Soon we will be celebrating Aleksandra’s Furniture first birthday. It’s almost one year since I finally decided to create my FB page and started sharing my furniture makeovers with a wider public. So much has happened since…. Here are some things that I learned through my first year of furniture flipping.
1. Styles
I learned to see through the old layers of paint and peeling lacquer. To notice their beauty and find inspiration in their original forms. Not every piece can, or should be painted it the same style. If you are a fan of Shabby Chic, rustic, French Provincial etc, you should be looking out for older pieces in classical shapes. For example, a simple IKEA dresser won’t do the trick.
But if you like mid-century modern, clean lines, typical IKEA is a good base.
2.Equipment:
It’s makes a BIG difference! Good quality sanders, a heat gun, painting equipment suitable for the type of paint you are using is a must! Good lighting is also something that you can’t and shouldn’t work without.
3.Paint
There are so many different types and brands available, it’s easy to get confused. My advice is to try them out and decide for yourself what kind of finish is best suitable for your style. Matte chalk paints are good for distressed and old look and acrylic and oil paints are good for modern clean lines. But that’s just a general idea, so don’t let it limit you! Remember one thing! Matte finish will hide minor imperfections while high gloss finish will make them very visible. Steer away from glossy look if your furniture is damaged and used up.
4. Techniques
…and again , there are so many different ones. Wet distressing, dry distress, decoupage, color layering, crackle, stencils, masking tape etc…. I love to mix and match! Sometimes I create my own techniques and styles. Check out the links to my previous blog post and learn more about: decoupage, stencils, masking tape
5. Pictures
Use day light. And not just any day light. Morning light gives a totally different color effect than evening light. Here in Norway the days are extremely long during summer. Some of my best pics were taken at midnight cause it’s still bright out here. But the situation is more complicated during winter. Most of the days I have a short 1 hour slot to use the daylight. After that it’s back to sunless dark sky. Styling is also an important part of the overall impression. I use mostly simple items, most of which I find in second hand shops. The key is to make sure they match the style of the presented piece of furniture. Color and scale are also very important. I often see people styling their furniture with too SMALL items.
6. Details
Details are, by far, my favorite part of every furniture project. Every piece needs the right knobs, paper lined interior and even tassels or in general – furniture jewelry.
7. People
The most important thing I learned about people is that no matter how good you are, no matter how beautiful your work is ,you will always meet someone who doesn’t like it.
And it’s OK… remember that whatever you do is suppose to make you happy in the first place. Fighting for people’s approval is a fast route to madness… I’m still working on it. 
Thonet Chairs Holiday Project
Cleaning Up The Neighbourhood
This was supposed to be holidays, but I guess I just couldn’t miss a chance like this. I found these two classic Thonet chairs standing outside my dad’s house. His neighbour was planning to drive them to the dumpster but couldn’t find the time, so the chairs were irritating the whole neighbourhood for weeks. And there I was on my furniture painting vacation/detox. How could I resist? I took them.
Testing Grounds
I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to test some of the products available in Poland. If you have read any of my blog posts, you know I’m a great fan of Lady Supreme Finish (LSF) from JOTUN. I love this oil paint for its durability and matte finish (it comes in 4 different types of finish), but this brand is a Scandinavian specialty, and you can’t buy it anywhere else, so I decided to try something new. I always heard good things about Tikkurilla paints, so I thought I’d give it a try. I chose Acrylic Enamel (Emalia akrylowa) in a strong, mint shade of green. It came in semi matte finish; sadly, it was the only one available. When painting with LSF I always use primer but I couldn’t find anything like that here, so I had to skip it.
After taking the chairs apart I filled the cracks with wood filler (Kit do drewna Liberon) and sanded them by hand to get rid of the old lacquer, and then I was ready for painting. Much to my surprise, the first layer covered almost perfectly, and all in all I just needed two layers and a minor touch up. The paint dried very fast though, which made it harder to apply and harder to archive a smooth, even surface. After drying (only 6 hours, LSF needs 8), it seemed pretty durable. I tried to scratch it off with my nail but it didn’t do any damage. This type of paint doesn’t require any additional protection like lacquer or wax, so my chairs were almost ready. I only needed to wax the parts that were supposed to stay unpainted and put the chairs together.
This project was a welcome distraction from my intense family holiday. The few hours I spent with my chairs kept me sane and composed for the rest of the stay Painting is my kind of meditation 
Tikkurila – Yes or No?
- Coverage- very good
- Durability – good
- Drying time – good
- Semi matte finish – not for me
Ready Thonet Chairs
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Before
This simple, old table was a custom order. It was brought to me by one of my clients. She wanted it to match the Shabby Chic buffet she bought from me some time ago. When I first saw it I wasn’t even sure I could manage to bring it back to life. It was missing one of the drawers and the old paint was literally peeling off it. The top plate was made of bad quality material and the whole thing was just sad and broken.
