Jack Johnson's Boat Wood Desk

Okay - I just said Jack Johnson to get your attention.  And I think Jack would really like this boat wood finish on our newest piece!  I just decided we will call this desk "Jack".   I remember last year around christmas we had a drift wood Christmas tree, made by one of our artists, Terry Murphy, that was for sale in front of our store.  People loved it and kept mentioning it reminded them of Jack Johnson's Christmas tree that they had seen in a magazine, so I looked it up.  It was so cool.  Just like Jack.  And just like our boat wood desk that we wanted to share with you.

Isn't Jack beautiful?  Check out this view of the top:

So Jack started out as a sad dated pine desk.  You know, kinda shiny, with wierd planks going in a diamond pattern.  We love these old mexican pieces of pine furniture.  They are sturdy, have some interesting details, nice rustic hardware, and take a makeover extremely well.  This one just screamed "Boat Wood Finish"!!!!

So we got out the paint - lots of different colors - and went to town!  

Check out the layers of colors.....

Yum!

There are probably 8 to 10 colors used on Jack.  About 3 different colors layered on each plank. 

We applied the paint with a rubber spatula.  You can use a plastic credit card - preferably one you aren't using any more, or a piece of cardboard.  Or a scraper.  My favorite is a rubber spatula.  You just dip it in the paint and kinda frost the plank like you would a cake.  Try not to cover all over, try to get it on kinda thick, and try to get some cool texture.  Let it dry, then do it again with another color.  And do it again.  And again.  And again.

It's actually pretty fun!

So after you apply the last layer, let it just barely dry, then get out a scraper and scrape away in places.  Get down to the wood here and there, and to the underlaying colors where you can.  Then sand it.  Then clear wax it.  And then......the final, and very life altering step - dark wax it!  The dark wax just makes it all meld together and gets this wonderful aged patina.  It's good stuff.

Here are some more inspiring pictures of boat wood finishes....

How about adding some graphics to your boat wood finish?  Oh the possibilities!

I think I could do this!

And I think I could do this too - but wow - that would be lot's of work!  So many slats!!

And this is the kind of piece of furniture you come across quite alot.  So next time you do, give it a boat wood finish!

And if you aren't quite sure you get it - check out the September issue of "This Old House" Magazine.  We were featured in it again!  We are super excited about it, and will be sharing more of that very soon, so keep an eye out.  

In the magazine, we did another boat wood finish table, along with four other projects with step by step instructions.  Like I said - we will share more of that soon.  Until then, keep your eyes out for great pieces to make over, and go for it!

Bed Turned Bench Twin Sister

Here she is!  The quieter, more laid back sister of "Bed Turned Bench".  

There are the twins before:

And here is the first bench, during.  She was given a slatted seat, made out of scrap wood.

But her sister was given a solid seat, so she could be hinged, and supply some storage!  Because we can all use more storage, right!?  Right!!

She got the shabby chic treatment with some Annie Sloan Old White, some distressing, and a coat of clear wax.  Per Rick, the buyer, who loves some shabby chic!

And here they are together.....

So which is your favorite?

Shabby Shabby's Big Sister

A while back I painted a dresser in a shabby chic style, and named her Shabby Shabby.  

I wasn't sure I loved Shabby Shabby.  My hubby hubby was the instigator for that piece.  He likes things with a ton of distressing and character.  I like distressed, and I certainly like character.  So I did that piece for him.  And he loved it.  And lots of other people loved it!  Which kinda made me love it.  

It got pinned a ton on pinterest - more so than any other piece I've done.  So now I love it even more.

So here is Shabby Shabby's big sister.  The better looking sister if you ask me.

Again, she is heavily distressed.  But not quite as heavily.  I left more big areas of the white paint in tact on the body.  But I still went pretty crazy with the electric sander.

Yum.  Did you notice her beautiful bowed front?  And that nice carved detail under the top drawers?  She is mighty pretty!

