Black is the new Black

Last week I tackled a project that had been on my list for quite some time.  The front door needed painting badly.  And, since we live in a subdivision with a HOA, I decided to just paint it black again since I would have to get permission to paint it any other color.  Plus, if I am being totally honest, black looks the best, but I would love to live in a white house where I could change the door color seasonally.  And, I had been wanting to paint the back of the front door... and I really wanted that to be black regardless of the front.  So, I painted it.  And I love the change.

I also hung this big hoop I embroidered with a ribbon and a few tacks tacked into the top of the door.  

Now for the boring, tiny before photos of the back of my front door through the ages (seriously, it isn't a long timeline.)

This is the color that  I most recently had it painted.  It was leftover paint from the dining room and I was just so tired of looking at the white.  I also removed the big painted wood piece and am planning on putting something else there.  I am taking that piece to my booth at Winchester this week when I go to restock.

We have been living outside for the most part.  Eating, playing, reading, crafting... it is all better outside!  We went on a little hunting trip Saturday and I found some treasures for me.  I will share those soon.

Now, I am off to finish up some pieces for some clients!

Mismatched Chairs

Last week when I was at my booth at Winchester Antiques, I turned around and saw the sweetest little chair (3rd from left.) I knew I had to have it even though I didn't know what I would do with it... I had my heart set on some industrial chairs with my recently repainted table in my kitchen nook.  I currently had a set of 4 white Navy chair knockoffs that we bought before we were married.  I always try to buy vintage when I can, but I was super tempted by 4 matching Tolix with my lion paw table.  After I got that sweet black and white beauty in, I saw how wonderful it looked at the table.

Rewind several months ago.... I found a little curved back chair (far right) and it was so lonely.  I bought it to sell at the store and painted it a weathered grey.  I kept telling the Mr that I would get over the industrial chairs if I could find a set of 4 just like this one. 

So, as of last Thursday, I had 2 curved back chairs with spindles in my possession.  Cue a text to my friend and shop keeper  Carol.  She had a green curved back chair (far left) that was similar... different spindles from the grey.  I liked it.  I took it home.  Then, we decided to go on a little hunting trip on Saturday.  My goals: yellow flower pot (check, McCoy) and a curved back chair, preferably in white, definitely not red!  And, as you can see (2nd from right) I came home with my prize in au natural!  So, after being quarantined for the past couple of days, I have been pinning some tables all with misfit chairs.  

 After much discussion that went sort of like this:
me: I am kind of liking the really mismatched look of the chairs... especially the wooden one.  Do you want to leave them as is?
the MR: no. I don't like it with everything else that is going on here.
me: all shades of white?
the MR: sure.  whatever.

He had more input later, but it is pretty decided that they will be white, but different.  I wish they were all *found* whites, but since they aren't, I do want them to look more collected and that different hands painted them. So, to get that look, I will probably use different kinds and colors of white paints.  That black and white one won't be touched though.  I love how in the last photo, they all have a similar shapes and spindles and different whites.  I am honestly surprised it has taken me so long to collect a bunch of random chairs... I always loved Monica's table *wink*

Back soon with the chairs' makeovers~

bye for now~

Just a touch of inspiration

 I took down all the Christmas (including the snowflakes) and the house seems so bare.  While it always looks cleaner after Christmas, I felt that the place needed a little pick me up and was inspired by one of my Christmas gifts...

My typewriter.  My beautiful green, petite vintage Royal typewriter.  How I love thee!  

Now, I realize that green (specifically emerald) is the Pantone color of the year, but I jumped on the green bandwagon ages ago... seriously.  I was 7, loved pink and pink and pink.  I turned 8 and I loved green.  Still do, even though I flirt with yellow and aqua as my bright choices. 

 So, I had the color matched as closely as possible with no specific purpose. I have been slowly but surely remaking my living room over the past several months.  I had a coffee table that was unpainted > became an upholstered bench with painted legs > back to a coffee table painted black > and now looks like this >

This room needed to be lighter.  Goldfish crumbs show up more on black. So,  I painted it one of my pale greys and distressed it and all that jazz.  But, I had this overwhelming wild hair to add something.  Enter the Typewriter Green paint.  

It adds a little something... but just a little.  I could have cropped the kiddo out on the sofa as well, but that adds a little something too, don't you think? 

Bye for now~

The Table that Needed It...

Hello and happy Thursday!!  The best day of the week!  I am off to the shoppe in just a bit, but I thought I would show you a piece that I just finished for the house.  Here is what it looked like before.... 