Basics
First I used my Dewalt Heat Gun (BEST TOY EVER!!! ) to remove the old paint, and then I sanded the whole thing. After that I primed it with Jotun Kvist-og Sperrgrunning and painted two layers with Lady Supreme Finish. Now it was time for the fun part: giving it a unique character. Since the client wanted it to be delicate and neutral, matching the pieces she already had, I had to keep it simple. I chose a light pink paper for the inside of the drawer, and the shelf. Oh yeah, the shelf! I made it to replace the missing drawer on the right side, since making an actual drawer would be to expensive and to time consuming for this kind of a project. PS: If you’re interested in my drawer decoupage technique just check out my previous post HERE.
The Frames – The Masking Tape Trick
After taking care of the inside it was about time to make some final touches on the outside as well. I thought delicate frames would be an interesting, but still classic addition to this neutral piece. The plan was to use masking tape, but how do you get a clean, crisp line using making tape? How do you avoid bleeding under the tape? HERE IS HOW:
- Apply the tape.
- Paint along the tape edge with the colour of the background, in my case white. If the paint bleeds under the tape it’s the same colour as the base wich makes it unnoticeable. You seal the edge with the first colour, allowing it to bleed under the edge, so the second colour does not.
- Give it 10 minutes to dry a little and apply the main colour, in my case gray.
- Remove the tape while the paint is still wet.
Easy right? Discovering this simple technique was a total game changer for me. I love all types of stripes and frames, and by using the masking tape trick I finally could make it as crisp and clean as I always wanted. Here I decided to go one step further and slightly distress the whole piece including the frames. I used a damp cloth and rubbed gently to remove some of the gray paint. This, plus delicately sanding the edges, helped me achieve vintage Shabby Chic effect.
Finished Table
From one-eyed pirate of a table to a delicate vintage treasure.
]]>The Beginning
Ooookeyyy… where do I start? In a dumpster! That’s where this scary, little thing came from. It was covered in, what looked like, a hundred and eighty layers of oil paint. I think the last owner used it as a workshop table, because the top was covered in various glue and paint stains. It had deep holes and scratches, that at first looked impossible to fix. You might ask why the heck did I pick it up in the first place? The answer is :the Bunny! He put a spell on me and I simply couldn’t resist. His smug moustache and aristocratic nose got me crazy for him.
The Gun Part
After setting the Glorious Bunny free, I knew I needed some new equipment to tackle this awful piece of furniture, so I got a ….GUN! A heat gun. It made the removing of the old paint much easier. (That’s when I first noticed that the Bunny had a thing for guns.) Afterwards I sanded it, first with coarse and then with fine grit sand paper. Then I used a wood filler to even out all the surfaces, and primed. Only then I could finally paint. Bunny said he always liked the tuxedo style colours, so I went for it As you can imagine, all this took me quite a long time and produced extreme amounts of dirt and dust, so I don’t recommend you try this at home Here again Bunny was suspiciously experienced with covering the area with foil, Dexter style…I started to worry…
The Drawer Decoupage
Bunny needed to go away to visit his mother in Sicily so I had some time for myself. You keep asking me about my paper-lined drawers, so I thought you would like to see it done step by step. First you need to prepare some materials, tools and body parts:
- PAPER. I use a regular, thin, gift wrapping paper but for a beginner I recommend something thicker, like wallpaper.
- GLUE. I use Varnish glue or Mod Podge from Panduro Hobby.
- BRUSH to apply the glue with.
- CLOTH to press the paper.
- RULER and a CARPET KNIFE to measure and cut the paper.
- A SHOULDER to cry on, if you choose the thin paper- Kamikaze version and your first attempt is not quite what you’ve expected it to be.
