Greetings from The Crack Capital of North America!

We're not all crack heads here in Toronto, but all this scandal has been effecting us...

So,since I've been staying awake so much,I've been painting my little heart out!

I think I showed you the before photos of the great table and chair set I bought this summer:

Sorry for the bad photo, its off my computer screen.  Isn't it a gorgeous set?  

Last week I sold a sideboard I had taken into my booth, and I needed something big to fill the space.  So I felt that maybe this lovely kitchen set would look great in someones home in time for Christmas!

I would have sanded and refinished the top, but I don't like to do heavy duty sanding in my home.  My little kiddies are prone to asthma, and old varnish dust can't be good for anyone to breath in.  So, I just ASCPed it all over!  

I actually prefer the look of painted tops, but like the maintainability of an unpainted surface.

Here are the during and after pix:

Here are the painted, distressed but unwaxed photos.

Then the magic of wax...

Okay, you may not see the 'magic' but believe me the depth and sheen the wax provided really was magical in real life!  I'll have to pull out the old camera next time...(instead of my handy iPhone).

TADA!!!  Here it is, all painted, waxed, and at the booth!  Isn't it lovely?  Can't you just imagine it with small boxwood wreaths tied onto the back of each chair?  A Simple white and green Christmas?

I swear, some pieces you know you are going to regret selling, and this table is one of those pieces.  I love the legs!  How many tables/chairs does one family need? 

Anyway, I found some really neat pieces this week, some of which may not make it to the booth cause their are too hard to give up...

Keeper!!

Isn't this old wicker/rattan/straw (?)purse totally a keeper?  Its gorgeous!  I'm thinking its not old enough for the handles to be bakelite, but its still pretty old and pretty gorgeous...my precious...

I found this great Fransiscan ware teapot/teacups this week, and while they are lovely, I have probably over a hundred tea cups at home!  Off to the booth!

And all this was in one lot at an online auction.  Everything else I bid on was way overpriced, but I managed to nab this lot for under $15 including the taxes and fees! Look at that bench and old crock (5 gallon from Medicine Hat Alberta)!

As you can imagine, my crap junk treasures were in the garage, and very icky (spider webs, dirt, crud, etc...) so when I asked them if they had any paper towel (the people running the pick ups) they said that if I found any cloths, etc...in the garage, I could use them as everything in the garage was going to be thrown out...

'EVERYTHING?'...

One mans garbage ...

I got a large wooden ladder that couldn't be sold as it had a repair, and a bucket full of spindles...FOR FREE!!!  

This load was worth spider webs and crud!  Anyways, this has probably been one of my best scores evah!

Hope you all have a great evening :)

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Gotta Go with the Flow...

Warning:  Photo heavy post!

I bought this great old dresser and mirror this summer, and it was waiting in my studio garage until I sold some bigger pieces of furniture at my booth.  

Last week the time had come for me to bring it in and paint.  Unfortunately its getting a bit too cold and inclement for me to paint in my garage.

These are the before photos:

I love mirrors like this, they are pretty as is, but once you paint them, the details pop.

Although it was stained brown, it had a strong red undertone...

 You can really see the red in these photos.

While I use ASCP and you don't really have to sand it, I still like to sand the dresser top a bit, just to give it some extra hold.  I like to strip/stain the dresser tops, but I doubt I would have gotten much more money for the dresser, even if I stained the top.  Given the amount of time invested in sanding/stripping/refinishing properly, I felt it wasn't really worth it.

I wanted to try my can of Versailles paint, and this was the piece!

 One coat, two coats, four coats later...

and the red was still bleeding through!  Too bad because I really liked the colour.

See all the pink?  I even tried the wax then repaint technique...not so good.  In the end...I went with Graphite!

 This just goes to prove that old saying 'When at first you don't succeed' is just a waste of time!

 I'm really a 'Cut your loses' kind of girl!  I had to stop fighting the red.  Well, at least the Versailles made a nice under colour for the Graphite, once distressed.

 I'm from the school of light distressing.  Chris, my neighbour and painting pal is from the school of heavy distressing, and while its not my style (maybe I'm a bit of a chicken?), her pieces are actually quite lovely. As you can tell, I painted this one. Chris is in FL for the winter (lucky B****!) so no heavily distressed pieces in my booth till May!

Here she is, all assembled in my booth. What a great piece!  Most of the pieces I paint I wish I could keep, and this piece definitely one of those pieces!  Good thing I live in a wee little house!  

Excuse me while I go hunting for something to paint in Versailles :)

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