Where Are Your Drawers?

We all need and want a pretty place to store our drawers (and other unmentionables!), right? But what if you have a place to store your drawers, but "pretty" isn't the word you'd use to describe it? What if the word you would use is closer to "boxy", "plain" or "I inherited it"?

If so, we'd like to introduce a few new words into your vocabulary! How about "tres chic", "fabulous" and "ooh la la"? Pull out your dictionary in the near future, look up the phrase "easily transform" and you just may see a picture of a can of CeCe Caldwell Paint! I just can't say how much the consignors at Room With A Past and Paris Flea Market love this paint! For this project, The carved, scrolly lines on the front of each drawer was painted first, with Vintage white, using a brush small enough to fill in all the delicious detail. Then the carved floral motif near the top, the slim molding at the bottom, carved lines of the side panels and the (removed first!) handles were also painted with Vintage White. Then the whole piece was brushed with a recipe of 1/2 Cup Vintage White, 1/2 Cup Seattle Mist and 1/4 Cup Memphis Blue.

Painted by the talented Pam Lawrence!

A small amount of rubbing with a damp rag on some of the painted intricately carved areas results in a BIG impact! Finish with a protective coat of easy to apply Clear Wax, and you're done! In a few easy steps you've got a pretty place to store your drawers. I can only hope what you put in them are just a pretty!

This Is How A Homie Rolls!

Are you a Homie? You know, the kind of person who goes to watch a movie, and then while sitting in a dark theater instead of watching the actor on the 40 foot screen, you are scanning the furniture in the background scene? If you answered YES!, then you are, my friend,  indeed a Homie. You have trained your eyes to constantly scan the surrounding environment for ideas, techniques, colors, and unconventional items to bring personality into your HOME!

So my next question is...

Have you seen something on the side of the road as you are tootling along in your car and thought "Hey! I could make something with that!"? 

And my final question:  Have you actually hung a U-ie and gone back to pick said item up? 

If you can answer YES! to all three questions, you're gonna love this:

Consignor Karen Berg of Paris Flea Market is not one to pass up an abandoned hunk of wood, no matter what condition it may be in. "What once was lost, now is found" could be her motto. No matter that it was missing drawers that looked like it had its teeth knocked out, and that it wasn't made very well. Under her patient and determined hand, (not to mention a can each of CeCe Caldwell's Smoky Mountain, and Memphis Blue paint), the results are spectacular:

Adding casters, three wood boxes in place of missing drawers and glass knobs, she took it from "um..how?" to "Oh WOW!". She also used this opportunity to play around with some different ways to apply the paints, to use a base coat of Aluminum Spray Paint, and a Tobacco Brown tinted glaze. So turn your car around and pick up that treasure you spied! Then for ideas, check out her blog Redoux Interiors for lots more inspiration! 

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No Time To Be "Board"

What do you do when you work for a small company, want to stay "green" and need some affordable office furniture?  You get creative! That's just what our customer from Room With A Past , Roxanne, and her husband, (who work together for said small company!) did! They recently moved into their own office, and now have a great boardroom space. In looking around for boardroom tables they couldn't find anything that really fit the space or their  personalities. So they decided to create their own table, inspired by what they have seen in Room With A Past as well as vintage fairs and shows, using her incredible find of three vintage doors. For added personality, two of the doors are old apartment doors with the "peep" holes and addresses still attached! The middle door came from a home built in the 40's with 9 panes of glass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Set up in their garage, Roxanne and her husband were out to create a table that was both re-purposed with vintage flair and had a hip "urban vibe" to it as well. Roxanne took a CeCe Caldwell Paint class held at Paris Flea Market, fell in love with the paint and gained the know-how to complete the task!  Using Vermont Slate to paint the doors and Springhill Green for the trim, all this "new" table needed was a large piece of glass and a custom made vinyl sign bearing the company name and logo as the finishing touch.  The result:

 

When it was finally completed, it was packed up and assembled at the office in Santa Clara. They were so excited to see it all assembled and set up in its new home. Roxanne tells us, "The table is truly a one-of-a-kind and we loved working on it together. We are looking forward to our next project!".


