Repurposed Gems: 2013

Antique dresser turned vanity

It's been a while since my last post. Perhaps because it's Christmastime, and the business of the season takes precedence over work. In November I decided to quit until the new year. Well, everyone else had different plans!

The other day I received a phone call from the president at Homestead House. She had great news - I've been approved to be a retailer of the paints! Currently they are only accepting those with brick-and-mortar stores, so I was surprised I was approved.

On Saturday, December 7th, we are hosting our very first Milk Paint Workshop Launch!

The first 6 people to contact us will get a full workshop, for just $20. (See details about the workshop below). All benefits of the workshop will be included.

(You must be comfortable to have your photo taken for advertising purposes)

Come with a small piece of furniture, and let's have some fun!

The other day, our neighbours had this little number at the side of the road. Mark, with his keen eye, spotted it and promptly sprinted across the road to snatch it up. I was less amused; the thing was a piece of garbage. Let me show you.

It's been a little while since I've done a blog post, and the reason for that is simply this: I haven't finished any furniture to blog about. I got this pretty little number done today, so I'm very excited to finally write a post :)

This week I thought I'd try something new - silk screening. I had the perfect candidate for it - this beautiful antique buffet. The finish on it was in pretty good condition, but the top of the buffet had a little wear and damage on it. So I didn't feel bad painting it.

I often drive out to Welland or Fonthill to pick up pieces. The other night, I picked up two pieces from that area, one was this hutch. I really liked the french provincial legs on it. I thought it was simple and elegant.

In spirit of it being fall, I decided to do a very autumn colour on this piece. I know - it's yellow! Not a colour I do very often. In fact, I've only done 2 other yellow buffets - ever. I usually hang onto them for longer than the white, green, blue and grey pieces I do, but they do eventually sell. And the buyers who buy them don't just like them - they LOVE them!

This was the little buffet Mark found on the side of the road. It went through 3 transformations before I was happy with the result. The first idea was to strip it down, and give it that unfinished, anthropologie-esque look, with a french graphic transferred onto it. That didn't work out. The piece was too water damaged and banged-up to get the look. So then I painted it white. I didn't like that either, because the dings all came through the finish. I've seen the idea to use fabric to cover pieces, so I thought I'd give it a go.

I've been trying out a lot of different painting techniques lately, but sometimes I need to do a few pieces in the middle of experiments that I know will sell. This hutch I simply painted white, lightly distressed it, and up on Kijiji it went.

As you all know, my husband Mark is the champion at finding things on the side of the road. "Ohhhh" you say, "You're so lucky to find such gorgeous pieces". No - these pieces are not gorgeous when they come to me. See - look!

The other day, I scored this little gem off Kijiji for just $50. And that included delivery. Sometimes I feel like I really score on Kijiji. This was one of those times.

Happy Thanksgiving! To all my American readers - Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is my favourite weekend of the year. Not only because it's my birthday, but because I always have SO much to be thankful for.

It is my birthday. I feel that you're still young if you still feel okay announcing how old you are turning. I'm turning 27! Not quite yet 30, but no longer in my 'early twenties'.

If you have talked to me in the past month, I have probably mentioned the fact that I'm dying to paint my living room. I've been wanting to paint it since the day we moved here - but just haven't found the style I wanted for the room.

A reader recently e-mailed me, asking how I refinished the hardware on my pieces. I thought it was a good question, so here is a little tutorial on how to do it. I'll also share my method for removing veneer.

This week I got all of one project completed. It was a busy week, but a good week. I obtained this lovely little number off kijiji, and was excited to do a fun stencil on it.

I often come across people wanting me to give that authentic, distressed look to their Mennonite-made furniture - you know - the solid wood, 90's built honey oak furniture. I've always denied the ability to do it, because when you distress a piece, you want the dark wood showing through the paint. With lighter coloured furniture, it just doesn't distress well, because the colour coming through is light and not pretty at all.

This week I had a leftover graphic I had printed off, and was waiting for the perfect piece to use it on. I acquired this adorable dresser from a lady in Caledonia, and thought it'd be a good piece to try it out.

Fall is my favourite season. I love the crisp air, the change of seasons, the beauty of the trees, and the spirit of thankfulness. We have SO much to be thankful for. Lately one of the things I have been so grateful for is the country we live in. Canada is a majestic, gorgeous, free country absolutely full of opportunity. How blessed we are to call Canada our home!

The latest project I've been working on is this tallboy. I had originally refinished it using a 'dry brush' technique, and while it was a good learning experience, it didn't sell. This piece is so awesome, I couldn't let it go for a small price, so I refinished it once again.

Two summers ago, my friend Andrea and I spent a great deal of time together, renovating an old 1970's camper we found on Kijiji for $500. During this time, she came across a dining set, and I helped her refinish it.

Awhile ago I did this lovely loyalist hutch, and the person who bought it from me back in May sent me an e-mail last night. She wanted to show me the hutch displayed in her store. Let me share the gorgeous photos with you.

Being allergy season, my motivation has been quite sluggish. I have to take these awful drugs for hay fever, and they make me super sleepy. So it's been hard to find the gumption to get work done. However, I did finish a few pieces this week.

