MID CENTURY LIGHT FIXTURES WITH NEW GOLD FINISH

Although I didn't at first, I now really love my vintage 60's original light fixtures that came with this house. I'm really glad that everything I liked, when looking at replacing these 3 matching fixtures, was a LOT of money!  A LOT of money x 3 is a TON of money!  So, I decided to keep these.

So I thought I would "update" the fixtures by spraying them satin nickel.  It wasn't necessarily a HUGE mistake because the brass was not the prettiest shade of brass anyway, but still, I never liked the satin nickel because it really did nothing for the funky shade of black, gray and deep purple mixed together that the glass is.

Finally, after about 2 years of wanting to change them to gold, I made the time to do it.  I can NOT believe, that since I have become so busy with my refinishing business, the lack of time or really desire I have had to do my own home projects. I am getting a little DIY bug though and have a lot of great plans for upcoming projects.

I love this shade of gold, which is Rustoleum Pure Gold.  It is a very pretty, soft shade of gold.  Not too brassy, not too orange, but just right. 

I really love this fixture and glad I didn't swap them out with new ones.  The beaded glass has such a pretty reflection on the ceiling at night. 

CONVERTING A STATIONARY CHAIR INTO A SWIVEL ROCKER

I never knew how much I, or my entire family loved swivel rockers until I brought home this hideous chair I grabbed from an estate sale for $5 (along with a few other "beauties") because I had sold all of my living room furniture and needed someplace to sit for Thanksgiving.  That was 2 years ago:)

The chair that everyone thought was "gross" quickly became a "dibs" chair that we fought over because of it's comfy, swivel, rocking ability.

I am not sure if my inability to purchase new pieces for my living room is because I love vintage pieces or because I am scared to death that whatever I buy, I will get sick of and not like 2 years from now.  It's easier to swap out a $40 chair or $200 sofa.

Whenever I come home with a new piece my husband is like "PLEASE, just go buy some nice NEW pieces".  Sorry honey, I can't just yet:)

While sitting in my ugly, yet comfy swivel, looking lovingly over at my new pink chair thinking to myself,  'if only you rocked and swiveled, I would love you even more'.  Then an awesome idea came to mind, which usually happens when I have had a glass or two of wine... why not take the rocker swivel component off this chair and attach to the other. So, I flipped over both chairs and realized, it could probably be done!

She did NOT want to come apart!

Finally!  

Fortunately, I didn't even need to cut the boards.  They fit PERFECTLY on this chair.

I now have a rocker swivel!!  I may have to remove the legs but they seem to not be in the way. I will test it out for a few days before I remove them.

I promise these photos make the chair look waaay more ELECTRIC pink! I swear it's not as crazy bright as the pictures look…but close:)

FINISHING THE BACK OF A DRESSER

This piece was picked by a client to go in the middle of her large walk-in closet.  Could you imagine, having such a nice, large space?!?! Lucky girl!


It's obvious from the great lines and curves how pretty this piece will be.

New piece of ply attached to the back and getting ready to trim it out.  There is a sample board of the size I typically use to do this, which is a 1x3 pine. 

After some nailing, filling and caulking…I was ready to work on the rest of the piece.

Turned out beautiful!  I did like the original hardware but one was broken so we had to change them all out anyway.  Plus, you can't go wrong with pretty glass knobs!

RADIO CABINET/SECRETARY DESK TURNED INTO A NIGHTSTAND

I love funky little old pieces like this.  They are full of both character and history.  I REALLY wish I had the 'before' picture so you could really appreciate the 'after'.

These different aluminum sheets are found both at Home Depot and Lowes as well as other hardware stores.  For some reason, maybe because everything I love gets discontinued, they no long have the design I wanted in the finish I needed. 

I love the gold finish and even the design of the clover leaf looking one below, but my client liked the style of the piece with smaller holes, and I did as well for this project.  But it was only in a dark shade and needed to be spray painted. That, I can do:)

I sprayed it in Rustoleum Pure Gold, which is an excellent soft gold without too much orange or brass.

I then attached it to a board I cut down to be inserted into the space where the speaker fabric once was.

 Attached from the inside of the cabinet.

New back applied after I sprayed the area that would be exposed when the flap door was down.

Here she is!  All done and prettied up!  This will make an excellent and cool nightstand.

HOW TO MAKE A QUICK AND SUPER EASY DRAWER STOPPER

Almost all of the older pieces I work on do not have drawer stops on them.  Sometimes, because the piece might be for a child, the customer asks if I can add them. I can!

There are a few different ways to go about making stopper but this is the quickest and easier DIY way I have found.


Cut a few pieces of wood about 2" long.  I used a paint stir stick because that is all I could find at the moment.

Drill a whole into them about 1/3 of the way down (or up:)) This is for the screw

In the inside back of the drawer, screw it centered but close to the top.  I start with the piece of wood sideways but not peeking over the top. This way I can move and rotate it to where I need once the drawer is in place.

See what's happening here…you are now able to rotate the piece of wood.  

You need it down to slide the drawer in and then are able to rotate it up once inside the drawer.  

I moved it up as high as it could go once inside.  This will stop the drawer form coming out but you can reach in and move it down in case you need to take the drawer out all the way.

DRESSER TURNED BATH VANITY 'BEFORE & AFTER'

I am so happy with how this vanity turned out!

Here is the sad little 'before' picture.  My clients had a tight fit and we were working around a close chute as well, so a little retrofitting of the back leg was necessary. It all worked out beautifully!

Few more shots of the beautiful space.  The hardware and granite they picked out is gorgeous and love the dark walls!