Mid-Century Mess to Marvelous

Once the decision was made that Lottie and Molly would become a reality, the panic set in about what I would put in to sell.  Holy cow I had nothing more than an idea! The timing of the decision and the need to find goodies could not have come at a worse time.

We were preparing for BDJ to home come for a visit, a vacation, the start of my new job and Mini beginning her senior year of high school.  When would I find the time to find anything to even makeover?  It seemed that every weekend was either maxed out with activity, we were not home or it was pouring rain.

When I did manage to make it out to some yard sales I tended to panic buy.  Believe me there is a learning curve to this buying and selling business.   I was so desperate to build a stockpile and tend to be frugal (or as Lottie would say, CHEAP) that I was always seeming to bring home the dregs of yard sales.

Sometimes this was a good plan...others not so much.  The first day out stockpiling I spent with Wonder Hubby and we found some real jewels.  So many in fact, we filled the 4runner and had to go home and unload before we were a mile from home!  The second run of the day wasn't yielding quite the quality of things the first run did. 

Lottie had already been to this particular sale and reported there was nothing there.  Wonder Hubby spent a whole five minutes there before he declared it desolate.  I, on the other hand was determined to find something.  Tucked into the back corner of a carport was this beauty.

 

Ain't she purdy? The mix of dark wood and hunter green messily painted drawer fronts was just stunning!  Oh yeah she was a natural beauty and so together....not.   One leg fell off while I was looking her over and once I negotiated her down to $12.00 Wonder Hubby drug her out and proceeded to rip my shorts with one of her legs.  I should have known at this point she was going to be a difficult lady.

Once home I took off her legs and cleaned her up.  Since she was mid-century sleek I knew I didn't want to go the traditional chalk paint and distress route.  Her top had lived a rough life so going with a glossy finish wasn't a good idea.  Truly I was thinking she was a bad panic buy and I should just send her on her way.

The Nana and Mini took a look at her and decided she would look great if painted something really hip.  Since they tend to be way more modern and fashionable than I, they chose her color, deep purple.  Yes, you read that correctly, deep purple.

I decided I didn't have much money in her and The Nana said she would buy her if she didn't sell so I decided to give purple a shot.  I knew I wanted to do some stencil work on her drawers as well and thought that might break up the sea of purple.

Remember when I said I should have know she would be difficult?  Well, I had no idea just how difficult.  I do a lot of painting, small decorative pieces, furniture and murals all freehand but stenciling has never been not forte.  Freehand painting lets you hide your mistakes easily since the design is all you.....no sticking to patterns and rules.  I hate rules in painting!

Once the stencil design had been decided and the multiple coat of purple had been applied it was declared stencil time.  Have I mentioned that I really don't do math?  Well, I don't and as far as I am concerned any measuring less than a 1/4 inch is math so getting the stencil centered top to bottom and side to side was a tricky proposition.  Naturally this stencil wasn't large enough to cover the whole drawer front area and required a separate corner stencil....you know just to test your patience and stencil skills.

First go round I enlisted Wonder Hubby but he really lacked interest in this and suggested I eyeball it.  Really?  I have never hung anything straight so why this seemed like a good idea to him is beyond me.  Next up...Mini. Mini is a math whiz so I figured she would knock this out in minutes.....ummm math whiz does not = stencil placement pro.  Finally The Nana tried a few methods.  One of which ended up too far to one end...oops!

 

 In the end......I ended up taping off a "frame" to stencil within.  One drawer down...two to go.

 It worked well enough to get this Purple Time Eater done!   Although I ended up having to re stencil twice since I taped the first go round and the stencil was so thin I had creeping paint.  After a good dose of spray adhesive I managed to get the whole thing done.  I am such a perfectionist I ended up touching up nearly every line on the thing by hand but in the end (after days and days) she turned out to be a real beauty. 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!  I am joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Met Mondays...visit me there!