Refinishing Decision and a Cane Chair

I need to stop looking on Craigslist or I need a workshop! I see quite a few things that I would love to purchase but I have no where to store anything. As it is my den area looks reminiscent of a Sanford and Son episode. I mentioned earlier that I purchased a Henredon Table and 10 Henredon chairs off of Craigslist. I had the table and chairs outside ( shaded area) for about a week until I could make room for them in my garage but then it rained. Yes, it rained in San Diego in September. Thankfully one of my daughter's friends was getting picked up right as it started and her dad helped me get everything inside. I love the table and I have been afraid to start the refinishing on it. I contacted Henredon to see if I could get any information on the table and chairs. I sent them a picture and the numbers that were under the table. They got back to me the next day and they told me the table was from their Capri collection manufactured between 1968 and 1976. The table and the chairs are solid pecan wood and the table has a cherry veneer facing. It was so neat to be able to get that information but they stressed not to use harsh refinishing products on the table. I have been flip flopping back and forth as to what exactly I would like to do with the table. My plan was to refinish the table top with a wood stain and paint the table legs white like my Oak table however, I am starting to really love the warmth of an entire wood table offset with white chairs. This is a bit of a problem, if the table top was in great condition I would just leave it as is, even though it is has the speckled finish it is actually nice looking.  There is no way I would be able to match a stain so I am contemplating trying to refinish and entire table. I know it can be done with time and patience's. I would love some input on this.

I started to strip off the caning from one of the chairs, which is a LOT of work. In a perfect world all the chairs cane backs would have been perfect but many were broken. I really had hoped the captains chairs would have been intact but they were not. I plan to recane just the captain's chairs and then upholstery the other chairs. So much work but the whole set was $95, and I know I will enjoy working on it. Here is the picture again for reference:

Well prior to finding the Henredon I bought the oak table and I found other cane back chairs. I finally got around to competing one of those chairs. I am happy with how it turned out. I used Annie Sloan's Paris Gray and Old White but instead of mixing the two colors together I dipped the end of the brush in each color. I used clear and dark wax and did a light distressing. I covered the seat using a canvas drop cloth. I did not sew the seat the way it was but I do plan to do that with the Henredon Chairs..

I would really love your feed back and input as to what I should do with the Henredon table, should I go with my original plan of refinishing the tabletop and painting the rest white, or go with what I am being drawn to know a whole refinished table look? Do you have any experience refinishing an entire table and if so what advice would you give?

Here is the before picture of the random cane chair I have:

                             and the after                          

Linking:

http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/

French Inspiration Table.

I bought this table about 2 weeks ago. This table was purchased primarily because I needed chairs for the oak table. When I saw the picture on Craigslist, I was keeping my fingers crossed that this table was a good quality table. The reason being is in my "design wishlist" is this picture:

I love this table and it is one of the reason why I refinished the oak table in the way that I did. When I actually went to pick up the table it was a so-so quality but it came with the chairs.  Now, just a few days later I came across another table and chair set. This time it was a Henredon table with 10 chairs for $95.00. I couldn't refuse, this was the quality and style that I wanted. The Henredon table is of course done in the speckled finish, so there will is ANOTHER table in my future. Here is a picture of the Henredon:

Can you believe it, it is beautiful and it looks like my dream picture (almost)!

Okay so on to the so-so table, this is a project table for me. I am not sure what I will do with it, maybe try and sell it to at least get my money back. My idea for this table was to first do another refinish on it to get practice for the Henredon table but as I said this table was so-so quality and as I stripped it it showed. On to the next plan do a washed finish on top using Old White, then clear and dark wax like One Nutty Girl. It didn't work out so well for me. Okay on to the next plan, paint the table top in Annie Sloan Graphite. Graphite was not my favorite to work with. It shows so much dust and such as I was painting and looked so dull even after waxing. I was also having an issue with the previous wax (from the white-wash technique) I had put on the table. I know you can paint over the wax with this paint but I wonder if I was suppose to do something first. I did try wiping as much of it off as I could.  Anyways, once I added the dark wax it made a world of difference. I don't know if this is a good thing or not but if I had to describe the look of the table top I would say worn leather. It really has a faux leather look to it and I  like it. I would like to see a piece in person painted by a professional ASCP expert to see the finish. If I had t guess, mine is not how it should be.  I painted the base of the table Paris Gray (love Paris Gray!!), waxed in both clear and dark wax. When I went in with the dark wax I wasn't loving how dark it was so I mixed up the wax with a little bit of mineral spirits and it seemed to go on not as dirty looking and was easier to wipe off. I am still working on the chairs which will go with this table. I don't need them now, that I have 10 Henredon chairs. I am a little nervous about trying to finish the Henredon table because I know at one point this table cost a lot. Well I hope you enjoy my project table. If you have any tips on painting after having waxed please let me know.

