Unique Finds

I love finding unique things, the other day while out for a drive Brian and I came across a small antique store. I found an old picture in an oval frame, its says on the back of the picture Mrs George Ferguson, like all old pics Mrs Ferguson is not smiling. I fell in love with the black and white photo and chipped frame and now Mrs Ferguson is hanging in our home. I wonder about her life and how her picture came to be in that antique store. If my kids do not read my blog, years from now when I am gone they are going to be trying to figure out who Mrs Ferguson is and how she was related to us lol. I could write on the back of the picture where it says Mrs Ferguson that she is not related to us and that I bought her pic with the frame, but what fun would that be.

 Mrs George Ferguson, I don't know her first name so we are calling her Mrs. Ferguson, I think she looks like a Martha, what do you think?


I also found a beautiful press back chair, the seat needs to be reglued, but that is a minor fix. I love the carving on the back of the chair and hope in my searches that I can find three more just like this.

I also found a very cute little table at the same store, I grabbed it as soon as it came in the door and while I was paying for the chair and the table about 5 other people tried to buy them lol. At 5 dollars each I think you would have too. What a great deal, did I mention I love Salavation Army

I have been busy doing yard work and getting the garden planted, and cleaning out the garage to be able to get back to work on my painting projects. In the meantime I am going to share a past project with you. I get alot of people asking me how I do my distressed projects so I will share some tips with you.
Distressing furniture is alot of work, if your piece has layers of paint then you scored big time, and all you have to do is paint your final colour on top of these layers. Then after the paint is dry completely, sand in areas that would normally wear over time. Then chip away at the paint with a paint scrapper or screw driver. You can bang on it with a hammer in spots, some people hit the furniture with chains, anything to make it look old and beat up. This is time consuming and so is the sanding so take your time and it will look great.
If your piece does not have layers of paint then you are going to have to add those layers of paint yourself. Choose the colours under your top layer carefully, they will be the colour that you see when you scrape and sand, so it should be a colour that looks good with your decor and with the top paint colour. (dark green and black and dark red are very popular for distressing)

Once all of these steps have been completed you will want to seal the piece so the chips of paint will not come off and to give it a further aging process. I use paste wax to seal my pieces, if you use this make sure you use a clear wax or one with a tint depending on what you are looking for.The paste was will also give it a bit of a sheen.

This was my latest distressing job, I love this dresser so much it is in my livingroom and I use it as a TV stand and storage.

Happy picking and painting


Tobey