Black Black and More black... everybody loves black shabby.

big Mexican Pine Hutch.. 

Dresser redo

Solid Wood hutch

I love the red top on this piece.

petite buffet

cute little ding a ling drawer pulls

I sooo wished I could have kept this one.

my fav
lover love love the little window pane things.

before

the top on this is just particle board but the Minwax Gel Stain made it look like rich wood.

before

IT'S NOT YOUR GRANDMA'S FURNITURE ANYMORE.!!!!

I have been thinking about this blog..and my little furniture refinishing hobby/ biz . I started out trying to fill up my own house and then tried to be like The Frosted Gardner or maybe Altr'd Furniture?. 

Now, I think I am not cut out to be like these amazing women with all their vision and their husbands that help them out...these women take your treasured heirloom and refinish it,& reinvent it.   Their pieces are solid wood, cloaked in history and built to last.  These are pieces that have been handed down or sought after.. meant to be kept forever.
 I am my own kind of furniture refinisher.  I find useful furniture that has potential.  Furniture that is repairable, paintable, updateable, and repurposeable.   This is furniture that did not cost the original owner a fortune but it started out new and nice.  This is the furniture that people saved up for and bought from places like Ashley, Big Lots, Mor Furniture and took home and "used".  Now they have either outgrown their use for it or it has become outdated or they simply have no place for it anymore... maybe it's slightly broken,  or they are just sick of it.    This is where I come in.

  New paint, new knobs, updated, modernized, beautified.

 Useful again.

This is furniture that is affordable,  furniture that is for growing families.., Furniture that goes off to college.  Most families have a few "key" pieces that are expensive and treasured and then they fill in the rest of their home with affordable nice looking pieces.  My pieces are guest room furniture, children's room furniture and furniture that does not cost soooo much that you have to keep it a lifetime to get your money's worth out of it. This is furniture that seamlessly blends with your style and "looks"like you planned it.....even if you had no clue.. it looks like you picked it out on purpose. 
you can't go wrong,   it goes with almost any decor and any color...and it's affordable.

 Don't feel  guilty,,,  when it gets scratched...when you can afford to replace it with better or when you're plain sick of it.. sell it, donate it..It suited your purpose , it was cheap, it looked good.  No regrets.

  Replace a piece at a time or just change everything up every so often,

In my own home, I frequently sell on Craigslist and I buy on Craigslist. I charge fair prices and I pay fair prices.  I meet alot of people in all sorts of situations that feel the same way I do.  I know that my taste will change, and my life will change and my furniture needs will change along with it all.
. 
This concept I think works well with our changing lives and our economy right now.... I never feel " stuck " with a dining room set..  or a desk or bedroom set.. I know that when I am bored with it.. I can have the fun of selling it and getting something different and making it uniquely mine and it's fun. 

Decorating your home SHOULD be fun....  it should not be a serious, overwhelming, life altering, expensive chore.

 So go ahead,  buy it, paint it, use it, sell it, change your home to suit your life.
 Have fun.!!!!!!!!

My pile of projects

Here's what my garage looks like right now.

A huge dresser I just brought home,

with matching mirrors

and a matching nitestand.

Lined up here is a king sized headboard for a BIG bench,

 a dining room buffet andmatching hutch

& the ornate dresser.

Here is an art deco vanity that just arrived over the weekend..

.Big round mirror is a

 GW find from a couple months ago.

Here are all my

Birthday and Christmas presents,  my saw, my tools, my paint cupboard, & my cardboard.

Where's all the Dressers?

It seems lately that dressers are getting harder and harder to find.   The Goodwills in my neighborhood are either so sparcely speckled with furniture or the dressers that they do have are so broken and overpriced that it's not worth the effort... So that turns our attention to Hutches, bakers racks, .. and bookcases and all pieces of furniture that display memoribilia & books.

Lately I find myself watching movies and TVshows and knowing more about what kind of furniture they have on the sets than what the show is about.. for example.:

 Hot in Cleveland.:.if you notice the dining room has a hutch, the kitchen has a hutch, and every nook and cranny is filled with knicknacks and dressers and buffets.  It looks good on TV.. I imagine the dusting it all.

While watching the movie You Again..  I could'n't help but notice how filled with "stuff" Jamie Lee Curtis' house is..  hutches and bookcases and all different kinds of cabinets and shelves...and book and more books.  the house is PACKED with furniture... and It looks great.

George Lopez sitcom..   the house is filled with furniture..  all different colors of furniture..  the stair landing has a dresser the kitchen has dressers and desks and hutches..all covered with clutter.

My Wife and Kids...again the house is packed with furniture..   red here , green there..  gold over here..
and hutches and bookcases and chairs and tables ,  what looks to us like the typical house is actually an artisic masterpiece, a tv set..  the furniture blends in but establishes a hominess in the houses even tho they are just TV sets.