I came across this lovely number on the St Catharines Kijiji ads. I wasn't too sure about it, but Mark seemed to think it was a lovely piece, so we picked it up.

A while back, I attempted a graphic image transfer onto a buffet. It took a few attempts... but I finally got it. Today I did this little dresser, and I took step-by-step photos to share with all of you how its done.

Green has becoming more prevalent in my repertoire of furniture. It's a lovely colour; very earthy, neutral, and stylish. This little number came to me the other day, by way of a kijiji find, and I fell in love with its charm.

The other day as Mark was scraping, he came across this piece on the side of the road. It was in such brutal condition, he almost didn't pick it up. I had some serious doubts about it as well. That night, I had had a dream, and in the dream, I saw this lovely green armoire. Probably because I was on Pinterest right before falling asleep.

This dresser has been awaiting its' re-do for a few months now. Mark found it behind an apartment building, and while I wasn't quite sold on refinishing it at first, I'm quite happy I did.

Last week we were away at Joy Bible Camp for Boys' Camp. It was a beautiful week. Mark counselled, so I got to come along with the girls for a little vacation. Here are some pictures to share from our week away.

I had this idea to start creating custom reclaimed wood signs. I started with perfect a sign for our own master bedroom. Here is the final result.

Awhile ago I did a buffet in this same colour, a deep green with a dark wax finish. I thought it would be fun to do the same finish on a hutch, and I had this lovely piece to work on this week.

Tonight was the night we finished our shop space. This has been a work in progress for some time. Lately, when I've had people come by to take a look at a piece, they exclaim, "oooh! You have a whole shop set up here!" This encouraged me to go ahead and finish it.

It's been awhile since my last blog post. Business has been steady, and I need to acquire some more pieces. The other day Mark and I went to my sister's house to pick up their little guy to bring him up to Grandma's house. On our way up, Mark spotted this dresser behind an apartment building. We stopped, turned around, and got pretty excited about finding such a gorgeous piece. Needless to say, I don't think Forrest was too impressed with the detour. So I got him out of his seat for a cuddle while Mark loaded this beast into the van.

As you may have figured out, my new favourite blog is The Graphics Fairy. She has so many beautiful vintage inspired graphics that you can download (for free!) and use on your projects. The girls at Staples have become very familiar with the blog as well, from helping me download and print off the images.

Yesterday morning I awoke to what may have been the most beautiful summer day we have ever had. After a long heat wave, a crazy thunder storm came and broke through, leaving us with sunny, cooler weather.

My sister-in-law Laura is a very creative, hands-on person, much like myself. I think that's why we get along so well. She recently refinished this dresser, and I asked if I could share it on my blog.

Friends, I picked up this lovely find tonight, and I'm desperately lacking the inspiration for it. I feel like I'd like to do typography again, but I'm not sure this is just the right piece for it. I need your help. How should I refinish it?

A few posts ago, I wrote about trying to do an image transfer on this buffet. As you know, it didn't go too well. Being as stubborn as I am, I didn't give up too quickly. I finished a few other pieces, did some more research, and tackled it once again.

Though I'd share a piece I just finished. I got this buffet as part of a set, and I just love the delicate detail on it. It's smaller than the standard 5 foot antique buffet, which would make it perfect for a smaller house.

Yesterday I was pretty pumped to try something new. I saw this fantastic buffet on pinterest with a transferred image on it. I packed the girls in the car, drove all the way to Michaels to buy the image transfer gel, then all the way to Staples to have my image professionally printed off. (Which only cost $4.88, to my great delight). I had this perfect blank canvas of a buffet to do it on.

Last night Mark picked this lovely piece up for me. I wasted no time getting started on it. I painted it last night, and finished it this morning.

Last week the girls and I went up to my brother-in-law's family cottage for the week. It was a wonderful, relaxing week, and it was so nice to get away from the daily grind. We left poor Marko behind to go to work, and with a garage full of pieces to be sold. He landed up selling 6 pieces, so I came home to an empty garage, a blank canvas just begging to be filled with gorgeous antique painted furniture.

hi i am Jen's husband Mark. this is my first blog post ever. i will warn you i am not a writer on Friday June 21th Jen and i will be celabarting our fifth wedding anniversary.

This week was full of one thing: hard work. Next week we are going to a cottage with my family for a week, which I am SO looking forward to. It will be nice to relax and just get away from home and the business and the busyness of life.

This piece is quite a bit different from any other antique pieces I've done. I believe the style is referred to as a "Duncan" style. It is a classic piece, more or less, not so much shabby chic.

On this beautiful Monday of all Monday's, I refinished an antique sideboard. This one is a different style from my usual norm, however it is still just so lovely I had to share it.

I was able to turbo through some work in the garage this week, which felt good. Today I stopped around 1, cleaned everything up so it's nice and pretty, and went inside to turbo through my neglected house. Nothing feels better than when things are clean!

Today I finished the repurposed armoire I've been working on. This piece went through quite the transformation. I'll show you what it looked life before.

My storage garage is almost empty - which means it's time to do an auction again. I have just a few pieces left - and this buffet was one of them.

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