Newest Project - Buffet / Hutch

It's a beautiful day here in sunny Montreal - the city is alive with the sounds of summer -
The international fireworks have begun - we are in the midst of the Jazz Festival - all of the
terraces are packed - shoppers are in and out of the stores - Old Montreal is spectacular with all
of the street performers celebrating the warmth and sunshine - boats are drifting in the harbour with music and laughter floating in the air............. there are more tourists than natives.......and what am I doing????

Well I have another project of course - involving painting of course - involving spending these
beautiful days in the house with sand paper of course - am I certifiable? Most definitely.

I found this piece at the Salvation Army - our salvation army is way overpriced - ( do not get
the " steals " our American friends seem to get ) but every now and then I come across something that makes my heart pound - my hands start to sweat - my eyes darting around
like a deer in the headlights - thinking I could do wonders with that...............

Last week was one of those instances - walked in not expecting to find anything at all - and lo and behold - I saw this buffet and hutch for 75.00 and when I inquired about it I found out it was a 50% day off sale!!!!!!! So picked it up for 37.50 ( along with 2 coffee tables - 40.00 each and an antique buffet which could easily be a bureau for 75.00 - more on those projects later )

So................just to let you know I live in a Victorian flat - over 100 years old - and my kitchen is smaller than most people's washrooms - and that is really not an exaggeration - that is simply the truth. I have 3 upper kitchen cupboards - and 2 lower ones - and am in desperate need of storage - so this piece is going to be painted ( maybe antiqued - not sure at this point ) and turned into a county type of buffet.............tons of room for dishes. glasses on the top and pots and pans hidden in the bottom part.
I will post pics of progress as I go along -

This is a picture of it's current state in all of it's 70's glamour ( ugly as sin I know ) Hubby says it's a pc of &^%&$ but says that about everything until I finish them - then falls in love with them every time.


xxx

Sorry do not have the before.................

I am notorious for not taking "before" pics - have to start remembering to do that
before every project -
This chair was a very dingy brown - full of nicks and scratches...............it was
upholstered in a cream ( filthy ) and brown/orange floral fabric - picked it up from
Craig's list for peanuts -

Cleaned it with T.S.P - an extremely important step - this product removes
grease, cigarette smoke, and any other kind of undesirable residue left on
furniture ( great for cupboards too - prior to painting )
It is as important a step as priming is...............

Then removed all of the old upholstery - I cannot tell you how difficult it was
to remove the top part, had to get hubby to chip in with that - there were
aproximately 10,357 staples - and once they were removed we discovered
the piping had been attached with some kind of epoxy glue - there was
a lot of cursing going on for about a week!

Next step was to prime it - followed by a coat of white paint.
Once that was dry - I dry brushed gray paint over the entire
surface - rubbing it in ( and off ) as I went leaving a sort of "antiqued"
affect.

Then I reupholstered - black satin - the seat was very easy as I have been
doing seats for years - but the top!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! again a lot of very bad words
were muttered under my breath. I decided to tuft the top with small silver
buttons for a touch of glam - and then finished it off with silver cord ( this
is a step you have to do to hide the staples )

Although I am happy with the outcome - I don't think I will ever attempt to
do a chair with backs again. Absolute hell on earth actually -

And here we are - drum roll please ( if ever I have deserved a drum roll it is for
this piece ) TA DA!!!!!!!

First and last attempt at this I'll tell you.

xxx