Sunday, September 2, 2012

4-drawer waterfall reduced to 3-drawer.

More to come on this one. It was missing a bottom drawer and had really bad water damage on the sides toward the bottom. Mrs. Smith had a great idea to just take it down a notch (or drawer in this case).

This one is in the history books, but I might as well share with you how it turned out. It sold in December 2012. I will have to locate a picture. We painted it with CeCe Caldwell's Blue Montana Sky.

Mr. Smith

Saturday, August 4, 2012

70s 6-drawer Credenza - Roadside Find

This is not technically "My" roadside find, however, it was indeed a roadside free furniture piece that one of my NEW customers found. The previous owner helped her load it in her truck, and then it found its way into her garage. She happened across Jindra's Antiques and saw some of our painted furniture, and that is how it happened into TheSmithGarage. Here are some before shots of the credenza.



It was blonde wood with some bluish gray wash over it. It was missing two doors, but all the drawers were in working condition. She is redoing her she asked that I paint it a light gray / almost white. So I made up a new color from CeCe Caldwell's Simply White (3 parts) and Seattle Mist (one part). I painted one drawer to see if it was the color she wanted.


Here it is against our white entertainment center and a piece of driftwood the customer had. She was happy with the color and dropped of the piece last weekend. It is a beast - solid wood.


It took about 7 oz. of my special brew to paint this. It is 6' long so you can imagine the presence this gives in a living or dining room. This picture is after it was painted, lightly sanded (220 grit), and waxed with CeCe Caldwell's Clear Wax (Tea Time!). I will leave the decorating to mt customer, but here are a few more shots of the finished  piece.



So happy to save this one from the fireplace. I trust my customer is happy with how it turned out. She has a table she may want me painting when she gets to her dining room remodel.

Mr. Smith

Friday, August 3, 2012

A new CeCe Color

Mix 3 parts Simply White and 1 part Seattle Mist - and you get a beautiful misty white. More to follow on this piece.


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Pickled Oak Pedestal Table - CeCe Simply White

Remember back when I worked on those two round oak side tables (here)? Not too long after I got those tables, I had an opportunity to get a full-sized oak pedestal dining table (with a leaf). I went back to find a before shot - and everything I have is with the table in pieces...


Sorry for the mess, this is the side yard during the Summer - TheSmithGarage extension. You can see the pedestal - it was split when we picked it up - the center piece is not supposed to be in two pieces. The top is the wood colored top under the green/white one (which is another project for another blog). And the little legs under the table top is another table that Mrs. Smith already finished and sold over at Oregon Street Antique Mall (don't think she blogged on that one).

I did some work on the pedestal - dowelled and glued it back together. I also had to sand the lacquer off of the top with a belt sander - it was just way to thick to give the pickled affect on the oak. I did not sand the pedestal or feet. I used CeCe Caldwell's Simply White (you can buy it here), which has become a favorite of mine after painting so many bright & cheery colors. Something about Simply White just gives off a good feeling.

Here is a shot I got after painting the pedestal and feet, but before I got to the top. You can see that I brought the lacquer off all the way to the bare wood - most of the stain came off as well.


Another great thing about CeCe Caldwell's Chalk and Clay Paint - no fumes - I did most of the work on this indoors where it was a comfortable 70 degrees (instead of outside where it is about 105 degrees). I did not water down the Simply White. I actually keep a separate bucket with a little water in it, and dip my brush in there occasionally when needed. I feel like I have better control of what I am doing. The key to this style is getting the paint wet enough to seep into the grain of the wood, but not cover the wood entirely.

Here is a shot ofter all the paint is on that I want. The next step will be sanding for me.


I took the table back outside for the sanding. After sanding, it is "Tea Time" - that is another term for CeCe Caldwell's Clear Wax - smells like HONEY! That's because it is 100% green, made with beeswax - love it. I let it cure overnight then buffed it out.

So here are a few shots of the finished look.


I love the satin finish gleaming in the sunlight!



I took this shot so you could see the seam where I had to fix the split. A little line of "demarcation", but another "SAVED" piece of broken furniture.


So glad I had an opportunity to work on this table. It will go in TheSmithHotel booth at Oregon Street Antique Mall this next week. So if you are in Redding and looking for a great deal on a solid oak table that was once destined for the wood pile - here it is!

