Baby Fleur's Crib - Another redo

Happy Good Friday
Happy Birthday Me Saturday
Happy Easter Sunday
and Happy April Fool's Day Monday!

I've not been around lately because.......I had my baby! I had a little girl this past December and everything has sort of been on hold, of course! My babymoon has been full of bliss, with lullabies and baby cries. Everything a FTM should expect. Finally I am ready to show you the big reveal of the nursery, featuring the crib! I hope you like what you see. Please let me know!

Let me begin by telling you that this cute pink crib IS THE BEFORE! Before??? Yes before! When I began my search for a used baby crib, I stumbled upon this pink beauty on CraigsList, for $300. I thought to myself, well I wanted to redo something but this is so sweet I can work with it. I didn't really want pepto bismal pink crib, but again, I was willing to be open minded. What I did like about this crib from the pictures was that it didn't look like anything I had seen from the major retailers, so I was pretty sure it was from some high end boutique....and I was right!

So I drove to Dallas. It was 500 degrees that day, I remember distinctly. I didn't mind because I was the peak of my second trimester and up for ANYTHING! I had asked the owners in advance to not take apart the crib, but when I got there to meet them, they did anyway! Blahhhh! The last thing I wanted was to be buying a crib with missing parts. Wait a minute!!!!!! Wait just a minute there! Upon close inspection, I could see that someone else had already refinished this crib! Gasp! And what a horrid job they had done! My word. I kept my cool though because this crib I was pleased to discover was constructed of heavy wood. I mean, this thing weighed a ton! YES! They explained that they purchased the crib originally for their son, and then when they got pregnant with a little girl, the mother wanted to paint it pink. I told her it was lovely and that I was very excited, which I was. Actually I was really glad because I never wanted a pink crib anyway, and knew that I wouldn't feel guilty refinishing it like my original plan. But before I was willing to fork over the dough, I made them put it back together. Sure enough one part was missing but it wasn't a vital organ, so I bought it. Now before I get into the process, I just want to share with you one more thing. Imagine a small pregnant blonde, driving her husbands lifted truck in all of her glory, along the wild freeways of Dallas Ft. Worth, with a massive PINK crib standing up in the bed of the truck. I had people honking at me and swerving around. I white knuckled it all the way to my mothers, determined to arrive safely with my prize. Yes, pregnancy will make you temporarily insane.

Look ^, Yuck! Sloppy^^^

Please take note, this is the paint that the original owner used to refinish the crib. She was very proud and convinced that this was THE BEST. I will take the liberty in telling you that this is not what you paint furniture with, ever.

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When I got back home, I immediately got to work.

Step one - Strip! I used regular old paint stripper that would work for an oil base paint. I wore a mask and gloves since I was pregnant, and watched in my 600 degree garage as the paint began to bubble. I found chunks of painters tape underneath that was never properly removed, and even long hairs! Yikes!

Why look! It was teal underneath. Who knew? I surely wasn't expecting that. Such a shame as I am sure the teal would have been pretty for a girl. Oh well. I would like to also note that with AS Chalk Paint, you do not need to strip your furniture, BUT in this sloppy circumstance, I chose to do so anyway. The oil base paint streaks that the previous owner had left was not what I wanted as a canvas for my work of art!

After all of the paint was stripped, I got to sanding with my rotary sander. It was around 700 degrees that time of the day. When I was done, I wiped everything off and moved inside. YES! It was 68 degrees in the house, and there I stayed for the rest of my pregnancy.

Here are the products that I used. I would like you to notice how clean my cans are. It's because I like them that way, but also because AS is not cheap. I have no intention of wasting any of it. For the record, after using these exact cans for two projects, I have only used 1/3 of each can of paint. It's true, AS goes a long way.

I wanted to do something more than just paint. I wanted something unlike anything you would ever normally see on a crib. Something that was beautiful as well as interesting for my baby. My mother and I love rabbits, and have quite a collection, so I chose rabbits and other farm animals for the nursery theme. If I could freehand whimsy rabbits I would have, but unfortunately freehand is not my medium, so I decided to use my tissue paper transfer method.




First I simply printed out my images on regular paper to see if I liked the layout.  My images came from two sources. The one on the left came from the Graphics Fairy, and the one on the right came from a seller on Etsy.

I did a test print on tissue paper, and then applied my image with matt Mod Podge. I finished it off lightly with AS Dark Wax to give it a cracked leather look.

