Gel Stained Dresser | 2020 Flip List Item No.1

In this world of consumption, it grounds me to create instead. I think that’s probably why you’re here too is it not? To get inspired by what you can make out of the world’s sloppy seconds? Or open your eyes to what can be rescued from the dump?

Sometimes it feels like we live in what I call a “Disposable Culture”. Things aren’t really made well enough to last and it doesn’t matter anyways because you can instantly replace it on a whim. If there’s one thing this pandemic has taught me it’s that almost anything you want is available for delivery and on demand. But I wonder how our consumerism affects what we find value in. On the one hand, I can’t complain because I’m in the business of making things from what no one else wants. But on the other hand does the ease we can waste and replace lessen our concept of worth… and how far does that infection go?

 

Stories like George Floyd’s haven’t been lost on me. I couldn’t bring myself to watch the footage because I knew how wrong it was.

No person should be disposable.

As a middle-class white woman, I can’t say that I’ve felt the knee of the BIPOC struggle. And it’s a hard pill to swallow. My color automatically classifies me as a contribution to society. And not everyone is afforded that luxury.

I know, I know.  I don’t normally open up about such galvanizing topics here at SMH.  And if you came here for the furniture, I will get to that. It seems trivial to keep using this platform just to talk about design and not first acknowledge that. After all, it has been a true joy for me to find the value in what others may have dismissed.

Can’t we all try to do the same in each other?


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Last year, I stumbled across a free dresser on the Facebook marketplace. It was a little beat up. It was missing the original legs. And the family had no use for it because the daughter was tired of the family hand-me-downs. I wanted the chance to restore it so I scooped it up and hoarded it in the workshop for a few months, and eventually added it to the 2020 Flip List to hold myself accountable.

 
 
 

But like most things in 2020…

Things did not go exactly as planned.

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It was in overall good shape - I only had to add legs and repair some damage to the trim work. The wood grain was so beautiful that I didn’t want to do my usual finish. But the location of the repairs would make it tricky to match the original walnut stain. I still love to play with contrast in details so I decided to try gel staining for the first time. I chose a black stain that I hoped would allow me to mask the compound repairs on the trim while darkening the wood grain instead of loosing it to a flat paint finish.

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I was loving what I was seeing! The blacken body helped play up the warm wood in the legs and highlight the sculpted details on the trim work. Yes everything was going according to plan.

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Or so I thought…

See, I blatantly ignored the instructions on the can of gel stain choosing to seal it with my go-to soft wax finish instead of the recommended polyurethane. And as I applied the first coat of wax, I found that most of the dark stain I had painstakingly left to cure for 36 hours was wiping right off!

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Now it wasn’t the end of the world but it certainly wasn’t the finished look I was imagining for this piece. Don’t get me wrong, the gel stain still did it’s job and overall darkened the existing wood grain while masking all of my repairs. I can still count it as a win, but I had wanted more contrast between the black stain and the warm walnut details.

Instead this dresser ended up with a moody finish from the varied shades of black stain.

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Although the finished product wasn’t intentional, this was a valuable learning process for me. And ultimately, I’m glad I took the risk even if it didn’t turn out the way I had imagined. I still spared this piece from a trip to the dump - and found a way to keep it relevant in this new-is-always-better world.

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It still celebrates the warm walnut tones but in a more rugged way than my signature matte paint finish.

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For styling, I deconstructed a Thonet rocking chair. I know that may be a crime to some, but to me was a crime of opportunity - I’m just in love with those cane shapes!

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This piece has sold.


But if you are interested in a custom order like it, email me at cate@stylemutthome.com

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If you’ve read this far, thank you. Thank you for letting me share my raw thoughts along with my finished pieces. I appreciate having this space to be creative and honest and I hope you are continually inspired to do the same. It takes courage to be vulnerable. But I think that makes for good soil to do some beautiful things.

Catch up on the 2020 Furniture Flip Bucket List

Wink of Wood

 
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This pair. This pair of 3 drawer chests. This pair of 3 drawer chests with their clean lines and their gold buckle hardware. I wanted them so bad that I drove two towns over to pick them up. Twice.  No - not because they didn’t fit in my car but because for the first time in my furniture flipping career, I had to call an audible on account of the screaming baby in the car.

When I set up the meet, I figured all I really had to do was get baby H and me dressed enough to be considered decent, drive out there to pick them up, throw them in the car, then head home. Easy, peasy lemon squeezy.

That was my first mistake.

Baby fell asleep on the way. The seller was running late - no big! We can just wait in the car.

Strike two.

I had scheduled this pick up during what I learned later that many moms call “the witching hour” - that hellish time of day where baby can seem inconsolable…

YOU STRAIGHT FOOL YOU.

Never. Stop. Driving. If baby is asleep in the car, you keep that magical motion going or you’ll have hell to pay. Unbeknownst to me, the delicate window to get these pieces and be on our way without a nuclear meltdown BEGAN TO CLOSE as soon as we pulled up to the rendezvous. After 10 minutes of waiting, baby H went all Chernobyl and we had to evacuate STAT.