Can you see it... it is also before I knew how to make my photos larger, heehee!  Anyhow, it looked nice with its original black finish, but that was before the accidents with fabric glue and the scrubbing pad to get off said fabric glue.  We use this table quite a bit.  There is usually stuff all over it.  So, I had taken to covering it up with a table cloth.  Then I got a wild hair to paint it my Vintage Map. (edited to add... Vintage Map is a color from my Favorite Colors pallet and it is custom :)  I do use all Benjamin Moore paints though.  They may have one named Vintage Map, but I have never checked.  It is a pale, pale aqua.)

And, it brightened up the whole space!  I have been changing quite a few things up downstairs and this is a fresh little change.  I still love the black finish that was on it, but it needed to be painted.  And, if I am going to paint something, I want to see a change.

The table isn't even old.  I think we bought it at Target about 6 years ago.  But, from what I can tell, it is a solid wood piece.  I have even toyed around with the idea of painting it seasonally... sort of like how JCrew repaints their windows every time they change them.  The Mr. probably wouldn't like me rolling it out on the deck to work on it every few months.  I still love my metal navy chair knockoffs (Kmart yeeeaarrrsss ago) but I am wondering if I would like something different.  They are a breeze to clean though!

Okay, I am off to go clip some more peonies to take to the shoppe with us today!  My bushes have been on fire!!  Sure beats having to drive 30 minutes to a store that carries them.

Oh, and a quick question for all you people who know what you are doing out in the garden... am I right to think that if I move 2 of my peony plants this fall they won't produce next year?  They are being crowded where they are now and I would rather not have to dig up 2 evergreen bushes to give them room.

Be back soon... I framed my sampler!

bye for now~

Color Inspiration

Hello all!  One of the things that I always wanted to do for as long as I can remember is name colors.  I even entered a Crayola crayon naming contest when they introduced the "new" colors back in the 90s... maybe the 80s... Anyhow, I find color inspiration everywhere and I am constantly drawn to certain shades.  I am not a red girl at all, but blues and greens... Yes please!  Oh yeah... I also like greys *wink*

I gathered together some of the things I collect... mostly old... well, all old except for the sweater.  And, I only wish I collected JCrew cashmere *wink*  Stained ironstone, tweed suitcases, mercury glass, vintage maps, Portuguese aqua flower pots, and silver with a rich patina inspired my very own color collection.

At first, the idea was to use these shield shapes as a way to show my custom painting clients a sample of my finishes in case I didn't have a piece here to share with them.  Plus, they are fairly portable.  The shield shapes are actually antler mounts.... so not into antlers...

Then, once day, I was picking out swatches to give a client for a bed that I was to paint for her and I realized, that paper swatch didn't look like what the finish was going to look like... it was a different sheen, it was on paper, not wood, and it wasn't distressed at all.  So, I played around with a few wooden tags that we had and my custom swatches were born.

Then I needed to have a tasteful way to let visitors to my booths know that I offered custom painting services.  I found a few old cabinet doors that Mr. Hughes picked up to paint signs on and painted them a grey from my Mother Dough and silver leafed that great raised detail.

Mr. Hughes helped put it all together... and came up with the genius business card holder.  I am really pleased with the way it looks. I named my most often used colors after my favorite things.  I didn't have my Mora clock in the suitcase photo since it is tethered to the wall to keep a certain little man from knocking it over.

I may be no Martha, but now, Vintage Junky has its own color line!  Obviously, I will paint a piece any color for my clients... they aren't limited to these colors.  This was just a fun way for me to put it all together.  I am thinking I may add a few more in the future or change them out for seasons or whatever inspires me at the time.  

Okay, back to work... it is nap time!

bye for now!

almost forgot.... I got my vinyl decals from Leen the Graphics Queen.  She was the second person I worked with... the first was less than satisfactory.  She got me just what I needed promptly.  

Mother Dough

Hello all!  Do you remember me?  I didn't mean to take such a break.  I got caught up in all the birthday madness last week on top of painting furniture.  You probably think I am back to share photos of the Big 3 birthday party... all in good time.  Truthfully, I haven't had a chance to look at them yet, but I promise I will post them this week.  Today, I have something non- birthday related to share.

A long, long time ago, when I had cable, I was watching a show...most likely on the cooking network.  It was about a bread company in San Francisco that made sourdough bread.  The interesting thing was that they kept using a little bit of the original dough that they started with...this is a common practice amongst sourdough bread makers, but I had never heard of it.  This little bit of yeast rich dough is called mother dough.  So, each batch of bread has a little bit of that first loaf in it.  Some may think "eeeewwww..." but I was quite inspired by it.  I tucked it away in the recesses of my brain until one day I was getting ready to paint a piece of furniture and I didn't have enough of the grey I had wanted to use. hmmm.... what to do..... I decided to mix some "end cans" and create my very own custom color.  Now, I know that many people probably create their own custom colors as well.  The next time I was out of paint and I went back to mixing some end cans, I decided to pull that same paint out and add to it, creating my very own mother dough.

