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Thursday, September 18, 2014

Painting Projects: The Gossip Bench, Sideboard and a Frustrating Little Table

I still don't have the steel kitchen cabinet ready to show you--tomorrow, perhaps, we will get the hardware back on it and it will be ready for your viewing pleasure. Today, besides writing ghost stories and canning applesauce, I put most of the finishing touches to two pieces I started on the weekend, and pulled my hair out over the third.

First, here's the one I like best:



This is the gossip bench or telephone table I posted some months back. It needed repair, if you remember, and it has been waiting patiently for me to get around to it.
This is where Larry repaired a hole punched into the wood.

Now it's ready for one of the booths, and I am very pleased with the way it turned out.


I debated covering the original vinyl seat with a checked fabric or even a plain ivory piece, but in the end left it as it was. It does have a tiny tear in the vinyl which is why I considered covering it, but perhaps the new owner will want it as is, or will want to choose their own covering.

When I went to buy paint, there was a very limited selection of reds. I chose this one, a cranberry shade and I absolutely love it.

Second is this small sideboard. It's not a great piece, but I picked it up fairly cheaply and thought it was a good candidate for updating with some paint. It was a dull maple finish with those copper hinges and pulls, so I chose a sage-y green (called Olive something, go figure!) that I thought would show off the copper. Here again, we discussed replacing the hardware but it was so pretty we left it in place. The only thing I have left to do to this piece is wax it. It will have a modest price as it is not all wood; there is some pressed wood in it.



Last of these three is this aggravating little table.


We picked it up for a couple dollars in Pennsylvania and again I thought a bit of paint would really bring it alive. I went with the green again since the table is destined for a different booth, and I thought it would be a good display piece for someone's Christmas tree. The base painted beautifully, and so did the top--except for one weird spot that came right through my three coats of paint. Ugh. This evening I coated it again with a base paint, and you guessed it--the spot is right back. So I'm thinking about what to do next.

I still like it, even if it has made me crazy!

That's what I've worked on this week. Next week, I hope to get to work on two bigger projects: a chest of drawers and a small drop-front desk. We shall see how the stars align for that plan.

How about you? Any painting projects got you busy?

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

4 comments:

  1. Have you ever tried Kilz? I used it years ago and it was the only thing that worked to "kill" a spot that kept showing through paint. And funny thing, I just bought a quart of Kilz at a tag sale for 50 cents, because I think it will likely come in handy one day.
    AT that sale I also bought an old bench grinder, made in the US...I'm always on the lookout for American-made tools, which are sadly hard to find these days. It's one reason I don't have a circular saw or a table saw anymore. Which makes it harder to do some of my little building projects, but I just muddle through a handsaw until a tag sale turns up the right old tool I'm looking for.

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  2. Lovley pieces - I hate it when a spot comes through. I've even been known to spray paint that spot with a clear gloss spray and then sand lightly and paint over it - so far it has worked to stop the leak.

    I've been painting my kitchen cupboards this summer. I took the doors off and painted them outdoors - with our sometimes cloudy and rainy summers I was lucky to get three weeks of great sunshine for the door painting (21 of them) - but two of those weeks I was ferrying our grandson to daily Adventure Camp - so it cut into my painting, but I finished just before cooler weather came in.

    Now I have to paint the box part of the cupboards - but I can do that at my leisure, and indoors of course -and the weather won't matter. I hope to have them all done before the holidays. A nice new kitchen - with pale mint cupboards.

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  3. Quinn, I have used Kilz but right now none on hand :/
    You should come down here--lots of the older tools at auctions and they sell for 2 or 3 dollars pretty often.

    I do have some clear spray, JoAnn, so that is a great suggestion! I'll try that today.

    I am going to paint my cabinets with this green--I just really love the color, and my kitchen could use some spicing up. Great idea to wait til winter to do the inside. I will follow your lead there as well.

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  4. Loving the sideboard….and I'd also love to read your ghost stories!

    =)

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