PROJECTS (and helpers)

Here's a shot of one of my project assistants--Mini Beast just loves to stay close so that he can keep an eye on me (just in case I might be making a trip to the cat food cupboard). Jones is always close, but he hates to have his picture taken......

When I brought the little 18th c. French commode home and really studied her,

  

  

I found traces of old paint. So my brain started envisioning what she would look like painted and I decided to take the plunge. I had never (and now I have) painted an 18th c. piece; so I knew that this would be a learning-on-the-go effort--and I promised that I would not berate myself if I had to redo some sections.

First, Andrew and I completely sanded and filled the shrinkage cracks and sanded again. The top is a 19th c. marriage; so we sanded down the sharper edges to a soft bevel--this takes time and patience I learned. 

I painted one drawer first (there will be at least two additional colors applied) with the Swedish(?) off-white (boy do I wish that Loi were here to coach me on colors) that I chose.

    

It was a first attempt--and I put too much paint on--I'll sand the surfaces to remove A LOT of the paint and I think it will be fine.

But--by the time I got around to painting the sides, my head and hand were working better (I also watered down the paint)

  

The bottom front panel has a little centered detail which the darker green/blue/gray will pick out nicely with the second and third coats.

My wonderful painter, Sharon, will apply a faux marble finish to the top. Probably a very subtle marble and then she will apply the faux patination to the entire commode. This last step is tricky and I'm not going to go there.

I am so immensely grateful. We had a deep soaking rain Friday night into Saturday morning (at times it really poured). And right on schedule, the rain stopped just before I had to head out the door to shop. We need many many more rains like this to bring our lakes and water table to any where near normal. Please keep California (and the entire West) in your prayers.

Well, I'm off to start painting again. Wish me luck.

Blessings for a beautiful week.

Mary & Jones & Cole

IN HONOR OF LABOR DAY

Being in the antiques and decorative arts business has its pluses and minuses: I'm always on the hunt for the shop and not for me....I have lived without a proper desk (I use a French farm table for working on) for at least 10 years. And my office is a mess!! Without a desk, I lack drawers in which to stash  and organize things. So everything seems to get placed in a pile and the piles keep getting taller and more disorganized until I just throw everything into a box. 

So......in honor of Labor Day, I decided to find a desk for me that will not go into inventory, it won't even go into a possible inventory list......maybe.

On Thursday (Addiction Day) there really wasn't very much to buy. But I did spy a sweet smaller English solid mahogany leather-top (the leather needs to be resurfaced) campaign desk that dates to the early 20th century. I should have taken photos, but it was blazing hot and I had to patiently wait for 3 additional hours while (it seemed) every other piece of "junk" was brought to the block. (I'm usually pretty patient when this happens and especially after my last post re staying in the flow. But last week I worked myself into a migraine waiting for my little desk to come to the block--I'll keep working on the flow part.)  

Here's a photo of a similar desk (mine is not 3-part) and it has small bracket feet instead of plinths, but you get the idea.

I'm getting very excited--I'll pick the desk up tomorrow; so I'm getting organized today: throwing everything on top of my desk into boxes and tossing a bunch of stuff along the way.

Have an amazing Labor Day--Fall is going to be fantastic: I can feel it in my bones--and rain for California!!

Mary & Jones & Cole