Gayus Wood: February 2014

Monday, February 24, 2014

YOU ASKED MY OPINION III kristys questions answered

Personally Id love to see this look
but Ive been told I cant always get my way.

This is the 3rd installment of

*YOU ASKED MY OPINION*

My response to a reader requesting my opinion

on their furniture and/or space.

Hi - Im too!

I love your website and all your stuff - so envious of your skills! Its all totally my style! I have an older dresser
and matching side table in my bedroom that is just old, 80s wood finish. It has some interesting shape to it and nice
hanging (but brass) handles. I would love to refinish these to be black or black/brown to suit our bedroom decor.

I think they could look great painted either black or dark brown and with different knobs at the top, but paint

the handles that are near the bottom of the dresser - I love the shape of them, just not the brass colour.

s maple dresser can be seen here on the right and a nice

example of something similar on the left in brown

I think the night stand needs legs as well.

Great Bun feet can be found at Windsor Plywood.

Do you think darker pieces look better distressed or just solid colour?

Distressed furniture looks old with history.

Solid colored furniture appears new and modern.
What is the overall feel you want in your room?

I love the shabby look, but maybe thats better with something white

and white wont look as good against our beige walls.

I firmly believe every piece of furniture has the ability to be

spectacular on its own, that it doesnt need things around it to look

good or match a set or even worry about beige walls. The only trick

is figuring out the right look for each individual piece.

Do you think a dark chocolate brown could still provide that classy look like the white and black?

When done right Dark Chocolate can definetly provide a classy

look, however brown paint is tricky to get right, so usually it would

be stained in a dark walnut rather then painted.

Also - where do you get your awesome, antique-like handles and knobs?

I find my hardware everywhere, from fleamarkets to yardsales,

antique stores, and hardware store, but mostly I find them on old

pieces of furniture. All the above pictured handles are repurposed

from found furniture.

Lee Valley in Coquitlam is a great source for reproductions.

What do you use to paint them?

EXCEL Spray Paint 10 min dry available at Co-op in Langley

and Rustoleum Painters Touch available at Rona

Since Im totally new at this stuff, can you provide details like which paint products and such are good to use?

I get most of my latex paint and primer from Cloverdale paint.
I use preformance select paint brushes from Home Depot.
I use minwax paste finish wax, and varathanes diamond clearcoat and gel stains.

I painted a dresser once before and it didnt work well. Two years later it still is sticky
on the top and dents and scratches whenever I leave anything on it.

Im going to suggest it wasnt prepped or primed first. Latex paint does take

28 days to cure and the darker the color the more time is needed.

Although Im sure 2 yrs would be more then enough.

Thinking I should redo it completely and paint it white and do that one with a more distressed look since its

has more boring shaped to it. I also think I should change the knobs to be more fancy looking.

Distressing does add shape to a less then curvatious piece. In the

photo of s dresser here on the left you can barely see the

outline of the drawers and can only see the curve on the bottom
due to the lighter carpet. Distressing the edges would highlight all
the lines it does have.

My bedroom walls are a neutral beige colour and my curtains are chocolate brown and
our recently created (still need to add tufted buttons) headboard is light grey-blue.

I am hoping to change my bed sheets and such to a more chocolate brown or light blue as well.

I also love the damask pattern

Please let me know what your advice is.

I really appreciate your input - I love your stuff!!!

Regards,

Did I mention I really like this look

With a couple of these

And for a beginner, distressing is fun, easy, and not so fussy to achieve.

*** Interested in finding sources for the inspiration photos used in this post,

right click the photo and in google image search use the file name listed under properties to search each pic.

Maple hutch with tutorial for wood finishing

A big thanks to Maryann at Domestically Speaking, for the heads up on the free paint

last Sat at ACE! Not That I need anymore paint! Seriously, I counted. I have over fifty...yes 50,

containers of paint in all different colors! But, I didnt have this color!! Since it was FREE, and I already have a bazillion colors on hand, I got COBALT! My fave color. I dont have

anything to paint this shade....yet! Ima lookin. Isnt it yummy??