Each time I try to paint a little swatch on the top of the lid, but sometimes I forget.  Here are a few pieces that I have painted with my mother dough paint:

I am still mourning the sale of this one!  This was my first mother dough piece.

This one too.... loved the simple, clean lines and the dainty legs.

You will notice a grey theme here... well, I have liked greys for some time and don't foresee me liking them any less in the future *wink*

This piece is the piece I finished last week and it is now at City Farmhouse.

It is also painted with mother dough... a medium grey custom paint, one of my favorites that that I have mixed.  This is one of those pieces that I really, truly adore... it must be all those curves.  Oh well!  You can't keep them all (or you can and the nice folks from Hoarders will come visit you... not that I have seen it... I don't have cable, remember?)

I hope to expand my mother dough pallet in the future to include more colors..... maybe some blues and other neutrals besides grey.  Okay, I have to get busy cleaning the remaining birthday remnants... loads of glue dots to clean off the trim!

bye for now!

A Labor of Love

Or the goal of someone who should seriously have her head examined... I will let you be the judge.  A long, long time ago, Mr. Hughes bought a lot of chairs.  And since then, each and every chair has been made over and eventually went to new and lovely homes.  All except for 2 (well, 3... I have one in my entry.) These chairs have been swooned over and then forgotten.  Mr. Hughes started on them awhile ago, but then abandoned them.  Then, the other day, he looked at me lovingly over piles of stuff and said... you really need to get those chairs finished.  Sure, I said.  I will start on them this week.  I can't wait!! They will look awesome!  These chairs have what we call "good bones."  They are incredible and lovely and just need a little love.

Look at that vintage goodness!  I knew that I would have to remove those nails.... I wasn't going to recover over those.  And I have a tack puller... no problem.  I can do this! Now... take a closer look...

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you... those are nails covered by nails.  Now, it is my estimation that there were easily a gazillion nails initially.  And then there were a gazillion more under that.  And I have 2 chairs.... so, what is that... well, if my math is correct, that is 4 gazillion nails!!!  So I dug right in and pulled and pulled (I will mention here that Mr. Hughes had already warned me of this fact and had pulled a quarter of a gazillion nails himself before throwing in the towel.)  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Mr. Ancient Furniture Upholsterer has actually pulled some of the nails under the striped fabric.  I can only imagine what he was thinking when he was doing this... and the phone call that he made (if they even had phones when this was recovered!)

Mr. A F U:  Hello.... ma'am.... I have some concerns about the chairs that I picked up from you yesterday that you want recovered.  Are you sure this pink striped with gold leaf is a good combination?  Don't you think that you could possibly live with the sapphire blue velvet?

Lady of the House: No sir, that blue will not match the china.  What seems to be the problem?

Mr. A F U: Well, ma'am there are a gazillion nails to pull before I can recover them.  I pulled a few already, but I am sure I can replace them and you can have the chairs back just the same... no charge.

Lady of the House: No sir, that won't work.  Just cover them up with a gazillion more nails.  I am 100% positive that I love that pinky stripy satiny fabric.  It is timeless and no one will ever want to recover them.

So, I pulled all 10 gazillion nails over 2 days.  They are all gone.  My hand hurts.  I think I have a blister on top of a bruise.  I am saying "chairs" like it is an expletive.  Don't ask me about them for awhile, okay?  I did think it was so interesting to take something this old apart... what these chairs are filled with is... well, I am pretty sure it is grass clippings *wink*  But they are down to their bare beautiful bones and pretty soon I will paint them.  Not now though... we need our space.

Check out all the looks they have had.  Right to left... the first is what used to be a lovely light aqua silk. Then they had this sapphire blue floral velvet.  And then the pink striped satin.  Why didn't they stop at that silk... stained and all... it was lovely.  At one point, they were silver leafed rather than the gold leaf.  Beautiful I am sure!  I would love to leave the gilded look, but the finish is quite scarred from the 15 gazillion nails that I pulled.  By hand.  By myself (almost.) So they will be painted and recovered. Right now, I am planning on taking them to the barn show or one of the booths.  But, who knows... once we are on speaking terms again, they may find their forever home right here.

And, on a much more serious note, my mother is having another surgery tomorrow for her back.  This one is a big one.  So, please, keep her in your thoughts and prayers that she has a speedy recovery and that this greatly improves her life.  

bye for now!

Check and Check!

Hello and Happy Monday!  It is the beginning of a new week and I am excited to have a few things checked off my To Do list... you know, the non essential to do list.  First of all, I finished those dining room chairs that I begged Mr. Hughes for:

I painted them a light, light grey and added a little more cushion... you know... for our bottoms *wink* You will be pleased to know they are no longer stuffed with crunchy horsehair.  Then, I covered them in a charcoal grey linen.  I wanted a fun pattern to play off the pattern in our draperies, but in the end, I really ended up liking the solid.  It matches the ribbon on the draperies and also the face of my vintage clock.

