A Day in My Life...a.k.a. Painting is Getting Boring Now!

If you've ever fancied yourself as a vintage seller, I'm going to show you some nitty-gritty detail of whats involved.

As you know we're having all the stock taken to the shop on Monday, so I'm finishing up lots of furniture projects this week.

I'm the kind of person who needs challenges and variety; being that I sell everything from clothing and hats to small collectables, sewing patterns and large furniture, I certainly get plenty of both.

For the last few weeks though I've mostly been working on the furniture- read on and you'll soon see why painting is getting boring now! This is a rundown of what I did today.

 

First up, I gave this 50s wire plant stand a second coat of white paint. I used a spray can so it was very quick.

 

This cast iron garden chair, one of a pair, also had a second coat.

I've chosen to give this Art Nouveau style hall table the shabby chic treatment. It's taken an enormous amount of work but it's almost done now.

I used different textures, colours and finishes to give it a more aged look.

 

A cute little cane childs chair got a coat of satin-finish varnish.

Two cushion covers from a pair of barstools get soaked in black dye.

Two naughty dresses that didn't come clean the first time around get re-soaked. I always hand wash every vintage garment separately in clean buckets.

I scrubbed down and touched up this fab retro footstool. Such a nice old guy I bought this from. He let me go over to his house, go through all his stuff, and pick out everything I wanted. IT WAS GREAT.

For a vintage seller there is nothing better than that!

Did some more work on the second two of this set of four dinette chairs. (I love the word dinette!). Above is one of the completed ones. I'm still painting and sanding the second 2 chair backs. We have 6 complete dinettes in stock, but this one will be first on the shop floor.

 

These chairs are quite different to most I have seen. The legs and back support bars are plastic-coated, but the horizontal bar (i.e. the bit that the seat is placed on) is metal. I stripped it down to almost bare metal and  mixed the creamy colour up myself to get it to match. I'm very pleased with the result.

Of the 4 chairs, two have faded significantly and two haven't. This is one of the faded ones. I also mixed the pinky red colour myself as it matches well with the less faded seats. The seat backs were originally a bright red...which I tried but it was too strong a colour for the laminate.

How beautiful is this kitchen dresser! Luckily it doesn't need major work or painting, just a lot of cleaning....so I gave it another half an hours' worth this afternoon.

I love this old burnt cane wall shelf. It got a final coat of gloss varnish, which I think brings out the colour beautifully.

This is a beautiful 1950s full size dressing screen, and will form the basis of our change room. (How do I know it is 50s? by the hinges). The white frame is being painted gold to tie in with some other shop fittings we have been keeping specially for the shop. Above is the first coat I applied yesterday.

Unfortunately this lovely brocade fabric is completely nailed into the frame, which makes the painting a chore as I'm not willing to pull the whole screen apart.

Especially when you are using the paint of satan. Don't be fooled by the beautiful colours; this is the worst, wierdest, fastest-drying paint I have ever used!

I thinned the paint down and applied a second coat. It still looks lumpy, but I'll sand it tomorrow and see what gives. We'll see.

But the day is not over yet, mes chers! It's 11pm as I write this so it's dress-steaming time.

So, do you still fancy yourself a vintage seller??