But seriously, It’s not that bad. It just takes a bit practice and patience. I start with measuring and cutting the paper to the exact size of the bottoms of the drawers. Then I apply the glue evenly to the whole surface. Now the hardest part. If you’re using thin paper like me, it needs to be put exactly in the right position, on the first try. Thicker papers can be adjusted, which makes it much easier to work with. It’s best to start from the corner, and work your way out gradually pushing the paper, and squeezing the air out with a rolled up cloth. ( Like in the picture 4) Thin paper becomes very fragile and easy to rip when soaked with glue, so you need to be extra careful when pressing and smoothing it out. The large bottom of the drawer is the hardest part. Sides, since they are smaller surfaces, are much easier. Depending of what kind of paper you are using, you can apply a varnish or lacquer to seal it and make it more durable. That’s the basic version of my decoupage drawers. If you have any further questions just go ahead and write a comment or email and I’ll explain it in detail
And again, if you want to try with gift wrapping paper, make sure you try it on a smaller surface before attempting a large drawer bottom. Practice makes perfect
El Kaninio
Like all great romances it ended as unexpectedly as it started. One night a Special Unit Team stormed in. They cuffed my beloved Bunny and took him away. Later that day I learned that he was a part of Italian Bunny Mafia. As an eye-witness to numerous carrot-crimes, he was placed in the witness protection program and relocated. I hear he’s hopping somewhere in Mexico waiting for his trial They call him El Kaninio there. I guess we weren’t meant to be…
Final Effect – From a Dumpster Find to Tuxedo Dresser
The dresser (my tribute to El Kaninio) went from scary orange to sophisticated tuxedo matte black. Insides were lined with geometric pattern paper. As for the Bunny, he’s going back to furniture prison . After all he has been glued to the side of that dresser for about 40 years. If that’s not jail time, I don’t know what is…
You can post the bail for the Tuxedo Dresser HERE
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Inspiration
Vanity: I was really looking forward to redoing one of these again. Last time I had a chance to work on a vanity was when my friend asked me to paint one for her, last summer. She wanted something neutral and delicate so we went for white and gold.
Magenta: Earlier this year, I was working with a brave and color-loving client. She needed a statement piece for her new apartment. We found a classical wooden dresser and chose a strong magenta color and shimmering golden knobs from Zara Home. I fell in love! Since then I was looking for another piece to paint the same color.
Before
I found this beautiful vintage bedroom set online. It was in a pretty good condition, but covered in a thick glossy layer of old, ugly lacquer. The mirrors were a little blurry, but after all, this is a vintage piece and these kind of rustic imperfections just give it extra charm.
Process
After taking the whole piece apart, I sanded it lightly and primed it. The plan was to paint it with high gloss paint, so I needed to make sure the surface was perfectly smooth. That meant sanding it with fine grid paper after applying each layer. As for the drawer pulls, I decided to reuse the original ones. All the remaining hardware like hinges and metal pieces holding the mirrors in place were sprayed with metallic golden paint. The insides of the drawers were lined with black and white paper that I glued on with decoupage glue.
Tip: you should avoid high gloss finish if you’re working with rough, uneven surfaces. Shine makes every tiny scratch or dents very visible. Matte finish is perfect to hide imperfections.
Final Effect – Magnetic Magenta Vanity
Brave and unique. A real statement piece! Buy HERE
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Before
This little, vintage cabinet was such a pleasure to work on! Like most old furniture, it was treated with many layers of old school oil paint. It still was holding on amazingly well to the surface, so I decided all I needed to do was just sand it lightly and patch some areas up with wood filler. The areas that needed the most attention were the lock and key holes cavities. They were filled up with wood and wood filler.
Color and Pattern
You probably noticed I’m a huge fan of blue, and naturally this was my first thought when I laid eyes on this little, cute cabinet. But then I remembered how much you all liked my green projects, and I thought it was time to let go of the blue for a while Another part I was pretty excited about, was the Moroccan pattern stencils I recently bought. I REALLY needed to try those out!
Knobs
I like to have a few options ready. I choose 2 or 3 sets of knobs I think might go well with the style and color scheme, and I make the final decision after the paint job is done This time I went for these beautiful metal “baskets” from REGALKA. They were perfect for my Moroccan style, especially when accompanied by my favorite, big and puffy tassels.
Final Effect – Green Moroccan Cabinet
What interior doesn’t need a splash of color? So all in all I’m ‘veldig fornoyd’. My new stencils = great success. Regałka knobs = adorable. Color choice = yes please!
You can buy this green cutie HERE
]]>BEFORE/THE IRRITATING PART
Where should I start?
Let’s just say that the hinges on this vintage piece, were not made of quality material. They broke, piercing the thin veneer and destroying the upper bar door.
I took them out and made a surprisingly-accurate technical drawing. Since I’m incredibly lucky to have a MacGyver type of dad, I called and charmed him into making brand new hinges from scratch. Yay! Thank you, daddy!
After solving drama number one, I needed to focus on the damaged veneer. Wood glue and a week with carpenter clamps helped, but there were parts that needed to be evened out with wood filler.
So now we’re ready to paint, right? Well… no.
After focusing on the hinges, I totally missed the fact that the lock on this awful, shameless door was broken as well.
A few hours browsing the net for ‘møbellås’ ,400 kr and 5 days later, I eventually got the right size lock. JEEEEEEZ….
THE FUN PART
Finally, I could get to the fun part. Painting!
I thought I would go with the black and teak theme again. Well, black and oak in this case. I managed to get the old lacquere off the door fronts and stain them in a bit of a darker walnut shade. To add some extra detail I decorated the sides with my newest stencils and exchanged the drawer knobs with big golden ones from Zara Home .
