An old, vintage dresser in Miss Mustard Seed milkpaint

T H I S is why I love what I do! And why I strive to know all there is to know about milkpaint. I think it is amazing how you can take a really old piece of furniture, paint it, and still have it looking old. From the info that I got from the previous owner of this dresser, it is about 100 years old. But it was in good condition, considering...

The drawers had been covered with an adhesive lining paper. It was hideous, and quite frankly impossible to get off. Event though it most likely had been there since the 50`s, the glue was incredible strong. I wasnt even a little fond of spending time on that...

My head went through a dozen of color combinations for this dresser. I knew I wanted a two-toned look, and I wanted it to look "old". I had to restrain my self from using Miss Mustard Seeds Boxwood, a lovely green color. And by green I meen GREAN! Really green. In fact, the reason why I didnt use it is that I had to be sure it would sell.... and not everyone likes green, so I have heared.

So I opted for a combination of Curio (MMS`s brown) and a self-mixed color of blueish teal.
I do not regret that choise, because they came out amazing! I just love the selfmade mix. If I am not mistaken, I used Flow Blue and mixed in what I had left over with Marzipan, Shutter Grey, Schloss, and a little Farmhouse White. I think that was it.....

Before

The handles were sort of interesting, except some of the white plastic on them were broken. So I had to remove it.

The drawer linings. Need I say more?....

After

I just love the MMS brown (Curio)! It is a truly brown color, and can allso be used as a stain. And it covers so well. The thing that I was so amazed by with this project, was how the grain and nooks showed through the paint, but still gave a good cover. That makes the whole differens! And it still looks old. 

I lined the drawers with a baroque-themed wallpaper. The suttle blue on creamy white was the perfect addition to the dresser. Plus, it covers up the hidious 50`s paper. The handles got a good scrubbing, and are now shining like gold.

And off course, I have to show you all the amazing details!

Look at these pictures of the blue! Doesnt it look like a starlit sky?

I realise that the colors on the pictures look a little different from eachother, but that is because on some of them I had`nt applied the wax and on others there are both clear and dark wax. 

Well, what do you think? No wonder this is one of my favourits so far! I am allso lucky to have good customers, because a lady who has allredy bought three other pieces of me, allso snatched this one up.  Yeah!

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Teak secretaire transformation

Hello everyone!

Last few weeks have been busy, busy, busy!
But I have had the time to paint a few pieces. One of them wich I`ll show you today.
A local office was announcing that they were getting rid of alot of old furniture. All of it dating back to around the 70`s. Among the items were a sleek teak desk, a teak secretaire and an old wooden stool.
I called and announced that I could pick up these three pieces later that day. No worries, they would hold them for me.
Guess what happened? Yep.... someone else got there before me and "stole" them from me! Aaaaah...!  I hate it when that happenes! I know it was free furniture, but still! They said they would make sure no one else got it. Well, well...... At least I got to bring home the teak secretaire desk.

It stood in the basement a few days before I brought it in. I was just waiting for an aha experience on what to do with it. And it did come! A few weeks ago, I bought some left over wallpaper, and still had this amazing piece that actually costs a fortune! About $115 per roll! Jikes! I was happy I only had this one meter! Haha....

So then It all came down to the colors. I used (no surprise there...) Miss Mustard Seeds milkpaint in the colors Typewriter, Bergere, Trophy and Shutter Grey. I mixed them a little around.

The sides I painted with Typewriter. That was a new ecperience for me! I was hoping for a bit more glossy finish on the color after waxing. But instead I felt that it looked a little more like chalkboard.... Maybe hempoil is better? The real showstopper here though, is the wallpaper on the front. I wanted the paint colors to reflect in it. I think they are quite on spot, dont you?

On the drawers I used a mix of Bergere and a little Trophy, and I got a hold of a huge lot of antique pullers. They were perfect!

And the same for the inside. I wanted some of the original teak color to play a part of this piece, so I left the top, edgings and the inside shelf as is. The little drawer allso got a piece of the highly expencive wallpaper.

I actually think this picture is before waxing...

The inside of the drawers were in PERFECT condition! It surtainly didnt look like they were 30-40 years old! So I left them as is. 

(Hey! Did you by any chance see that I allso painted the floor in this room?? Scroll up to the other pictures and you`ll see the transformation. No more 70`s cork vinyl floors! ) 

When posting it on facebook for sale, there was a lady who just could`nt restrain herself, and asked how in the world I could ruin all these lovely furniture?! She had seen alot of my pieces, and her opinions was that I ruined them with my painting, and that they were ugly. I will admit that it got to me for a second, but I obviously have fans, because she got really put in place by other people standing up for me. A very talented woman I know told me: "You are not famous before you have haters". Maybe that is true?....