MAPLE HUTCH

The finished product is at the bottom of this post......Dont peek now...scroll on down!!

Here is my latest project. A pretty nice score from CL. I dont think the owners ever once polished, cleaned or even wiped this baby down! She was pretty grimy!!
Im going to go over some wood finishing steps while Im working on this project. I have been refinishing wood a lot longer than Ive been painting it.
I couldnt believe what a beautiful top the lower part of this hutch had. I know, youre looking at it and going, "yeah, right." Just wait. This hutch is solid maple. I couldnt believe my eyes when I sanded off that stain. Pure, solid maple butcher block. Even those shelves are solid. I sanded those puppies down as well.

I will be adding bits to this day by day until Im finished.

Filling in a crack w/some wood filler.

This left leg had a some serious gouges and a chunk missing from the molding. No problem.
I will fabricate the missing piece with Plastic Wood. It dries quickly and sands easily. The benefit over the wood filler is that it will not shrink and crack. For really big fill jobs, use an epoxy filler.

Heres what it looks like after sanding and staining.

And heres what it looks like after painting! I dont think anyone would have known.
And those deep gouges kind of faded after I hit it with sandpaper.

Ok...So off to the top!

I start with my orbital sander and a 60 grit, then 150, and finishing with 220.
Go easy around the edges or youll hog em off! I usually do those by hand.

Um, hello??? Can you say pristine maple?? Like butcher block maple quality???
Its gawjus! So now comes the fine tuning with a 320 grit that I
use in a block sander, going with the grain. This gets any circular
marks the orbital may have left behind and really gets it
feeling as smooth as a babys behind!

I used this pre-stain to avoid blotchiness.

I sand again (with a 320 or 420 grit) after applying this because it tends to raise the grain.

Maple takes stain very easily although its difficult

to get very dark. I used a dark walnut, which it sucked right up,

and then went over it again with jacobean. I use a foam brush

to apply it and then a lint free rag to work it in and wipe

off the excess.

Very important to use a seal coat. This locks in your color and gives you a

finish you can sand without stripping your color. You must sand after this

and all subsequent applications. From here on out I use a fine steel wool.

Last night I put on a poly finish in gloss, water based. I have the oil based too, but since
this isnt going to get that much usage, I chose the water. Plus the water base
is easier to brush on and clean-up is with, well, water! I hate
cleaning oil stain brushes!

I use a 0000 steel wool. Once the poly dried, I gave the top a once over
with the wooly. Go easy and try to see where the streaks are. Yes, you will
dull the finish. Thats okay cuz you are going to put on at least another
2-3 coats (sanding in between each one).
You never stop at one coat.
A lot of work you say??? Why yes, it is. But thats why it will look
so good when its done!

This is the inside bottom shelf. I gave it a quick sanding, a once over with some stain and one coat of the poly.

Im calling it a day on this part. It was in decent shape and I didnt take it down to the bare wood.

I think it looks beautiful. Look at that rich color!

Heres a sneak peak at the hutch part. I did the same procedure to the shelves as
I did on the top. They were the same maple quality. I debated about
painting. I hate covering up nice wood and I thought the
contrast would work well with colors.

So I just finished the bottom portion and brought this in

the house. Ive since acquired a new piece and I need

room in the garage! Repeat after me,,,,,,

I have a furniture addiction!

I came across these vintage knobs at the Re-Store.
The pulls came from Lowes. I tried to spray the originals,
but I didnt like the way they came out. I think these suit the
hutch better.

Im so in love with the way this top finished. This is after two coats

of glossy brush on water based Poly. I could probably

use one more coat.

Ok finally! DUN! Waxed her up and couldnt find a good place
to put her to take photos. The color of my walls in the other rooms do not
go at all with this hutch. So its in my bedroom by the
back door!

In case you forgot the before.....

I used my home made chalk paint on the white.
Behr "divine pleasure". The aqua color is regular latex
with about 3 different colors I had on hand mixed together.