Then I did this quick and easy project by following Ashley Ann's simple steps:

So easy!  baby hughes says they are snowflakes (and you know I love snowflakes) so maybe I will put them away until Christmas.  But, for now I will enjoy them.

As for the finish on the chairs...hmm... where do I start?  Well, let's just say that I was less than happy with a certain big name company that produces primer.  I tried a new formula.  It seems to have clashed with the paint that I always use.  In short, the paint never dried in some areas.  That has never happened (part of it is the lovely heat and humidity that we are having, I am sure.)  And I had painted 3 chairs.  So, what to do?  Do I strip and repaint the 3 and not use the primer on any of them or do I paint the remaining ones with the primer and hope to get the same results?  At this point, I had taken sandpaper and a drywall trowel to them.  And, I was sort of digging the look.  So I went with it.  And it looks pretty authentic.... like layers and layers of paint had been worn down by years instead of my vengeful hands.

I call it "Accidentally Authentic." And if you want me to recreate this finish for you, there will be an upcharge *wink*  And, since the dining room is once again finished (for now!) I thought I would show you what it looked like almost 5 years ago soon after we moved in...

And now, from a slightly different camera view...

We have changed the chairs and the draperies and have taken some things down and put some up.  That wall color will remain though.  I always love change, but that is the one wall color in the house that hasn't been up for change in all the time we have lived here.  Okay, kids, I have to get some invites out for someone's 3rd birthday.  Oh, and I read that book on my to do list too! check, check, check!!

bye for now!

How To: Silver leaf the Non-Exact Way

hello there!  Hope you a simply wonderful long weekend!  Our Fourth was spent outside, with friends, enjoying all the money that others spent on fireworks!  We are talking major show watched from our deck.

A few weeks ago, Mr. Hughes brought home a little table with great curves and quatrefoil top.  Immediately I thought, well, I will dress her up with a go- to grey and that will be that.  But, while driving around with the hyena, I had an epiphany (all my deep thinking happens when I drive, by the way) and I called the Mr. and I said, " how about silver leafing the top?"  He proclaimed me a genius (not really) and I swung by and picked up some more sizing since I knew I was running low.  So here, my friends,  is how to silver leaf a table in the Vintage Junky fashion:

Here is the table swathed in her new grey paint

You will need silver leaf sizing (you could probably also use spray adhesive, but I have a feeling the over spray would be a nightmare if you didn't prep, and I don't like to prep!)

Put on a thin, even coat awkwardly with your left hand so that you can take a photo with your right...

While you let it dry completely, run in the house, grab a can of yellow and spray paint a chandelier yellow for your vintage camper... no?  Just me?  Remember what your husband said about not getting any spray paint on the contacts and run back inside to get something to cover them.

Okay, should be dry.

Get out your silver leaf and a brush.

Try, as always when you silver leaf, to get the brush to pick up the leaf by static reaction.  When this doesn't occur, very, very, very carefully pick it up with your fingers (make sure they aren't sticky from sizing or spray paint... )

Place the leaf on the table and smooth it down with your brush.  Just smooth along that piece... don't start dusting along the edges just yet.

Place another piece directly underneath and follow this process until...

You decide to move out of order since it was looking too orderly.  At that point, put the leaf wherever you want.  

You can gently, gently, gently tear the pieces that over hang and use that to fill in spots that you perfectly line up to the edge.

Cover the whole table, or most of it.

Now, this is where the magic happens, start to dust the excess silver leaf off with your paint brush.  Do it in a "I am excavating for fossils" sort of way.  This is fun.

Watch how the excess lazily floats to the ground.  Say a little prayer that the wind doesn't blow the flakes over to your chandelier.  Say "You're Welcome" under your breath to the neighbors who will most likely find the little bits on happiness dancing in the breeze.

There, all leafed.  Now, sometimes you will find spots that for some reason (even though you put on a perfectly even coat of clear sizing) that the leaf didn't stick.  You can resize those areas and releaf.  I am assuming though, that if you made it this far in this tutorial, that you don't care about perfection and that you would rather it look a little worn and vintage.

So this next step is for you guys: lightly (and I mean lightly) sand the surface... use a 320 grit.  It will sort of antique it and tarnish it a little.  Some people (the ones who follow the directions on the bottle) will seal the top.  I prefer to leave it unsealed so that it will get a patina over time.

And there you have it.  A silver leafed top.

Stand back and admire all your hard work.  

Much to your surprise, this isn't my first time silver leafing.  I have done several mirrors, knobs, pumpkins... I think I like it since it has that mercury glass look.  It is pretty simple... if you do it my way. 

Okay, go silver leaf something!

bye for now!