. They mean that everyone else walked past this chair without looking twice leaving it for me to scoop up!

The third thing I look at is the price. I want it cheap! If I am going to put a lot of time and effort (not to mention paint, fabric and supplies) into making these pieces pretty I want to start out with a small investment.

The most important thing to look for is that the piece of furniture you are interested in is built well. If it needs to be fixed do you think you can handle it? If not, just keep on walking because no matter how cute it is it will just end up sitting in your garage or basement. It also help if the piece has good lines and some interesting details.

The funny things is that the pieces I am drawn to were once really nice. You can tell, if you look past all the abuse, that this chair once sat proudly in someones dining room a long, long time ago. Hopefully I will be able to turn these old furniture pieces into the kind of treasures that people will love again!

make me pretty – a new years worth of projects

Oh my goodness. I have so much work to do. I have been accumulating furniture at a frightening pace and haven’t worked on anything in almost a month. I thought I would give myself a little break for the holidays but now it is time to get to work. I thought you might like a little preview of all my upcoming projects.

Here we go:

vintage kids table

This is the my next project. I love the lines of this 60s/70s kids table and chairs. I have this one all planned out already. I’ll give you a hint – it involves elephants!

black cabinet

This was an alley find. Thanks neighbors for throwing away cool stuff!

curvy end table

coffee table

I know you can barely see this coffee table through all the crap in my garage but it is pretty cute. Found it at a yard sale this past summer for $10. This one has me stumped. I just can’t figure out what I want to do with it.

desk

I think I will work on this one after the kids table. You can’t really see it but this desk has some great carved details. My awesome neighbor Bill put in new drawer slides for me. This one is going to be really nice when it is done.

oval table

Frankie wanted to make sure he made it into this post! This cool table was part of a trade. I love the metal base. Anyone have any idea what kind of wood that is?

red table

Another yard sale find. I plan on changing the paint color and putting fabric on the top – similar to the gray table with the Amy Butler Green and Gray flower fabric I did last year.

This one’s not really talking to me yet either. Oh well, I have plenty to keep me busy until I figure it out!

kids rocking chair

Another Frankie appearance! I showed this rocking chair to my mother-in-law and she said she would never have looked twice at it in the thrift store. This is where you have to use your imagination. I know it is really ugly but imagine it painted a cool color with new cushions in some hip, flowery fabric. It would be adorable in a little girls room!

white table with drawer

Alley find! A neighbor of mine, with really good taste, filled the alley with beautiful things on Thanksgiving day and I literally filled up my car. She was moving – I got lucky. This is one of the tables I scored for free!!

white table

dinning set

Last but not least. A very, very nice twitter friend gave me this dinning room set. It includes four of these chairs, two chairs with arms, and a table with two inserts. This is going to take forever but I am going to make it awesome. I need to refinish the wood and I want to find the perfect fabric because what is on there now is not doing these gorgeous Danish modern chairs justice!