I am looking forward to a few custom jobs over the next few weeks. Check back to see how they turn out.

Mr. Smith


Saturday, July 14, 2012

Upcylced JUNK Shelving Unit

So you know we deal in junk, right? On occasion we find some really nice stuff that has a great value, but most of the time we buy junk that we think someone else will pay more for. So when we get a chance to find junk that we think has a greater value in our own home - SCORE!

About two months ago, I picked up a broken aluminum extension ladder. It was straight, but it was in pieces. Straight was important for my vision. I had an idea to build a shelving unit in our office. It was originally my office when we moved her many years back, but since Mrs. Smith started TheSmithHotel, it has become a joint office. Mrs. Smith doesn't actually sit in this office, but all of her "junk" (from the description above) and plenty of MY "junk" has taken over our lives in "the office". I wasn't sure how fast I was going to get this project finished, but I needed the second part of the shelving dream - some bleacher seats. You know - the old wooden seats that you watch football games from on Thursday and Friday nights?

So bleacher seats/boards aren't something you come across every day, right? So since I know some lumberjacks, or a more formal title of "Forester", I thought I would ask if I could find some scrap lumber that would work in the same manner. The first guy I asked at church said, "Well, I actually have some old bleacher seats from Shasta College." What are the odds?


Here is the ladder - I took off the rusty feet and power sprayed them. Got this from Moore's Green Goods.


Here is the lumber (bleacher seats) right before I painted them, but I did sweep them off.


Here they are painted - I used several different white and gray latex paints I had sitting around (mostly oops paints).

So after they were painted, I let them cure for several days before roughing them up a bit. I wanted them to be clean, but rough like they just came off the bleachers. These bleachers were changed out many years ago and have been sitting out in a field for some time now. Since they were coming in the house, they needed to be clean, and I wanted to make sure there were no termites to be dealt with.

I have an old wooden bed that we picked up for $5 that I plan on making a bench with. I was not going to use the rails, so I pulled the ends off and ended up using them as cross braces for the back of the shelf (so it wouldn't collapse under the weight of the wood).


Oh - I forgot to show you a before picture. Well why don't you head over to Mrs. Smith's blog (TheSmithHotel) to see the before and after. I am so excited that my vision came to completion. Thanks to Bob Hutcheson (who is not actually a lumberjack, but a Realtor) and Moore's Green Goods.  

Please let me know what you think, and come back to see what else we have up our sleeves.

Mr. Smith

Linked to:

Funky Junk Interiors
Redoux

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

French Countryside Tall Dresser

In the spirit of The Tour de France, this is a story about a shabby tall dresser that was in much need of love. Inspired by some fine furniture pieces that I have seen on my travels (none of them from France, but definitely French inspired), I set out to give this tall dresser new life.

First - a picture of a 1958 Dunelt 10-speed.


This is the bike you may have found Brian Robinson riding - the first Briton to finish the Tour de France and also the first to win a stage in the 1958. It's had better days...haven't we all.

Here is a shot of the dresser in the "extended" Smith Garage - something we try to do in the Summer weather to get outdoors where there may be a breeze. Inside the garage - it gets too hot to work in the evenings.



My inspiration - a tall kitchen cabinet I saw while Mrs. Smith was walking through Anthropologie.



I know it is hard to see, but there are tones of rust, yellow and gold underneath the gray finish. So I went through my CeCe Caldwell's colors and came up with Georgia Clay, California Gold, Omaha Ochre, and Seattle Mist to try to get close enough to produce something Anthropologie might display in one of their stores.

Mrs. Smith helped me on this one as well. She has been itching to paint more, so here we go. Some of my worst fears - getting bit by a Rattle Snake on a long run in the woods, swimming in the water with beavers, and painting with Mrs. Smith. You ask why? Well, when you are running, your heart rate is elevated allowing the venom to course through your veins rapidly....  Oh... You were wondering why I fear painting with the Mrs. - you should go read Mrs. Smith's blog about that. I am getting better - it has only been a couple of weeks. And this piece turned out great, so she is getting better. It goes to show that anyone can paint with CeCe Caldwell's paint.

