'TIS THE SEASON

Whew, it's been a busy week! I went with my fella to get a few last minute Christmas gifts on Tuesday. While in Stuart, I popped in to check out the new expanded Junk Dog Salvage. By Wednesday morning we were painting my soon to be booth and Thursday afternoon I had all my goodies set up and ready for new homes!

My handsome man helped me patch and paint the space! I was so glad to have a blank canvas.

No overcrowding here! Everything has a place and it all coordinates. I nabbed some of my favorites from my Okeechobee location at The Unique Boutique. That's ok though, I left plenty of vintage goodies!

This glorious mahogany mirror was sitting on the floor in Okeechobee, I just didn't have the room. But here it is the center of attention!

I love propping old photos up on equally old furniture. Price tags are a necessary evil, I think they distract from the display a bit. 

Lovin' this desk. I've never used so much black on a piece before, but I think it really works.

At times, I get a little selfish with my stuff. This catalog has been in my closet for months, but I decided it wasn't doing any good there. Now someone can give it a new home, but until then it's gracing my new booth!
All in all I love my new space and hope I can always add to the quirky charm at Junk Dog Salvage!

BEIGE BUT NOT BLAND

 I've admitted on multiple occasions that I have a furniture addiction. I sometimes buy more than I have room for, whether at the shoppe, or in my work space. But sometimes ya just gotta get 'em when you see 'em.

And I'm so glad I snatched up this Craigslist dresser! I'm very pleased with how it turned out. Certainly one of a kind. But when I picked it up a few days ago, it wasn't nearly as dapper!

When Mom and I hauled this home from a late night Craigslist purchase, it was pretty dirty....like left in a barn or garage type oily dirty needs a bleach bath kinda way.

Despite that, this piece is heavy, well built, solid wood, and has tons of character.

 

Oh! And one of the best things is that it has all of the original hardware!

After stripping the top and making a huge mess it was ready for priming, painting, and detailing.

Lets not forget that most antique pieces have missing delicate trim. Some people would just ignore this, but I am kind of a perfectionist, so I used wood filler like Play-Doh to replicate the missing trim piece. 

Have I mentioned how glamorous refinishing furniture is? If I haven't, here is an image of my sweet manicure!

Transfer paper is a cheap and relatively tedious way to get an image onto a piece of furniture. But alas, my vision included a Victorian advertisement graphic, so it had to happen.

Several hours and several Advil later, the custom paint job is done! It was a bit of a pain, but totally worth it.

It'll be gracing the shoppe as soon as there's room for it! 

GETTING FESTIVE

This post will be a little picture heavy, but everyone likes pictures! The lovely vanity I just finished fits in the shoppe perfectly! This was one of those pieces that had me considering switching something out of my room to keep it. But I kinda need a bed, so it's in the shoppe and ready for a new home!

I love the etched glass and pineapple detail on the top. It's so unique. Maybe a snow bird will want it for their winter home. With the new aqua coat it screams beachy glamour.

Of course, this piece was deserving of a matching chair, so I fished this beauty out of my growing chair collection and gave it new life with paint and a clean neutral upholstery job. 

 I had to throw some festive bits all around the shoppe, so these bright colored ornaments complemented the soft pastel vanity. You can see wood engraving peeking out, I couldn't bring myself to paint over it, so it's quite the accent

 

I have a thing for old bottles, so it's rare that any make it into the shoppe. But my collection has gotten too big to handle, so these guys are ready for a new home. Perhaps in a windowsill full of wildflowers?

I typically don't like artificial flowers, but these little cherubs can pull 'em off.

I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I found room for a tree again this year. It's a Christmas miracle....a bit early, but a miracle nonetheless.

These are not my typical style, but they are just adorable!

Ironstone works for any season!

I love a good deal, so I've been holding onto this tree since a Christmas in July sale! So glad to have it out of the garage and in the shoppe where it an be appreciated.

There seemed to be too many balls on the tree and not enough variety, so I tied some mismatch teacups in and made this discount tree a shabby success.

 

I can never stop at just one tree! This little guy has also been hanging in the garage since July.