Anyways, someone really fell to its liking, and got to take this (very nice if you ask me) teak secretaire home! So I am happy:)

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Mid century vanity desk

Hello everyone!
It has been a while, I will admit. But I have been working on some things for our house.
We got a new dining table (free!) and so I have been putting my self AND my husband at work so that it would be finished and ready by the holidays (wich by the way are creeping up on us fast!)

Now, on to my latest make.
I bought a very cheap teak vanity desk. The formal owner had allready painted it white, so there was nothing I could do to savour the teak wood.
I knew right away that I wanted to play with this piece of furniture, and actually use some color for a change. I usually play it safe with neutrals, so this was absolutely out of my comfort zone. But I think I did a good job, and hey! It sold within two days, so I could`nt be happier!

Here is the before

The paint was in very bad shape, with thick brush strokes. Not a very good paint job...

But the mirrors were in lovely condition! No stripes or spots (except from the one down to the left there. Thats an old sticker I removed).

And the after:

I used Miss Mustard Seeds Leylas Mint. It was the perfect green minty color for this piece and it gave it a sort of 60`s feeling. 

  

The inside of the two side compartments and the drawer was in perfect condition, so I did not go in there with the paint brush. I lined the drawer and the fronts with this awsome wallpaper with matching colors. Is`nt that cool??

I was very suprised to find out that the fronts flip down, instead of out like regular doors. An interesting touch!

And finally, just to make it a LITTLE bit more interesting, I spray painted  bronze "socks" on the legs.

What do you think?

This mid century vanity makeover makes me happy! And I really got to test my self by going out of the  box and think in other directions. 

There`s one lucky girl out there who is getting this for christmas! The guy who bought it wanted to give it for his girlfriend as a present. 

On to the next one!

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Vintage wooden dresser in MMS`s Iron Stone

Hello everyone!
Today I want to show a dresser that I bought a few months ago. I have been playing with the thougt of painting it time after time, but havent quite been able to make up my mind. But that was until now!
I just threw my seld into it, and grabbed the brush, hoping that if I painted this dresser white, then it would help brighten up our dining room a little.

The lady I bought it from, told me she once bought it from an old man when she was a student, I guess about 25-30 years ago. And when she got it, it was painted brown. She stripped it down, only to find out that it allso had been red, blue and black at some time. So it is safe to say that this lovely thing had been through quite a lot of makeovers.

Allthough I do like old, raw wood, I can only take so much. Besides, it was a blank canvas begging for attention.
I only had some milkpaint in the color Iron Stone. Even though I would much rather paint it in MMS`s Grain Sack, I just couldnt wait to get started. So Iron Stone it was....

Now, this dresser was VERY thirsty! It took three layers of paint. Some places more, and I was starting to get nervous of if I had enough paint to finish it. But I did! But I did leave the top unpainted, and that I did for a good reason. You see, I have a pretty old cupboard hanging over the dresser, allso in old, raw wood. And I wanted the two pieces to still "be connected", if you know what I mean.

Anyway, after the painting was done, I sanded and distressed in all the "right" places. I will admit, I was very nervous that I had done a stupid thing by painting the dresser. Somehow, while painting it, I just didnt get a good vibe of it. But that all changed when I was finished destressing it! I knew I had done the right thing by giving it a makeover! I gave it a layer of clear wax, and it was perfect!

I just love it!

What do you think? Did I do the right decision by painting it?

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Mellow Yellow cooffetable

Hi again!
This time I want to show you this cool little table I got from a friend. It is an original teak table, but the finish was quite bad and beatened up. So I did what I do best. I painted it! I had a small bag of MMS Yellow laying around. I had never tried that color, but after seeing the wonderfull yellow dresser that Marian from Miss Mustard Seed painted, I knew that this was the right color for this retro triangle table.

I did no prep work on this piece. But I did have to put on qiute a few layers of paint for it to cower enough. Think maybe the paint was to thin? Allso I distressed it just a little bit before I gave it a proper layer of wax.
See the details on the legs? Yeah, I thought that was an interesting touch for a retro table. Not bad, eh?

This one is for sale at my facebook page. Hope someone likes it enough to take it home!

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Drop-leaf table with grainsack stripes

I want to say that one can never ever get enough tables. Just like one can not get enough chairs. But then I would be lying. Because when one does not have enough space for all those tables and chairs,
then one might have a problem. Like I did.... or do.... When it comes to furniture, I hoard. I will gladly admit it. Theres no shame to it! I think....Okey, maybe just a little....?