When you are watching Charlie Sheen's next rant.. check  out his furniture.. lol.

Headboard bench # 2 finally finished..

Here it is all done ..  and ready to leave home..    shoo go...   off with you now..  goodbye.   adios..
and so it did....     thanks to Craigslist it is now in it's new eclectic little townhouse.

Two Toned Dresser

This one is my favorite before and afters ....  remember this "rescue" from the  St Vincent De Paul Store.???

Well after a few months of inspiration from all the creative women in Blogland..

 this I am proud to say is what she looks like now..The picture really  doesn't do it justice..it is much prettier in person.

The top is Minwax Mahogney Bombay , the handles are Rubbed Bronze and the bottom is a Flat White..

This was alot of fun because I discovered that the top came off rather easily.. so I was able to be painting the bottom and the top at the same time.  Therefore this project took only a day or two, so it was almost

 instant gratification...

I love it.

 I can't wait to find the next one and get to work.

Those darn crows... !!!

These crows are showing up everywhere around my house,  look one landed on top of my "Lumiere" candelabra,,,,,,,,,, Gee...  that's scary..  I think they are gathering here for some reason??? 

So can you tell what this candelabra is made out of?

it's actually a combo of 2 things...

yes,

a heavy metal candlestick.

and

a taken apart hanging light fixture with the electric stuff taken out.

Were-DRESSERS.????

This was a GREAT dresser.....My all time favorite  ever..   this one was so fun and turned out so good..and the knobs were so pretty.. I have only 1 left to remember it by....:(  I hope it's happy in it's new home..   eww.. I'm so dumb sometimes..

Unfortunately .. No I didn't take a photo of the before..  you can probably imagine the mundane being that lies beneath this coating of Gothic Flat Black drama.??    yes , it was shiny, dark cherry , with big "leaf" pulls and chipped veneer..a horrible dreary beast.. tired and forgotten...   Besides that,  Goodwill in it's infinite quest to make yet another buck on Thursday,  had carted  it's mirror off to a Goodwill at the other end of town..and it's nitestand disguised as a Shabby white number,  had been left for dead in the corner of the smelly store.....
BOOOO   no fun..   Shame on you Goodwill... !!!!!

Well "Here I am to save the day"!!!!!!!!!!

With Halloween on the way  .. Crazy Garage Lady was in the mood for something dark and gloomy... yet sophisticated...and elegant..  ?????   hummm     poor old cherry dresser was the perfect subject for her madness...

Imagine a dark and gloomy day..,the Arizona sky alive with lightning.. the air filled with the rumble of thunder, and pounding rain.. and there in the garage alone with her victim,  Crazy Garage Lady..!!!!  she plugged in her sander and went to work on the poor  unsuspecting dresser.  The buzz of the sander seemed to go on forever ..   the drawer pulls were extracted one by one..  the holes filled ..  the chipped veneer  glued and sanded and finally when it seemed like noone could take another minute of it........  she stopped.  

Silence filled the garage as  Crazy Garage Lady painted on the soothing coat of white primer and left the poor quivering dresser alone in the dark. 

It's body parts were strewn all around the garage.. it's 8 drawers over there and it's pulls,   lying helplessly in the bottom of the recycle bin.  ..the nitestand and mirror cowered in the dark knowing they would be next.

Morning came and Crazy Garage Lady returned..  this time with bright sunlight and oven like temperatures..but  that didn't  stop her for a moment.. ..  she went right to work..sweating and mumbling and    within hours the white primer had been covered with a  eerie coat of flat black paint.  Then it was over..the shiny cherry beast was but a memory.

The mirror was painted to match and so was the nitestand..Shiny glass knobs were screwed tightly to the drawers and then ..for the first time...  they were reunited...  instantly they recognized each other despite the black paint..and they said
 "You look marvelous..." 

They now reside happily together...where they wait for the full moon.. and Halloween...

ahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahh

I will never forget you.. !!!

The Murder

Well I've seen enought scary movies in my day to know that when a flock of black crows comes and lands in your pot of dead sticks in the kitchen...  you better LOOK OUT.....  and , well Don't cha know?,   thats just what happened to me. ??  

Darn it..    what could this mean??   

  Could it be an OMEN....!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Halloween is coming.

This pumpkin went out and got all "tatted" up for Halloween...!!!!  

 Frumpy, 
is shocked..!!!!!

I'm linking to the party at It's so Very Cheri

&

Under the Table and Dreaming.

Baby Armoire goes Coastal

Since I had acquired a pretty Aqua colored gallon of OOPS Paint... I have been dying to try it out on something.  First I painted this bird house.

I like this color especially with the distressing and the dark wood showing thru.    Purely by accident when I distressed the bird house the yellow color that it had been painted before showed thru in a few spots...  The yellow looked so cute peeking out .. 