Now that is out of the way, let me show you what we did with this dresser. We painted on spots of Georgia Clay. After that dried (not long since we are out in the heat), we applied California Gold, and then a good covering of Seattle Mist. On the top, I had some residual oil/candle wax coming through the paint after everything dried. I slapped a coat of white latex paint over the spot to seal it from coming up into the chalk and clay paint. Then when I reapplied my CeCe Caldwell's paint, I forgot I had used California Gold and thought I was using Omaha Ochre - so - it got a little edgy. Four CeCe colors on one piece. Here it is before we started sanding it back down.

So you can see the Seattle Mist was over the whole thing, but we didn't paint it on real thick. When I started sanding, I started with 150 grit, and it worked great, so I didn't go any coarser. Here is the sanded piece - prior to wax.



Here is the important part of bringing out the colors - wax! The colors are there, you can see them, but they are not vibrant. The CeCe Clear Wax cures into the layers of paint and brings the colors out in a great way. Here it is waxed and buffed - keeping the original hardware untouched.


Sorry for the mess, but as in all my blog posts - this is a "garage" scene. This will go to TheSmithHotel side of the house, and Mrs. Smith will pretty it up in her booth space. I will leave you with a parting shot - The bike and the dresser....



Time for a ride...

Mr. Smith

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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Reusing Bleachers

Prepping some old bleacher seats to go in our office as shelves. They will be clean and white, but pretty rough when finished.

I will share when we get them in.

Mrs. Smith has been painting up a storm with our CeCe Caldwells paint. She's working on something special this week.

Mr. Smith

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Cycling Fan - Tour de France Dresser

I am a cycling fan. I have been known to ride over 100 miles in a day, and I love old bikes too. Here is one I have had for some months, and I just was able to add some new whitewall tires today.


This is a Schwinn Spitfire 24", and it has been saved from a scrap heap. It is ready to ride for some little girl (just not Drama Queen since she is not fond of rust).

But you are looking at the title and your thinking - what about the dresser? And this is a Schwinn, not a French bike.

Well, the Tour de France is coming up shortly. I will not be watching it on the tele, but I will follow it on-line most days. Boy Wonder has been dying to get another "flag" dresser. He cleaned out one of his "wood-colored" dressers today and brought it out to the living room - in hope of a transformation. He asked for the Swiss flag, but in a strange turn of events, I mentioned France and he said YES! Which brings us back around to my tribute to the Tour de France.

Here is the plain-Jane dresser prior to it's transformation...


We picked this up second-hand some time ago. I think it may be a Target dresser - not real hardwood or anything, just particle board and laminate stickers to make it look like wood. Here comes the beauty of painting with CeCe Caldwell's paint. It sticks to anything, plastic, steel, wood, stickers, and apparently furniture upholstery. Notice at the time of this photo I had only Simply White and Traverse City Cherry on top of the dresser. Of course this was when we were thinking Swiss (Red with a white cross). So throw some Maine Harbor Blue in the mix, and you've got yourself a French flag...


As you can see, the wax is still curing. Once it sits overnight - sometime after church on Sunday - I will buff it out to give it a shine, and back into his room to take on a few more years of growing. Sorry for the mess in the background - but you do get to see inside TheSmithHotel instead of the normal "garage scene".

Here it is back in Boy Wonder's room - decor by him, not me.



I wanted to get this out there tonight, because I am about to get pretty busy on TheSmithGarage. I have a lot of furniture to get painting on - including a PIANO!


This is a big job ahead of me, but I am totally excited. I am going to have a piano guy come out and check it out before I get too deep into it. If it doesn't work out, you will see some of this wood going into other projects. If it does turn out to be a workable project, you will see this beauty upcycled back to life - and some lucky customer will love it.

Make sure you come back around to see what we have in store for the next few weeks as we prepare for a great new adventure this Fall.

Mr. Smith

Linked to

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Domestically Speaking
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Decorating Insanity
I Should Be Mopping The Floor

Piano Ready for Paint!


I am so excited and I don't even play the Piano!

Come back to see what we are planning for this Upright Grand Piano with CeCe Caldwell's Paint.