I customized this star with some tinsel and an image from the graphics fairy.

 

I love these vintage Santa mugs. I almost snagged 'em for myself to stick with my jadeite for a sweet vintage red and green Christmas. But alas, I can't keep everything!

I'm not ashamed to admit that this Santa creeps the crap outta me! He's a little terrifying, but there is something super charming about him at the same time. It didn't help that his hand clasps a paring knife perfectly and we made full use of that fact for Halloween! 

 A lovely pair of candle holders from another Christmas in July sale!

 I can't believe I found a pink Santa! It was in March, but hey, when you see a pink santa, you can't pass it up! So on that note, I leave you with this: it may seem ridiculous to shop for Christmas year round, but the July sales feel like they just happened! Christmas rolls in quick and if you're always on the hunt, you can avoid a pricey retail decor nightmare!

PAINT IN MY HAIR

I often go out on supply runs covered in paint. I sometimes get asked if I'm painting something. With that I typically run my fingers through my paint knotted hair and just nod. Well, this week has been no exception. With an imminent supply run coming, (I just need fabric) I will again grace the retail world with my messy ways. I am a midst a pretty big refinish, so I just have a work in progress to show.

Here is the lovely vanity my Dad helped me pick up on Sunday. It is heavy, dark and kinda dingy. But look at that detail! The old gummy finish can't hide all that glorious-ness.

 Oh boy. There was certainly some wood filling to do. It's a shame to paint detail like that neat veneer chevron, but the veneer is just too far gone to save.

I decided right off the bat that I would bring this down to one knob per drawer and just fill the holes. Hey, that wood grain diamond shows right where the center is!

 The first thing I decided to tackle was prying the veneer off the tops. It was peely and water damaged, so there was no need to try to save it. There is always solid half decent wood under veneer. And after painstakingly prying it off, you get a smooth, bubble free surface to work with.

 It always seems that after I paint a piece, someone says what a shame it is to have painted over such lovely wood. It's like paint erases the memory of just how bad things were. It's then, that I have to whip out some detailed before pics like this one.

 Hey, did I mention it has a friggin gigantic mirror that goes with it? No? Well here it is. It slides right into the back of the piece and makes it really impressive. And if you were wondering, that's my garage door the mirror is looking up at.

Look at that detail! Don't worry, I haven't begun work on the mirror yet, so that has not been painted over. I'm going to strip off the finish and wax over that detail. I will paint all around it. It'll be an accent piece. Some people just paint over stuff like this, but I would just die. I stripped a drawer with carved flowers like this once. It was awesome!

Holy etched glass Batman! Such attention to detail really make this piece stand out. It's one of a kind.

This pic says it all. This is the un-fun part. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do, but it kind of makes me cringe when someone with perfectly manicured fingers tells me they would love to do what I do and how lucky I am. In refinishing furniture, there are splinters, needles in drawers, random nails that rip the top of your hand off, and constant grime under your nails. This business is dirty, dusty, grimy, roach-y, and often involves bloodshed. To be honest, if it were easy, everyone would do it on their own and there would be no value in what I do.  

Elmer's wood filler has saved so many projects!

Time for some basic math in finding the center of each drawer. Luckily the veneer did most of the work, indicating the halfway point. 

Here she is all sanded up and ready for a coat of primer. But that's boring, so we'll skip right to the paint.

She got a coat of jadeite type green that I custom mixed. But it was a little bland, so I decided to take a darker color and brush it into the details to really make them stand out. 

There it is. In poor lighting and mirrorless, she is still a work in progress. But certainly in much better condition than I found it.

I typically paint things very light, but I felt that this piece was far too unique for a coat of white, and needed a color custom mixed for it.

I am so pleased with how the detail doesn't get hidden by the paint.

I moved the knobs on the doors, so they stick straight out, instead of facing each other.

The white wash worked to soften the color and highlight the raised detail. Especially on this strip between the drawers.

The top turned out nice ans smooth without the veneer. A little elbow grease and splinter filled hands leads to lovely results. 

Next in line is this little chair. It'll be getting a matching green coat so it can sit in front of the lovely vanity.