Here are the Beauty Shots!

Table Before

Linking to:

Just a Little Blue!!

When I started this journey (painting furniture) a few weeks back I purchased a very old secretary off of Craigslist. I bought it from a girl who had just moved to Ocean Beach from out of town. When I saw the posting for this she was asking $20 for it, which was within my budget. I was so excited because I could tell it was a very old piece but when I went to pick it up my excitement fizzled. It was in fact old and but it showed. It had a separation of the wood straight down on the side (plus other stuff) and it was actually smaller then I had expected. The girl told me it was her grandmother's and that her grandmother used to pay her bills on it. I loved that history and for $20 bucks I decided to take it. For the last several weeks I have just stared at it wishing I hadn't bought it. It was pretty beat up for my skill level.  I spoke with a wood guy and he said the type of separation in the wood was not really fixable. So I just left it and got to work on my chair, and then my table. My table needs a few more coats of poly but it has been so hot that I haven't wanted to mess with the poly drying to fast. In the meantime I decided to do something with the secretary. I had a vision in my head and have really loved the French Images from The Graphic Fairy. I wanted to put a graphic on the front and on the inside of the secretary. The funny thing is when I went to check out her blog, there was a vintage secretary that did the same thing! Well, I had to figure out how to get that image onto the secretary and saw that it mentioned a Modge Podge technique. I printed my images, this one for the front and this one for the inside. I wanted to paint the outside of the piece Paris Gray and the inside Aubusson Blue (Annie Sloan Chalk Paint). I painted the inside first and then started on the outside but it wasn't looking right. The two colors weren't working that well together and the Paris Gray didn't look like I had thought. I continued painting until the whole secretary was finished. It was getting late and I had things I need to get done so I started to clean up. As I was cleaning up, I spotted a paint can and was like "which one is this" I took a look "uh-oh, Paris Gray, oh-no!" running outside "what have I been paint with??, Are you kidding me, DUCK EGG BLUE!!!" Yup, I painted the whole thing Duck Egg Blue, which would explain why Paris Gray just didn't look right. I AM NOT EVEN COLOR BLIND!! The crazy thing is, it wasn't until I read the words Duck Egg Blue that I saw it as blue... geez! It is a good example of how the brain can trick you. The next day, I got to work and re-painted again with Paris Gray. This time the Aubusson Blue looked beautiful! The two colors were working so nicely together... more work but I was happy! I left the desk to dry and waxed and worked on my images. I woke up this morning and well the Modge Podge thing didn't work out so well. The imaged is still on the inside but there isn't one on the outside anymore. I found Red Hen Home blog and she used a projector, my hubby has one so in the future this will be the technique I will use. I really wanted the modge podge to work because it seemed so easy. When I look at others who have used this technique I don't see any paper left but mine had paper still. Any tips?
I didn't mention it above but with the secretary I just filled in the split wood with wood filler and nailed it together where I could. You can see a line but that is okay.
Here are the pictures of my Secretary. I am still trying to figure out waxing with both clear and dark wax as well as the distressed look. I want it to look naturally distressed and in some areas it does look like that but in others not so much. I would love your feed back and tips. Currently I have Annie Sloan's clear wax and Fiddes and Sons Clear and Ruggar Brown wax. Okay while on that topic, I want to give a shout out to John Millen Hardware who I bought the waxes from on recommendation from Miss Mustard Seed. I ordered it and it was to me in 2 days!
I am still trying to figure out linky party etiquette so if you could also give me some tips on that I would appreciate it!

Paris Gray's feeling a little Blue!

Mommy's helper!

Thank you for looking!



                                                                         Linking to: