Mappy, Mappy, Mappy

I recently picked up some awesome stuff at the auction. I was doing double duty as the girl's basketball team was playing at the school next door. I ran back and forth between the auction and the game in the pouring rain. At the end of the night the auctioneer had drank a little too much (I am not kidding) and things got a bit crazy. I'm not going to lie, I go to the auction for entertainment as much as I do for stuff. Anyway, I picked up several things for nearly free.
One of them was an early 90's table. It was solid, but dated. I brought it home and painted it up to create this:

Okay, I failed again at getting pictures. See, I write my posts then I take pictures. This post was sitting ready to be published, but I had no pictures yet. I had taken a few to post it on Craigslist, but they weren't great. It sold fast and I realized I never got  blog-worthy pictures. So here is the  table back of my car.

I decoupaged  maps from Portland, New York and Washington DC on top and put a coat of poly on top to protect it. I am sure it is destined for some Portland Hipster's house in a trendy part of town.

 

Yep...it went to a hip office in Portland. The business has offices in NYC, DC and Portland. PERFECT.

First Gradient Attempt

I picked up a waterfall dresser recently off of Craigslist. It was pretty cheap and the post said it wasn't too far from my house.
I arranged to pick it up and plugged the address in my navigator as I backed out of the driveway. OH. My. Gosh. I hate it when people say they live somewhere, but embellish the truth. Vancouver? Try nearly La Center (a good 10 miles further that advertised). Too late to turn back now.
When I arrived at the destination it was a trailer park. The unit was at the very end of the park. It was dark. The good news was the dresser was sitting on the porch (along with a ton of other stuff).
I told my student's this story and they all pointed out I was stereotyping. Awesome, I taught them something.

I loaded it in the back of my Volvo (I need to think of a name for my car) and headed home. I had taken the hardware off and had started to sand it when my friend and her children arrived to visit. As they were leaving, her youngest Soma told me I should paint it pink. Sweet Soma's suggestion of pink got me thinking. I have been intrigued by the onslaught of gradient dressers in Blogland. I think they are interesting, but don't think they would fit in with my current decor.  I wasn't planning on keeping this dresser so my first gradient attempt resulted in this:

I used Sherwin William's Amour and a random Valspar sample I had from their giveaway a year or so ago. I like the results, but think I could have started out darker and made the color differences more clear.

I spray painted the handles with brushed nickle and top coated it with Annie Sloan clear soft wax. I meant to get some better pictures, but it sold and I forgot until I was unloading it at the customer's house. I hate it when that happens!

Rolling With It

It was early fall and my secret auction house was holding a special Sunday auction. I had a million other things going on, but I couldn't miss this one.
The usuals were there: Drunk Old Man, Pee Man, Red Finger Nail Guy, Perfumed Lady, and a few of  my friends. They are actually the parents of my friends from high school, but my old soul digs hanging out with them more than their kids. There was also a lot of "irregulars". This meant things were going for more than normal. I had my eye on a few key things, but alas they all were beyond my budget. I did pick up this for $17 though:

She is solid, she has her original hardware and she has wheels that work! She even has an original painting. She has provided my garage with excellent storage over the last five months, but now it s time for her to roll on.
As with all of many of my projects I was waiting to have an ephinany in order to get started. At one point I was convinced I was going to go with a light powder blue and white. Then I thought about perhaps going big with a bright red or yellow. Alas I looked at one of my Pinterest boards I spotted this picture from Miss Mustardseed's site (www.missmustardseed.com) and knew I had found a winner.

I sanded her down a bit, removed the hardware, and mixed up a batch of my own chalk paint (I need to name it....mmmmmm....wheels spinning). This is Sherwin Williams of course. I buy these when they have their incredible sales. Generally I pick them up for around $6. This color however was at my local salvage store for $1.

I meant to snap some pictures with my camera, but captured some with the Ipad. It sold so fast I never got "real pictures". Opps.

Orginally this piece had a mirror or back of some kind, but over the years it went missing. I had about a 1/2 inch gap in the back. I decided to add my own back. I found a board and put it aside for Mr.Dickey to cut for me (My cutting skills with the circular saw aren't stellar). I was just about to draw a line of the board when I thought about adding a wooden embellishment I picked up for $2. It was too wide for the board. Darn it. I remembered a board I had sitting around and I went and pulled it out. I held it up to the back and tada it fit PERFECTLY. How do you like them apples?

Change of Plans

I picked up these two pieces a month ago from a 1920s home in inner SE Portland. The new owners found these when they moved in. They absolutely didn't go with the style of the house and the BEAUTIFUL grey pickled woodwork. They were on the top floor and these lovely people helped me and Mr.Dickey carry them down three flights of stairs to our truck that waited on a major street. They must of really wanted them out of there because they were FREE.

They are in fantastic condition and are matching in style, but one has glass the other does not. The shelves are all glass allowing them to illuminate whatever is displayed on them. They aren't all wood, but a mix of laminate and wood. They sat in my driveway under our overhang for three weeks before we finally cleared enough room in the garage for me to actually work on them. Originally, I planned to paint them and sell them. I figured I could get $100 for the glass one (with a good paint job) and maybe $75 for the other. Then, I realized I needed something like this to display Mr.Dickey's collectibles. DUH. I decided to paint them black. I also decided to leave a hint of the wood showing around the glass doors in case the paint was scratched or scuffed over the years. I was also being lazy and didn't want to tape. I am sure they will become shabby chic after a year or two in our basement so this is a good solution. Mr. Dickey had other ideas. At first, he was totally on board with moving them into the basement, but upon actually moving them he pointed out something, "When you paint things for other people you take your time. When you do things for us you don't. These aren't finished." What ensued was a pretty epic argument. I admit he was right. I hadn't done a great job painting these two pieces. In the end we he decided not to use them in the basement.
With that being said I had to go back and do some more work on these babies. I hate it when I'm wrong.

 Here is where taking pictures really shows why my husband was right. Dang that is proof. Good thing he rarely reads this. I did go back and paint the top and put another coat on the back.

The paint is Sherwin Williams Duration in Caviar with a little doctoring up. These suckers are heavy. I'm talking H.E.A.V.Y. I think they look great and would work well in a variety of spaces. The glass shelves and lights are an added bonus. I am sure they will look nice in someone's house (but not mine).