Mr. Smith

Friday, June 22, 2012

CeCe Caldwell's in Red Bluff, CA

I am excited to share that Erika at Three O'Clock Winds is now carrying CeCe Caldwell's Paint for furniture painters that stop through her area. You can find her blog at:


Erika has a great shop - "Vintage Western Boutique" at the Frontier Village Shopping Center - 645 Antelope Blvd, Ste #16, Red Bluff, CA. If you are in the area of Red Bluff on Saturday June 23 from 10-2, they are having the Frontier Festival Days.

Stop by and say hello to Erika. And get your CeCe Caldwell's paint from her as well! She has some great furniture and other cottage style decor. She may even do some painting for you if you ask.

Mr. Smith

Sunday, June 17, 2012

CeCe Caldwell Display Piece

It has been a few months since I worked on this, but I don't believe I have had the chance to share it with you. Knowing that we would start carrying CeCe Caldwell paints, I started to dream of how we could display the paints, and keep them safe overnight instead of bringing them in every morning and setting up. I came across this 70s octagonal side cabinet - something you might find in a family room of the Partridge Family.


So this is how I picked it up, It was painted of course with an off white, and antiqued with some dark stain on the door carving. Can you see the white knobs on the door here - they blend right in. Wait until you see what Drama Queen does with the doors. Here is another picture of the inside.


This was a great start - as it takes up limited floorspace (always precious when you are trying to sell everything you have at a show). Many shows that we attend, we get a 10 x 15 or even as small as a 10 x 10. We end up stacking much of our furniture, so my thoughts went to HEIGHT. I also came across an old mercury-vapor streetlamp that would top off this piece with some interest. Then my plan came together. I could affix a steel pipe to the base of the cabinet, drill a hole through the top that would stabilize the pipe. I cut out two oak rounds to use as shelves (and use pipe attachments to attach the shelves). I had to buy a few conversion pieces to get from the pipe size to the size of the mercury lamp hole. Of course - no pictures of all this happening, but really - it did happen.

Drama Queen did a great job helping me paint the bottom octagonal piece. Because of it being a display piece, I tried to use several CeCe colors in creating the piece. Here are the colors that were used - Maine Harbor Blue, Vintage White, Simply White, Omaha Ochre, Spring Hill Green, Kissimmee Orange, Carolina Sun Yellow, Mesa Sunset, Memphis Blue, Santa Fe Turquoise, Georgia Clay, Pittsburg Gray, and Seattle Mist. So here it is - the reveal - a few pictures from different shows.


See the detail that Drama Queen put into the door.


A very small footprint indeed. I also added a lock to the the door so I can store items below.


And here it is full of CeCe Caldwell's paint. Lots of fun doing this one. Once again - a piece destined for the dump is restored and used again. If you are interested in trying out CeCe Caldwell's paint for furniture, stop by the shop at www.thesmithhotelboutique.com or see us upstairs at Oregon Street Antique Mall.

Linked to:
Decorating Insanity
Redoux
Mr. Smith

Saturday, June 16, 2012

CeCe Simply White Oak Side Table

Always wanting to try something new that I haven't yet had the chance to do. Mrs. Smith and her dad (Marshal) picked up a pair of Oak Side Tables. They look like the big Oak pedestal tables, only mini... Here is a picture of one before I started in.


As you can see by the pictures - I worked on this while I was at the Mall still - I think this one was Sunday, since Mrs. Smith picked it up on Saturday. Not bad shape - it was a bit dried out, like it had been left outside in the sun or rain, no major damage, although you can see that one toe was missing...

Mrs. Smith has been wanting me to "pickle" an oak piece - especially an oak table. We picked up a full-size oak pedestal a few weeks back, but I wanted to practice before doing that. So to the best of my knowledge, and from reading a few blogs, and from seeing what she wanted in a few pictures...I set out to impress her with my talents.

I watered down some CeCe Caldwell's Simply White (it is the brightest white) and applied it somewhat thinly. I wanted the paint to get into the grain of the wood, but not cover the wood completely. After it dried - here is what it looked like.