Then I printed the actual images out on tissue paper, trimmed it to my liking, and applied it to the crib.

DONE! And oh so amazing!

Here are the textiles I chose to make my bumper and draperies with.

Finished! I made the crib skirt, bumper, draperies, and bedcrown draperies.

My crib is a drop side crib. These types of cribs have been recalled, however, DH secured it for me so it no longer can rise or fall.

See my pretty bumper? I will remove it once my baby is old enough to sleep in her crib.  It's there now mostly for aesthetics.

I will be featuring the bedcrown pictured above in another upcoming blog. Stay tuned.

The dresser is featured on a previous blog. I used the exact same AS products on crib that I used on the dresser.

That is Asia, my beloved puppy...

The end...

The little horse that will again

This was my little horse, when I was a baby. I remember rocking on him and loving it. I also remember that as I got a little bigger I would rock on him wildly!!! Such good times.

I hung onto my horse from my childhood for 30 years. When I moved, so did he. I didn't know what I wanted to do with him someday...all I knew was that he was NOT yard sale material! He moved from Ohio, to New Mexico, to Arizona, to California, and then finally to Louisiana. He spent his days and years in garages, dusty, on a shelf.

Here is my horse when he arrived at the salon...do you like his foils???

Anyhow, when I was working on my baby's dresser and crib, I said, why not refinish the horse with the exact same Annie Sloan paints and waxes? AS paints go a long way and I still had plenty for him. I love that paint so much because you can vary the colors to your own liking, and can either go light on the wax or heavy. I opted for heavy. I wanted the horse to still look loved and beat up a bit. Did I achieve my goal? You tell me.

Now he has a new life and will be loved all over again by our little girl. Can you see how happy he is too?

100 year old farm dresser - A total revamp!

I was lucky to find a FREE antique fram dresser on CraigsList. The lady that gave it to me, Annie (http://www.anniesblessednest.com/), warned that the project would be a lot to tackle, and I could see why. She wanted it to go to the right person, and I knew that was me. The thing was old old, and falling apart. It was loaded with old paint, the drawers were broken, missing the bottoms, and a leg was bucking out. If you touched it you were covered in brown scariness. Needless to say, I was in. I wanted the dresser for my baby who will be born this December. I know what you are a thinking...a filthy old dresser for a baby? Don't worry, I know how to take care of such nonsense.

So that was the dresser before. Like I said, it was bad. No wonder Annie just gave it to me, right? But what I loved about this dresser was that it wasn't your usual French Provincial redo. While I love that look, I get bored with it. This was something that someone truly made. It wasn't from a fancy furniture store. I could really see that someone made this for their home a long time ago. Oh and that cute little girl in the picture, that is my niece. She is my mini-me.

After some sanding with filter, I started to cover the dresser with primer. First I just used some spray paint primer because I didn't want to dirty my roller. Then it got three coats of Kilz primer. I filled all of the cracks with some painters caulk to make sure it was nicely closed off. Then I got to the repairs. The drawers needed new bottoms, and candle wax on the parts that slide because the dresser was made old school, and they were stuck. In the picture above, you can see a strap, that was for the leg that was bucking out. I took 3 weeks to gradually move that thing down and cinch it inward to straighten out the bad leg. It worked like a charm, but if you want instant gratification, in a case like that, you can forget it. You must be patient.

I repainted the inside of the drawers with an oops paint from Home Depot that was an ultra high gloss latex enamel. It took four coats because it was so glossy and I wanted a heavy candy like finish where I could see my reflection! BTW, see that rocking horse? ^^^^^ Check back for the DIY for that cutie!

From there I got to painting. It is summer so I prefer to work indoors. I used Anne Sloan Chalk paint for the top and body of the dresser. Coco for the top and Old White for the sides. For the top, after three coats of paint, I sanded it by hand with a 1000 grit sand paper, because I wanted it super smooth. The dresser was so old it really needed it.

I then spray painted the original knobs with Rustoleum Oiled Bronze, five coats. They turned out awesome. Who needs to buy new when you can redo, right?  For the graphic, I visited my fairy god mother at the Graphics Fairy, and found the perfect French label. I loved the bug on the jar, perfect for my baby! http://www.graphicsfairy-diy.com/2012/03/transfer-printable-french-patisserie.html

I did some light distressing on the sides and front...only where natural banging around would occur. After three coats of dark wax on the top and three clear on the sides, my baby's dresser was done! Hope you like it as much as we do.


Thanks!!!!