I found this lovely drop leaf table online, and the price was not so bad. I actually bought it with the intent to use it in our dining room as a side table. But like any other project I have, they get held up, because, well, I am not an octopus. And before I even got to start on painting the table, I found a vintage cabinet online that I allso wanted for our dining room. Because, again, I am a hoarder....
So I decided that when I was finished with the table, I would sell it. And within a few days after it was done, a nice lady came by and picked it up. She wanted to use it as a stand for her newly bought vintage singer sewing machine, An insanely heavy, but beautyfull machine, that deserved just as beautyfull a table for it to stand on.

I used Miss Mustard Seeds Ironstone and Shutter Grey for this one. I allso painted the inside of the drawer with a little leftover from the color Mora, wich I used on the new cabinet. Its not easy to see, but its there. And isnt that rose knob just lovely?? (note to self; get new one for the closet door...)

I got the inspiration for the grainsack stripes on Pinterest. There are so many lovely tables with grainsack stripes! I have been wanting to make them for a while now, and I instantly knew that this table was perfect for just that.

I really enjoyed the distressing job on this piece. It brings so much history and character to a piece of furniture when it is rugged and toughened up.

The whole table got a very good amount of clear wax, before I used a little antique wax on the legs.

This project was a lot of work, but allso a lot of fun. Just to bad I couldt keep it.....

Hope you enjoyed reading! Have a great day! 

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For the love of Milk Paint

How excited is it possible to get when a bag of milkpaint drops in your mailbox??
Pretty excited, I`ll have you know! If it wasnt for me driving the car down to the mailbox (we came from the grocery store. Its not like I take the car just to get the mail!...) I am very sure I would have skipped all the way home. Haha...

I while back I got four old wooden chairs from some lady who was actually throwing them away. I KNOW! Who does that??
Anyway, I took them offcourse, but they have been sitting in the basement evers since. Because, well, we actually have dining chairs allready. But they dont really go with the look that I am trying to achieve. Unfortunately for me, my husband dont care....

Not long ago, Miss Mustard Seed Milkpaint launched a new range of colors. Now, I do love colors, they just fit in with our interior. I am more of a neutral gal`with a splash of wood and soft pastels.
So when I read about the new color Marzipan, I knew that was it for my old wooden chairs.

These will look so good when the milkpaint gets a good, light sanding, distressing and some wax.
Cant wait to finish them. Who knows, maybe even my husband will aprove....

One down, three to go!

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New Years resolution; do pilates and a dining room make-over

Hello everyone!
Wow, its been over a month since my last post! I`ll just tell it like it is, I have been in a rut, blogging-wise, But I did make some changes to our home, I just didnt document it so very well.
So here comes a little update.

Ever since we moved in a year ago, our dining room has been my main focus. AND the main foot up in my %!"@&. Have you ever been troubled by restless leg syndrom ? I have, and THAT is the relationship I`ve had with this room. I never got the sence of being comfortable in there, and I really needed it to bee since we love having people over for dinner, and we spend quite a lot of time in there. So... my mind was set up allready in early december. I was going to paint the room as soon as the christmas ornaments had been packed away. It was the only room left on the main floor that had`nt been through a makeover with paint. And it needed it so bad!
I knew I wanted it to stay related to the other rooms that we had painted in a grey scale, but in a warm color. Our tv room has a more cold grey, and I needed the dining room to go with both white, grey and elements of wood and nature. So, as any nuts person wood do, I spent days and days looking for inspiration on...? You guessed it, Pinterest! Hahaha...
At last I went for a color named Kalk, or "chalk" in english. It has a little red in it for that grey warmthness I was after. So, I went home, prepped the walls, and hit it with my roller.
Wait, WHAT?!?! Its the SAME color???  I literally could not se ANY difference in the old and the new color! Did I spend all this time looking for the perfect shade, only to find out it was the one allready on there? The very same that I hated? Youre kidding me!

Yep, that was the sound in my head...
But thank goodness, the color changed quite alot when it dryed up. My husband couldnt do anything else than laugh at me. I totally understand. I would to, if I was`nt so upset.

But any way, It worked out great, and I am very happy with it.

A little re-furnishing was in its place to.

Yep, thats right... we have a green vinyl floor in our diningroom. 

The chair in the corner there is waiting for a slipcover to drop down from the skyes.

And this corner, by the way, is like a black whole sucking up all the attention. My plan is to but up a couple of white shelfes there and display the ironstone collection, that I am planning on getting as well.

In case you didnt notice, I am going for a relaxed cottage style meets nordic kind of feel. Am I there yet?  No?... thought so.... 

This Ikea cabinet was in desperat need of something on the top.

The space between the cabinet and the ceiling was way to big. I think I nailed it with this lovey string basket filled with my white table cloths and linens. The paperbook wreath I made for christmas is in the back and then I topped it of wih a couple lanterns.

Well, there you have it. My humble dining room tour. No I am off to do pilates. At least thats something I know how to do! 

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