I thought I might give you all a break from the Shut the Front Door series for today this week since, once again, I've been very bad about taking pictures.
Instead I thought I would throw out some before and after pictures of some of the projects that I've been working on, finished, sold, and/or are for sale at Newport Marketplace.
Does that make sense?
I hope so.
First off, how about this high chair left over from the '70s?
The cushion was covered with an old calendar towel and there was some sort of vinyl-ish sticky backed paper covering the tray with years of crud leached in under the corners.
After some intense scraping of that old crappy paper stuff, some Modge Podge, some pages cut out of an old children's book, and some CeCe Caldwell's Chesapeake Blue and this chair has a little more life to live.
It's currently for sale at Newport but I have it listed as "For display only" because I didn't replace the crusty strap that keeps the child from slipping out under the tray.
That can be easily added if anyone wants to use it as a high chair.
This red chair had seen better days.
One broken spindle and 6 more that were partially cracked or wobbly.
I didn't have the patience to pull all those spindles out and fix them so I just pulled them out and made a stool out of it instead.
I glued the top of the back of the chair to the back of the bottom of the chair.
Try and figure that out after a few drinks.
I dare ya.
First, I applied a coat of CeCe Caldwell's Sedona Rd then a coat of Vermont Slate.
After a little distressing, I applied CeCe Caldwell's Clear Wax.
This was my first attempt at some typography.
It says "Sit yourself down. Take your boots off".
This has already sold.
I like to check in with the two local Salvation Army donation center/stores we have around here to see if anything interesting shows up for sale.
I came across this monster buffet.
It's a 6 ft long Thomasville.
These babies sell for $1200 to $2600.
I picked it up for $64.
You can't see it here but there were a ton of scratches in the top so I stripped and re-varnished it, removed and cleaned up the hardware, then painted the rest of it with CeCe Caldwell's Vermont Slate.
It's so big I had a really hard time trying to find a place in my house to get a good picture of it.
It sold very, very fast at Newport.
I was shocked at how fast it sold.
I picked up this little stand at a garage sale over a year ago.
It's only about 2 ft tall and the box part just sets in the frame of the bottom part.
I'm not even sure what it was used for.
Some CeCe Caldwell's Simply White, Clear Wax, Dark Wax,
and one cute bunny later...
and you have a vintage treasure box.
This has already sold.
This dresser was stuffed in my house after my daughter moved from one house to another and she decided that she didn't want it anymore.
There was one mismatched knob on one of the top drawers and some sort of silver tar like paint splattered down the front and across the top of it (which I later found out was actually nail polish).
The two bottom knobs weren't missing. I just started taking it apart before I remembered to take a picture.
All the drawers needed some repair but the bottom drawer just needed more fixing than I had the patience for so I just removed it.
I painted the knobs with CeCe Caldwell's Simply White and the dresser was painted with CeCe Caldwell's Blue Montana Sky.
I lightly distressed it and added a coat of CeCe Caldwell's Clear Wax.
I also switched the knobs around to accommodate for the mismatched one on top.
This one also sold very, very fast at Newport.
From what I understand, it practically started a brawl when several people wanted it after it was already sold.
I picked up these matching leather topped nightstands at an estate sale last month.
They were in pretty bad shape.
The leather tops had cigarette burns, there were scratches all over, and the veneer was peeling in a few places.
I started working on them late in the evening hence the crappy flash picture.
I bought them because I really liked the details of the legs and the gold details around the leather inlay.
The little swing handle on one of the knobs was broken off so I replaced them with cute little orange ones I found in Hobby Lobby.
I painted them with CeCe Caldwell's Mississippi Mud and then Waxed with Dark Aging Wax.
Again, I have to apologize for the crappy picture.
For some reason, I don't have anything but pictures that I took with my cell phone after I brought them to Newport where they are still for sale.
I had this dresser for just about as long as I can remember.
I'm going to be 51 this year and I believe it was a hand-me-down when it became mine about 49 years ago.
I used it until I had children, then my children used it for almost 30 years.
Today, I decided that it was time to let go of it.
It's pretty scratched up but overall in great shape.
The little white dots on the knobs were foam backed stickers.
Not sure who put those on there.
I stripped the top, varnished it, and put on 2 coats of poly.
The boat and knobs were lightly sanded and received the same varnish as the top.
The rest was painted with CeCe Caldwell's Maine Harbor Blue, lightly distressed, and got a coat of CeCe Caldwell's Clear Wax.
The wax was still drying in this picture but I think it came out very nice.
It's headed to Newport tomorrow.
I have at least a dozen more projects that I've done over the past few months and haven't taken the time to post about.
Maybe I'll get to those another day.