I started looking around for something else to paint Aqua/ yellow ... and there it was hiding in the garage..it's been in the garage waiting it's turn for a long time..  a looooonnggg time.. ahahha 

Baby Armoire.

Now I don't know if this is intended to be a babies's armoire.. but it is small... it's  barely 5 feet tall and a little over 2 feet wide. It could hold a small TV or I could put a pole inside and it could indeed hold a babies tiny clothes..and shoes..it very cute and petite.

This was a really easy project... all it needed was a very light sanding and a coat of primer and then on to the fun part .... the yellow topped with the aqua..

The distressing was hard to stop from getting carried away.. distressing is such a good time.

..   and with that Baby Armoire goes Coastal..

isn't this just the perfect Cottage/ Coastal/ Shabby Aqua color? 

 

What if I told you..........

I made a gigantic mirror ?   You'd ask me how big is it ???  .right??   so rather than try to convince you of how big it is I might as well show you...

SEE

The actual mirror is 39" x 79" the surrounding frame is aprox 8 inches all around..  This is from a bathroom remodel... The frame is constructed from 1x6's for the outside frame with 1x4's layered on top surrounded by some decorative molding and premade decorative wood peices from the Home Depot lumber department..  The hutch standing next to it is pretty big but it looks dwarfed by this huge mirror...

Holding this giant concoction together is ALOT of corner brackets, screws and MORE corner brackets..and glue..lots of glue..

The back is covered with a 1/4 " sheet of plywood and painted black to match the frame.

I'm not sure that the dining room is the place for this BUT.. .. it's very heavy and I feel lucky to have gotten it that far.  Can you imagine that in a 4600 sq foot house there is not a perfect place  for it.. ?

Seems hard to believe huh..???  Definitely I am not lugging this up the stairs. 

Now do you believe me..??  

 I made a gigantic mirror. ??

Yes??

Super UGLY Dresser

I'm sure..  well kinda sure,,,,??.. you all remember this dresser from St Vincent De Paul..    Yeah,    it's iffy...   but there's hope.


After a coat of white paint and some pretty blue knobs..  I think this patient is going to pull thru.

Yeah.. !!!!   I knew you could do it.

These are 2.99 at Hobby Lobby..  they have a large selection of unique knobs..  a nice change from the typical hardware store knobs.

Maybe it needs a mirror to go with it.. ??  I'll have to look around and see what I can find in the garage..?

Lonley mirror meets Super Ugly dresser and they become a handsome couple..

and even better yet they found a new home.. and helped to finance the plastic surgery for yet another

Super Ugly dresser. 

What is the Best thing you ever got for free..???

There are alot of things I have gotten for free..   some good ,   some not so good.. !!!..
 In this post  I only refer to GOOD..  Really Good..
Do you have Freecycle where you live..????? I am in Phoenix and I love it.. Here  is my best Freecycle Score..ever..The people were clearing out a storage unit and just wanted it gone.. I was the first to respond and it bacame my lucky day. they even loaded it in the truck for me..
.. ... I love this..it's even better in person..  and best of all ... I only had to clean it..  no painting no sanding .. no makeover needed...... just scrubbing..   :)  well ,,,,I tightened a bolt? ..lol..

It looks like a Snow White might sit there singing and some blue birds would land on the top

 and start singing about true love ?? 

 

It's just the best free thing ever.

Look for Freecycle Groups on Yahoo..  the rules are few and it's fun and FREE

I'm linking this to

Southern Hospitality

&

Coastal Charm

Still in the Dining room??

The dining room looked like it was "missing something."??... so I looked around to see what I had to fill the space and "go with" the rest of the furniture
..  There it was all along .. a writing desk I had bought at the Goodwill a long time ago,
 for $19.00 dollars..  

Get out...!!!. Why didn't I see this before.. ???

So out to the garage it went..!!!

Gel Stain works great..  it makes things look "rich",  it's fairly easy to use and it dries quick..especially in Arizona.....This is smart stain, it remembers your brush strokes and takes on a blurry effect that looks like wood grain and it seems to smooth itself all at the same time.

The only drawback is that once it starts to dry YOU HAVE TO LEAVE IT ALONE. .. if you mess with it,   it will get rough and make a mess.. if you do screw it up.. wait till it's dry and then go back over it with  emery paper and  paint  it again.  

Here is the same table on it's return from the garage.  It looks good huh?

And someone made cupcakes to celebrate.     :)

The two tiny lamps are from the Goodwill  2.99 each.. the little shades were on clearance at Ross.. 99 cents each.

So thanks to the Goodwill, Craigslist and some DIY, that concludes the Dining Room...
 table, 6 chairs, lighted hutch, side table, 2 lamps and accessories
 $250.00