And I LOVE the color of her drawers.  I did a custom piece for someone in this color and loved it, so I used up the extra on this.  It's a mix of Annie Sloan's Florence, Napoleonic Blue and Provence.  I dry brushed some plain old Provence on there too, to add the beachy white washed look.

I decided to white wash the hardware on her also.  I just brushed on some old white, let it sit a bit, till it was almost dry, then wiped off the high spots with a wet cloth.

And she was finished with a coat of clear wax.  

Incredibly easy, and quite lovely if I do so say myself!

The end!

Why Not White........?

I am a lover of COLOR!  I am sooo drawn to anything with lots of color. Vibrant color!  Mmmmm.  Color, color, color!!!   However.......who doesn't like white!?  I certainly do!  But you would never know it.  I looked on my portfolio recently, and white is nowhere to be seen. There are bits here and there along with other colors; but nothing just beautifully white.  Beachy, shabby, glorious white.

The reason I noticed this is because I had an old friend call about having something painted.  Rick, my brothers best friend from high school, had called and wanted a piece painted a beachy, shabby, glorious white.  Not really his words, but you get the picture.  I told him to check out the portfolio page and see if there was anything there with the finish that he liked.  And then I went to take a look.  Oops.  Nothing.  So Rick just had to trust.  I think he was a little worried.

So......here is some white for the color crazed pages of Mak & JiLL!

And this is what it looked like before:

Rick and his wife Trisha were very, very happy with their updated beachy white desk.  So happy that lots more of their furniture is coming my way to get the white treatment!  And remember the bed turned bench from the last post?  How could you not?!  Well they have ordered one of those in white!  They live at the beach, and all of this beautiful white furniture is going to look amazing in their place. Hopefully I will get some pictures to post of these pieces in their natural habitat.   Are you reading this Rick?  You had better have signed up for my blog Rick and Trisha!!  Send me photos!!! :)

And here are some beautiful photos of whites at their finest!

 White with pops of color.  Yum.

And yum.

O

Or white on white?  I could never......  But it's beautiful!

Wow.  Can't really go wrong with those windows.....that view....

But isn't all the white just perfect?!

Is this the most perfectly done white kitchen?  

Another view of the perfectly done white kitchen.  I LOVE a white kitchen with pops of color.  I don't think I've ever seen it done better than this.  It is just completely perfect!!!!

 

 And we should definitely end it with a white piano!!!!

I think you might be seeing alot more white on the pages of MaK & JiLL in the future!!!

Bed Turned Into Bench

This beautiful bench, made by my talented husband Simon, was a somewhat useless twin head/footboard in a former life!

If you have some old bed frames lying around collecting dust, you may want to pull out the chop saw and get building!  If you don't like using the power tools - I don't - then find yourself a Simon!  

Here is how Mr. Wilson did it.

First he found a bed frame on the side of the house collecting dust.  Yes - on the side of the house.  The garage is completely full of more important pieces!  This one was intended for scrap wood.

Next, you chop it up and stuff.  Really.  I don't know exactly what he did to it.  But I do know that he used almost all of the bed.  The sides are the bed rails.  The front is the footboard, minus some of it - so you could actually sit on it.  And I know he took great care in measuring the seat height before he chopped things up.  Lot's of measuring was going on.

And then some scrap wood was used to make the seat.  

We debated over whether it should have arms on the sides, and decided not to put them on, as it was made from a twin bed, so it's not very large, and we wanted it to feel more open, and roomy.

And then I came along with my fabulous Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  This is a mixture of Florence and Napoleonic Blue.  I painted it, distressed it, and then finished it with a minwax polyurethane/stain in one.  I hadn't tried that finish before, but I imagined this bench living outside, and I wanted it to look antiqued, and I didn't want to spend too much time doing all sorts of layers to get the look I wanted.

I love my Bed Turned Bench. 

This twin bed did have a twin.  There were two!  So keep an eye out for the next one!

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