THE FINAL EFFECT-UNIQUE OAKEN CABINET
The new hinges, my MacGyver-dad custom made for me fitted like a glove! New lock as well. I love the contrast between matte black finish and natural oaken wood! Stencil pattern and golden details make it even better.
Buy it HERE.
]]>If this is not a Cinderella story, I don’t know what is!
Before
Poor little thing. She was sad, forgotten and dressed in torn, dirty rags. That’s what I call a Cinderella.
Idea
Upholstery is not my forte, but I think it’s really fun and I enjoy it a lot. This time I decided to try out the tufting technique . The type you usually see on tufted headboards or Chesterfield Sofas.
Process
I started with taking it all apart. After removing the legs and the top I took off all the old fabric and the padding that was used as a pillow. 20 thousand upholstery nails later I had a plain wooden base and I could start building it back up. I’m not going to bore you with more tufting details, but I’ll just mention that my choice of fabric wasn’t very lucky. As a beginner I should have used something thinner and easier to operate with. Instead I chose a thick and stiff faux suede that I recently bought for a chair makeover but didn’t get to use. It was a challenge but I made it at the end! Lesson learned, moving on… After finishing the tufted seat I realized that I didn’t have enough fabric to cover the rest of the pouf. I thought: no biggie, I’ll just take a trip to the store and buy some more. How naive. After arriving at the shop I discovered they were out of my mint suede. Typical… but that’s how the best ideas are born – out of a lack of simple solutions. So I bought a different fabric in the same fresh shade of mint and I got to the car half pissed off and half brainstorming. It hit me the moment we reached the first pedestrian crossing; stripes! I cut identically-sized stripes from both fabrics, and I sewed them together on a sewing machine. Crisis averted!
Effect-Mint tufted pouf
I think I did well as a Fairy Godmother. My Cinderella got an elegant, fresh mint, tufted, suede dress. Her heavy, wooden klomper shoes were changed into elegant, glossy slippers. The interior was taken care of as well. I just couldn’t seem to resist spicing it up with a little colorful pattern And the best part is: nothing is going to change into a pumpkin when the clock strikes twelve.
Adopt her HERE
]]>Before
The desk was in pretty good shape. The only problem was the missing lock in the upper part and a big gap where the key hole used to be. I decided to fill the space and finish it off with some wood filler. My plan was to install a knob in place of the missing key. I know , I know… a key would be better, but I couldn’t find a fitting lock in my collection, and a new one would be way too pricey, so I needed to go for a financially-sensible solution.
Process
The old orange lacquer was not an option, so I sanded it off. That was my least favorite part of the process. Dust everywhere! Ears, nose, eyes… Everything looked like the set of Dune :/
After priming and painting the whole thing I decorated it with some copper stencil patterns.Old drawer pulls were polished and reused. For the upper part I chose a vintage wooden knob that I saved from another piece I was working on before. (Reuse, reuse, reuse! ) The nterior got a fresh coat of paint and a stencil decor. The miniature drawers were also lined with the paper that I thought was a bit much to put in the major drawers. At the end I just needed to wax the parts that I decided to keep in natural wood and it was ready!
Effect
Fresh and new but still with Mid-century modern vibe.
Now it’s looking for a new home. Adopt him here
]]>Before
It wasn’t much to start with. I really wanted to keep the top in natural teak but the scratches in the veneer were too deep to fix. In this case, paint was the only option. The chair situation was very similar. Big chunks of veneer were missing from the back so I decided to fill them, sand it and paint it.
The original plan was to paint it cobalt blue. I took a trip to the local fabric store to find something appropriate for the chair seat, but there was nothing that would go with my previously-planned cobalt theme. Change of plans!
I like to find my inspiration in the papers and fabrics I use, and that’s what I did on this project as well. The client suggested that we go with turquoise instead of cobalt, and from there we had a plan!
Ready to work
The first step Is usually sanding the surface down. I used a sanding machine for the flat parts of the desk, but the chair needed to be sanded by hand. Then I primed all the parts that were supposed to be painted.
Two layers of color later, the desk and chair were almost ready. The wooden parts were treated with mineral oil. The brass “socks” on the chair’s legs were polished. To make both pieces seem like parts of a set, I spray painted the golden “socks” on the desk’s legs as well.
Fabric
I thought It would be nice to use the leftover fabric to line the insides of the drawers. I needed to cut it to the exact size first and then glue it with decoupage glue. The sides of the drawers were also painted using the colors from the fabrics pattern. Multicolor and random.
All in all I think It came out pretty cool. Deep turquoise and a fun modern patter plus the teak accents made it look contemporary and fresh.
Paint: Lady Supreme Finish matte.
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