Driving home, my hormones triggered a meltdown of my own. I had been so hell-bent on maintaining my need to create that I hadn’t stopped to consider her needs. What if we drive all the way out there and we can’t get the pieces to fit around her car seat? Where will baby wait if I have to finagle them down some stairs?? What if something breaks in transit and there is super sharp debris rattling around her in the car??? These questions were raising an unforeseen growing pain of new motherhood (emphasis on the pain): how to rewire a ME to better think about SHE.

As she was wailing for relief from the car seat, I realized I had popped her in the car like an accessory. Something I could just bring along with me on a craigslist pick up like a tape measure or moving blanket. Yeah… NO. Babies are not tape measures people. And they will (un)happily let you know that.

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It was a valuable lesson about new motherhood and I have a hunch that I’m not done learning it. And perhaps never will be. Yes these dressers were a great buy for the business but if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. I pulled a new-mom mulligan and reached out to the seller to explain our no-show. She was gracious enough to reschedule with me the following day so I had a second chance to make juggling baby and a small business work. So we set out again - this time I made sure that baby had a full belly and a clean diaper first, and that the pieces were grab-and-go ready, and that they would fit safely around my most precious cargo (the baby… not the dressers). Fortunately for us this time, it worked out in the end but I’m acutely aware that that might not always be the case. And that’s ok. The beauty of owning your own business is that you should make it work for your family. Not make your family work for it.

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With the challenges of my first postpartum pickup behind me, I worked on the dressers when it wouldn’t interfere. Stringing together bursts of productivity during naptime or when Dad was home - and even sometimes with baby snuggled up and strapped to my chest.

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A series of nicks and dings meant I had to paint the majority of the pieces after all the repairs. I chose a favorite sIlky black paint finish for the body but still wanted some way to keep at least a touch of wood.

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The only place I could salvage ended up being a unique opportunity for a wink of wood. I knixed the original concave metal backplate in favor of staining the recessed cavity behind the gold buckle pulls.

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It’s just a peek but I hope someone will appreciate the subtle detail.

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I added dark walnut legs with brass sabots (that’s fancy furniture talk for brass shoes) to play up this little detail.

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With such richly dark pieces, I decided to keep the styling simple with a couple white accessories and a pair of arched floor-length mirrors.

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These babies are ready for a new home and I’m ready for a new project - provided I’ve figured out how to be a mom and a maker… *wink*

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Black 3-Drawer Dresser Set
Now Available for Sale
32”W x 18”D x 30”H
$795 for the pair

If you are interested in this piece or a custom order like it, email me at cate@stylemutthome.com

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A Wink of Leather || First Flip of 2019

Welcome back StyleMutts! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season with family, friends, and food-but-not-too-much-so-you-feel-bloated food.

I myself tackled several projects around the house between Christmas and New Years (as I often like to do) and realized something...  It’s not so much the time off I enjoy most this time of year, but the moments leading up to a new year where all the challenges from the past year become eclipsed by the possibilities of the next.  What projects will I tackle? What ways will I surprise myself? What trouble will I get myself in to and then have to figure my way out of?

I like this mixture of hope and possibility.  And I’m not-so-much hoping I’ll become someone new or a better version of myself in 2019, I just want to keep being me. Doing what I love. With the people I love. And I recognize that I’m blessed already for having been doing just that all through 2018.

And I love what I do with you - sharing finished pieces or new ideas and pushing myself to try something I’ve never done before.  Friends, I managed to squeeze in one last project in 2018 to be the first project to share in the new year!

Meet Blondie:

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She’s not much too look at - just a neon shade of yellow wood finish but she had great lines so I brought her home to the workshop.  One of the things that stood out to me most was that she had such tall legs - and I got to thinking... I could really have some fun with that.

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First order of business: paint.  The original buttered wood wasn’t doing her any favors so I went with a good neutral: Silver Drop by Behr.

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The color is a soft blend of white and a delicate light gray.  It’s not too harsh but still very warm and fresh.

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To play up the height of the legs, I decided to add some interest with a “wink of leather” as Chelsea would say.

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I added crossing leather straps in an X shape that are secured to each leg.  They are completely removable if you need the under dresser storage but add such a fun surprise detail to an otherwise “Plain Jane.”

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Let’s take a closer look shall we? 

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Originally I tried riveting the leather together  but couldn’t get the straps to bind so I ended up using brass screws with a nut on the back to hold them taut and in place. 

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I also replaced the original ring pulls with bright brass whistle knobs.

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I love using these knobs in projects to give a easy modern upgrade (like here and here).

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If you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind piece, this White + Leather moment is available for sale!  Email my contact info below for purchasing or third-party shipping options.

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White + Leather Dresser
Now Available for Sale
63”L x 18”D x 34”H
$695

 If you are interested in this piece or a custom order like it, email me at cate@stylemutthome.com