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Executively Executed

 What do you think of when you hear the words "polished", "mahogany", and "brass"? You can almost smell the cigar smoke from here, right? It's such a manly, sight this desk:

It would be right at home in a high level executive's manly-man den, wouldn't it? I'm sure that man would have a better word for his private office, and there would be no need for a sign on the door that says "Men Only" because no woman in her romantic heart of hearts would want to enter! Unless, of course, there is some primping involved with some CeCe Caldwell's paint!  

Painted by the Über talented Pam Lawrence!

Now this is a desk I could fall in love with! All it took was some Seattle Mist paint on the drawers, top and sides, some (less than 1/4th of the can!) Vintage White on the trim and the brass drop pulls (that's riiiightt--just paint right over that glaring yellow metal!).  Cece's Satin Finish was used for a protective-sheeny finish.  To tell you the truth, it had me when I saw all those fabulous drawers!

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A Tale of Two Sitties

Once upon a time, in the land of My Inventory is Low At Room With A Past, there was great flurry hovering around consignor Pam Lawrence. Pam was a happy and energetic woman, but when faced with the great luck of being a consignor whose inventory was dwindling down to the bare walls in the middle of the busy December sale, she became flustered and worried. "What will I do when there is nothing left for my lovely customers to purchase?" she nervously wondered. Luckily, Pam remembered "The Twins" she had ferreted away for just such a time.

"The Twins" came to Pam as unwanted, under-loved and most certainly dingy, but sweet orphans, swathed in a raggedy stained cloth.  "Please madam, may I have some love?" they groveled at her feet. Pam scooped them up and took them home, giving them a warm storage room in which to stay.  Time passed as Pam began working on her other projects that came first on the list; a dresser, a china cabinet and a dining table and chairs. One after the other, the twins saw them being transformed under her hands and moved out of storage, into Room With A Past,  looking quite fabulous. 
 

Then one day, Pam (having run out of things to sell in her space at Room With A Past) rushed into her storage room with a can of CeCe Caldwell's Vintage White & a paint brush in one hand, and some new fabric & staple gun in the other. A calm, but determined look was on her face as she feverishly worked away on the two chairs. In no time at all, the chairs were transformed from "Dingy" to "To Die For"!

"Look at me, look at me!" the two chairs exclaimed after their paint had dried and clear wax was being applied. "I'm a whole new chair!".  Pam hooked her arms through the frame of each chair and off to the store they went!

They each were staged in Pam's space and in no time at all (about a half hour, actually!) both chairs were snapped up by their new owner, and they all headed home together. It just goes to show, if you have a can of CeCe on hand, you've got the power to transform your world!

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Sittin' Pretty, Pretty Quick

It's the holidays and we're all rushing around with plans swirling around in our heads and sore & tired tootsies. Have a seat? Don't mind if I do! But um, eeww! Let's see if there's anything we can do about freshening up a little bit around here before the guests arrive:

It's a good enough looking chair to behold, to be sure, but that old dingy fabric with the spots and stains has got to go!  What's a quick remedy? 

Q: how about a store bought slipcover? 
A: besides requiring one more trip through the cross town traffic, they never really fit right!

Q: how about we just PAINT IT?
A: sure, in a perfect world, it would be that easy!

Enter the perfect paint for the job:

Seriously? Seriously! Get out your CeCe Caldwell Paint of choice and go to town on that chair. Even the fabric? Yes, especially that fabric! When it's all dry, follow up with the Satin Finish. And. You're. Done.

Pam Lawrence and CeCe to the rescue!

You've got a durable finish on a cute new place to sit. Now if finding the perfect Christmas gift for my mother was that easy, I'd be one happy woman!

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Light Up Your Life

I love this idea shared by my cohort at both Room With A Past and Paris Flea Market, Pam Lawrence.


It's a very old light sconce made of brass,  now tarnished. Yes, it looks just fabulous as is with its darling angels and faceted crystals hanging from the bobeches, doesn't it?

But if your taste is more sweet, rather than grand, why not change your fixtures to match? Pam used a little CeCe Caldwell Vintage White paint on a cheapo brush, and just dry brushed lightly over all that wonderful detail, making it really pop!

 

Even this little guy loves the way it turned out! But the best thing about this simple project? Pam didn't use any wax (because the fixture is up on a wall--who's going to be touching it?) and if she ever decides to go back to the tarnished brass finish--she can! Just a few swipes with a damp cloth will take off the chalk & clay based paint!

I hope I've enlightened you (oh, how corny!) on yet another way to transform old into new!

For more creative transformations, visit these link parties: