Updating Grandparent’s Dining Set

October 26, 2020February 6, 2023Posted in FurnitureTagged dining set, fusion mineral paint, fusion SFO, fusion stain and finishing oil, painted furniture, strip and stainLeave a comment

What do you do when you have inherited a well-made, functional, solidly built set of dining furniture with sentimental value; but it looks tired and not quite right with your current decor?

You Paint it!

Of course, first you need to decide on colors – which is often The Hardest part because Fusion has so many great colors to choose from!

The owner of this set decided on Raw Silk on the bases with tops stripped to raw wood and stained in Cappuccino Stain & Finishing Oil.

Old linseed oil finishes can be challenging to paint over. Linseed oil turns orangey over time and several layers of it can trap years of tobacco residue within it’s layers leading to yellowish stains ‘bleeding through’ and showing up in the final painted finish. If painting, BIN Primer with Shellac can help block these rising stains.

This finish can also be removed by stripping and sanding. Take a look here to see what gorgeous maple was hidden under years of linseed oil.

Such gorgeous maple underneath all of that orangey finish!!

Here’s some Before, During and After from the dining table top.

Rather than describe in detail the steps to refinishing this set, we will just let the pictures tell the story this time. It’s such a dramatic change to a set that could have been discarded without the owners’ vision and ability to reimagine!

We weren’t able to get a final finished photo of the dining table before it needed to be packed for delivery – but this is what the top finish ended up like. We will update our post with pictures once the homeowners send us their beautifully staged home photos!

Explore other posts in our blog for more transformations and tips – and don’t forget to venture into the second page of oldie but goodie posts!

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Coming Along…

August 1, 2017October 7, 2019Posted in before and after, Furniture, FusionTagged antique, before and after, dresser, furniture store, fusion mineral paint, glaze, raw silk, tallboyLeave a comment

These 2 dressers were made by Star Furniture Company from Jamestown, NY. The company went out of business in 1929 so these dressers were crafted sometime in the 1920’s.

Overall they were in decent shape, however there was some missing trim that needed to be replaced and some that was barely attached and needed to be secured. There was also a lot of wax on these pieces so abundant odorless mineral spirits were used and the pieces were given an all-over light sanding.

I applied one coat of FUSION Mineral Paint Concealer to build a base layer and then it only took 2 coats of Fusion Raw Silk (my all-time favorite neutral white) to complete coverage.

After that, I very lightly distressed a few strategic places with sandpaper to highlight a few of the details and then applied Fusion Antiquing Glaze to further enhance details.

Although Fusion has a built-in top coat and cures hard enough to handle lots of wear and tear, I tend to treat horizontal surfaces roughly and therefore assume others do too. So, I treated the top with a couple of coats of FUSION Tough Coat just to make sure stains and things will never mar the top of this piece.

Lastly, a little clear wax on the drawer edges to ensure continued smooth sliding and she was finished!

Before…

After!

Next comes the sister dresser with the attached mirror…

Provincial Dresser Makeover

May 1, 2017February 3, 2020Posted in French Provincial, Furniture, FusionTagged before and after, casement, coastal, dresser, farmhouse, french, furniture store, fusion mineral paint, little whale, nautical, painted furniture, provincial, restore, tallboy, upcycle, vintageLeave a comment

This dresser project has been many many many months long. She has actually been completed for some time now, but I hadn’t gotten around to taking her “After” pictures until just recently.

Here is where she started; A room full of project furniture…of course. Try to ignore the rest and focus on the tall, yellowish French Provincial dresser to the right of center.

She was so very tired looking but was a quality, solid wood piece and very well constructed. The whole set of provincial bedroom furniture came from the original owners so there were no loose joints or missing pieces to contend with.

We decided to upgrade my daughter’s dresser (which had been a roadside find) at our summer cottage and replace it with this one. There are also two matching twin head/footboards that will eventually go into her room once they are revived. The only problem was trying to fit the furniture style into the relaxed family cottage. I’m not fan of distressed shabby furniture, so this would be an interesting cognitive exercise for me.

I like natural wood accents on my painted furniture projects, so the first step was easy – strip the top and see what was under there! The sweet cherry wood under that factory paint finish was then stained and sealed. I painted the body of the dresser creamy white (FUSION Mineral Paint Casement) and struggled a bit with what to do with the details. Paint a darker cream to highlight the features? A deeply contrasting color? Leave it all white (my significant other liked that idea). How to make it fit into the cottage…

After a few false starts I finally used FUSION’s Little Whale from their Tones for Tots line. Turns out to be a very cottagy (is that a word…it is now) accent color.

A little taste of Before and After.

I really like the way this turned out! I had originally planned to paint the hardware a brushed steel color, but frankly we needed the dresser installed STAT! I had already passed along my daughter’s old dresser and her room was turning into one big pile of homeless clothes. So I put the original handles back on with plans to update the finish later (we all know how that works…). But I think the contrast has grown on me – I like them just the way they are. And I’m not just saying that because I think I’ll never get to the task of refinishing them. Really.

If you look closely, one of the updated provincial headboards is to the right of the dresser (painted in the same Little Whale blue) – but that will be for another blog post – and once the other bed is finished!

What are your thoughts about the hardware color? Would you have chosen a softer or bolder accent color to go with the style of the lakeside cottage?

Rethink the piece. Revive the parts. Restore the function.

All products used to complete this project can be purchased at our Online Store https://lakeside-restoration.myshopify.com/

or our brick and mortar locations;

Vintage Matters 7060 Ridge Road, Sodus, NY OR Lakeside Restoration 1476 Monroe Ave Rochester, NY.

See more at our Facebook Page and please “Like” our page while you are there! http://www.lakesiderestoration.net

Desk Refinished in Fusion Mineral Paint Coal Black Using UltraGrip

January 1, 2017October 6, 2019Posted in Furniture, Fusion, Painted DeskTagged coal black, fusion mineral paint, paint it beautiful, Painted Desk, painted furniture, ultra grip, vintageLeave a comment

What we started with.

This vintage desk had definitely seen some rough use over the years. I seem to have lost the photos, but here’s the gist; Many layers of chipped and sloppily applied rough, dingy, white latex paint covered the surface and the interior was randomly sticky with various substances. It’s last use had been as a teenagers’s vanity so nail polish leaks, lotion explosions, melted gum…those of you with tweens or teens know what I’m talking about!

The Plan…

I thought it would be great to strip the top down to bare wood, stain it and paint the body a deep, rich color accented with bright new hardware. Well, sanding revealed the top was laminate…do I hear a collective groan?

Now what?

At least now I had a better understanding about why the top seemed to have been coated with multiple layers of chalky, course primer; I suppose nothing else would stick. Luckily, I was trying out Fusion Mineral Paint – which claims to stick to practically anything – even laminate! Well this looked like a great opportunity to try it out.

I lightly sanded the body of the desk and started painting with Coal Black while I more thoroughly sanded the top so I could apply Ultra Grip per directions for painting laminate surfaces. The new hardware was a bit wider than the original, so new holes were drilled and old ones filled.A couple of coats of deep, rich Coal Black and this desk took on a whole new look. Considering I was painting black over bright white, I was impressed by how thoroughly Fusion covered the surface. I lightly distressed the edges after the first coat and then painted over those areas with the second coat so the final look would suggest a hint of distress without being overt.

Painting the drawer interiors was also a must – I used some leftover ashy grey latex for that task. I think the deep, rich Coal Black color, the smooth finish, and the new hardware brings this piece into a classically modern place and will lead to an energetic new life as a gorgeous centerpiece.

I would welcome getting down to work at this desk!