Well covered from this picture, but ready for some sanding to get the majority of the paint off. I used a combination of 100 grit and 150 grit to get down to the wood color, but leaving the white that had soaked into the grain of the wood. It actually polished it up pretty nicely. A thin coat of CeCe Clear wax over the entire piece. I apply the wax with a 2" chip brush from Harbor Freight - nothing fancy, just a natural bristle brush does the trick. After letting it sit around for about 2 hours, I buffed and polished the wax into the piece. It comes out with a very high luster finish. Here it is happily displayed for mall walkers to see for the last few hours of the show.


Mrs. Smith was very happy with the finish, "...as am I". The plan, finish the other one with the same finish to have a matching pair to sell. That will probably get finished up this weekend. Then on to bigger and better things - the large oak pedestal table (with a leaf). Be looking for that in a future post. As for this one, we picked this table up for $3 - don't tell our customers - great deal hugh? Just wait until someone sees a pair of these babies in the booth...

Don't forget to be checking Mrs. Smith's blog as well - TheSmithHotel - she actually needs to get a blog post on the "other" table in the first picture and second picture above. (Updated - here it is - Mr.Smith finally let me paint ).

And here is an updated shot of both tables - stacked high in our booth.


...And Mrs. Smith's table at the bottom of the stack (only because it is the largest).


See you next time...this post is linked to...

Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Night Special
Domestically Speaking Power of Paint Party
Primitive and Proper
Beyond The Picket Fence under $100
Miss Mustard Seed
Redoux

Mr. Smith

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Another Jack from a Trashed Nightstand

Day 3 at the Mount Shasta Mall. So glad that is over. Had a very productive weekend there painting, but wow did it drag on...and on...and on.........

Mrs. Smith's dad - Marshal, picked up this trashed nightstand. He didn't get a picture of it before he worked on it, but you can see that he used some glue and putty to get it in painting condition.


So I had in mind to paint it in CeCe Caldwell's Portland Rose (a very light pink). I thought it would be a cute girl's nightstand. Mrs. Smith asked that I paint it Maine Harbor Blue - so what do you think I did? ...Maine Harbor Blue...


So having all kinds of time Saturday - I decided to go one step further and paint a Union Jack flag on the top. I used Traverse City Cherry and Simply White.


I noticed that the drawer split just a bit, so I had to take it home to TheSmithGarage and glue it overnight.


Here is is finished with one of Mrs. Smith's little chicks and a mustache man postcard. Very fun and very fast. Freehand painting now since I have done a few before. just used brush widths. Hope you enjoy, Follow and come back for a few more finished pieces from the weekend. And something extra special coming soon - Mrs. Smith paints her first piece with CeCe Caldwell's paint - and it turns out to be incredible! You will want to see it.

Mr. Smith

Linked to:
Kammy's Korner Trash 2 Treasure Tuesday
Domestically Speaking
Primitive and Proper Power of Paint Party
Beyond the Picket Fence (under $100 - yeah - way under $100)
Shabby Creek Cottage - Transformation Thursday
Redoux
Decorating Insanity

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Lion's Head Nightstand - Destin Gulf Green

Another day at the Mount Shasta Mall - wow these mall shows are brutal - 9am to 9pm. I will have to say I can do quite a few painting demonstrations in 12 hours. I worked on 3 pieces (maybe 4), but I will blog on one tonight - since it's late and I have to get up and go back to the mall in the morning.

Here is the piece - it has a great lion's head brass pull on it.



Great legs, huh? So Mrs. Smith wanted me to paint with Destin Gulf Green (DGG) first, then with Simply White and sand it back so the DGG comes through (totally forgot to take a picture of the DGG). Here it is after the Simply White...


Just then - I had one of our very good customer's (Ms. Tony - we call her Tony, but I wanted you to know she was a she and not a he). Well Tony really liked the piece, but she wanted more of the DGG to come through then what was appearing. So - I went back and painted over the Simply White with the DGG, leaving lots of white...


Not sure I like it - little too "beachy" for me, but I sure hope Tony likes it when she comes back. I had one other person really like it that came by and she was sending her friend back the next day. So we will see who shows up first on Sunday morning. I hope it's Tony and I really hope she likes it.

Here it is under some different light - looks a little more green...


Please let me know what you think - too beachy OR way cool - I want it!

Mr. Smith

Linked to:
Funky Junk Interiors
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Primp