A Great Place to Shop

This weekend I went to visit my grandson, and I don't go anywhere without checking out the local antique shops and flea markets!  So I prowled around The Vineyard Antique Mall in Colleyville, TX.  It's a nice large mall with a variety of antiques and collectibles.

Now, I need to back up and tell you a story.  A few years ago my daughter went off to play college volleyball.  She found herself teammates with a precious girl named Ali.  She and Ali became the best of friends and today live close and are enjoying raising their babies together.  Anyway, Ali and her mom decided to start refinishing furniture and open a booth at an antique mall.  You guessed it!  They're new booth is at The Vineyard!  

So today I thought I'd show you some of the amazing pieces in Ali's booth!

Look at this awesome table!

She's painted the top in a muted harlequin pattern.

I love this little cabinet!  Oh, the possibilities!

Now you know that turquoise is my favorite, right?

Look at the gold gilding she put on the edges!

This beauty is painted gray on the outside...

And dark gray on the inside!

What an interesting bookcase!

This dresser won't last long!

Don't you love the herringbone?

So if you're ever in the Dallas-Ft.Worth metroplex, you might want to check out Ali's booth, Refuge Interiors.

Ali's got lots of eye candy!

And just in case you're wondering, I was not paid to talk about Ali's booth.  Just love the girl and her work and want to share both!

 

I'm Back with a Killer Buffet

Well I've kicked off another school year.  It's fun having my kids and teachers back, but I've missed having the time to paint and create.

I finished a buffet this week and took it into the shop on Saturday.
I'm so happy with how it turned out!

It didn't start this fabulous, though.  I found her at a garage sale and she was in pathetic shape.  

 She was missing a door and had lots of veneer damage.

In the past I would have just sanded and painted so it wouldn't be so obvious.  But I found veneer edging at Lowes and decided to try it and patch the bad spots. 

First, I used a razor blade knife and cut the damaged areas into rectangles. I used a putty knife to gently pop the damaged areas off.  Super easy!

I measured the rectangles and cut the edging to fit.

The great thing about using the veneer edging was how easy it was to work with.  You can cut it with scissors and you iron it in place!

To be honest, my original plan was to patch it and stain it.  I didn't think about matching wood grains!  That didn't turn out so well!  So I puttied the edges of the patches and painted the top.

I painted the top in ASCP Duck Egg and the base in Old White.

The paint hasn't dried yet, but you can see how well the patch worked!  You really have to look to find it!

To deal with the missing door, I decided to take the other door off. I painted inside the cubbies Duck Egg as well.

Wow!  What a difference.  I wanted to use pewter knobs, so I distressed and used a gray glaze.

I found a couple of locker baskets that fit in the cubbies.

Perfect!

And to add to the surprise, I painted the sides of the drawers in Duck Egg and lined the drawers with some black and white damask paper.

It's in the shop now.  Any guesses on how long this one will last?

I'm a party animal!