though mrs. jones (preferring paint) as a rule does not refinish furniture, this gorgeous old chair from an especially lovely client’s mother’s home (with lovely rodgers menzies as the designer) was an exception.  it had been damaged (heat? water? mila kunis?) and just needed a little love to make a comeback.   challenge #1 was to match the color of the stain.  (option b would have been to strip the varnish from entire chair, and then and re-stain it with a new color…but that would have been risky, since adding more stain to the existing tone might have just darkened those areas further.  and imagine, just for a second, stripping the topcoat from a double-caned piece like this…little tiny brushes are involved, and lots of patience.  more than mrs. jones possesses.)  and so, after a good sanding, i pulled out all my cans, and the mixing began.

for those taking notes, minwax‘s puritan pine with just a dash of honey maple came closest.  hickory worked well for some fly-specking and adding the shading that the old finish had here and there.

here is the chair, before:

places that retain the old varnish don’t absorb the stain, so, after applying a pre-stain wood conditioner to ensure even-ness, i went over the piece several times with a medium-sized filbert brush and laid in the spots that needed color, building up to match the existing finish.  after the honey/pine cocktail and a final sanding, it was time to add the fly-specks (spattered on with an old toothbrush) and then to use a little thinned out stain (hickory) as a glaze in some spots.

since rattan does not absorb stain or glaze the same way that wood does, those little spots in the caning took some extra passes, but eventually blended in fairly well.  after three coats of varnish – just to make sure – it is ready to stay in the family for a long time.

the happiest moment of the delivery was when i mentioned the carved swans, and my lovely client and her daughter both exclaimed, “there are swans?”  yes, and they are back.

finally, here is the chair – sporting a fancy cushion – in its new home:

here are snippets of some current work i can’t wait to show you.  soon all will be revealed!  hope you are enjoying your weekend.

…it’s too humid to make a decent meringue in memphis.  (though i am hoping to hear from the runaway spoon for help on this one.)  because i crave them.  my mom makes the best meringue cookies, with chocolate chips hidden inside. 

anyway, a favorite, lovely, and extra-design-savvy client asked me if we could give the frame on this bargain mirror a new look: white and chalky – almost like gesso left unpainted.  a few days later, flipping through the just-arrived september elle decor, a feature on barbara barry’s current line for baker caught my eye…in particular, the beautiful folie mirror with a frame described as “meringue-like”.  exactly what my lovely client was after.

here is the before:

and after using stix bonding primer, and then layers of milk paint slathered on and left un-sanded for a slubby effect:

in its new spot, the mirror reflects one of my favorite projects ever.  the hidden chocolate chips, if you will…

…though the truly sweet treat in this lovely home is fabulous cassie.  who really can merengue.  but that’s another story.

this plank of wood (sitting on the tray, above)  is to become the core of a very cool pot rack, fitted with hammered iron hooks, and hanging from chunky-thick rope. 

my lovely client asked that it be finished to look like her vintage red lacquer tray.   in attempting to match the hue, mrs. jones became way too focused on asian-asian-asian, tinting various shades of pagoda red and chinois cinnabar, not seeing until after several tries that the correct crimson – right out of the jar – was benjamin moore’s caliente, af.290.  (which even presented itself in a handy sample size…just the right amount.)   so there you have it…a perfect beijing red, via brazil.  two glazes, tinted with raw umber and black, are streaked on to add some depth and age.

 julia has promised photos of the finished product, which i will of course post, post-haste.