Sugar Plum Sundae

Penny Candy

This week's transformation was a very popular piece! In fact, it sold within a few hours of posting it on my Facebook page.

~ A Sweet Little Treat for the Home ~

Penny Candy

Hello My Sweets!

This piece went so fast, I didn’t even have time to post it on marketplace! It was pretty awesome, if I do say so myself! The color was so delicious, I had to stop myself from licking it!😋 Other people feel that way about gorgeous color, right? Totally normal stuff, right?? 🙄 🤷🏻‍♀️ My inspiration for this piece was the old copper lined humidors and the glamour of that era! The results was a dark, moody, vintage glamour that is masculine, but glamorous enough to be feminine. ✨

I found this piece at an estate sale. It was being sold with a table and chairs – which I have not worked on yet, and a china cabinet – that I have already refinished and sold, Mint Julep: https://sugarplumpreserves.com/mint-julep/. I will write a blog in the future about the process it took to transform Mint Julep. The woman that I bought Penny Candy from was probably in her 70’s and said that her daddy got these pieces long ago from an estate in Virginia. So, by my estimate, it is quite old and also quite cool to have a story attached to it!

Being so old, it was not without its issues! It was solid wood, but the top was gauged pretty good and the drawers were stinky and lined with old yucky paper thumb tacked to the drawers. This old piece was in desperate need of some pretty and a touch of glamour! 🤩

I removed the paper liners and started with my usual, a GOOD clean! I used a mixture of warm water, dawn dish soap, and white vinegar and scrubbed WELL. The top of the buffet would need to be sanded down pretty significantly to remove the gauges. If I was going to paint the top, then I would have just filled them with wood filler, but I was hoping to get the scratches out and stain the top. It took a lot of sanding with my orbital sander – https://amzn.to/3mOzGsi, my mouse sander – https://amzn.to/2Yf42cT, and hand sanded with sand paper. I was very pleased to have been able to sand past the scratches for a smooth top.

After wiping the whole piece down with a wet rag, I was ready to paint. I opted not to prime this piece because I sanded really well, so there wouldn’t be an adhesion problem, and the color was dark, so there wouldn’t be a problem with bleed through. The color that I chose was……..drum roll……Night Watch by PPG. The color is a gorgeous deep, moody green that actually looked better in person than in the photos. I applied it with my favorite paint brush, Angled 2 inch Stubby https://bit.ly/3oI0V9z. Pro tip, these dollies are a life saver to move the piece around as you’re painting and to get the piece up off the ground – 3 Wheel Dolly, 4 pack https://amzn.to/3bKfilf. After I painted, I noticed that there were some areas that needed to be touched up with wood filler. Not to worry! I got out my trusty wood filler, Dixie Belle Mud – https://amzn.to/2zfMdRB and filled in the spots.

Once it was dry, I sanded smooth and got back to painting. I painted a total of three coats, lightly sanding with 400 grit sand paper in between coats. Scrumptious!! 😋

I felt like this old girl needed some glamour! I also thought that copper leaf would look so beautiful with this color, soooooooo…..see where I am going here?? I had rose gold leaf on hand, which may have been fine, but I was convinced that copper leaf was a slightly different shade. After all, I was going to name it Penny Candy! Am I crazy, I don’t know, but I went to Micheal’s for copper leaf none the less. 🤔 I have gone into detail about how to apply leafing in another blog post https://sugarplumpreserves.com/2020/04/12/madeleine/, so I will just briefly go over the process here. Apply the sizing, Gold Leaf Sizing, Quart size https://amzn.to/36hdOxP or Gold Leaf Sizing, 2 oz https://amzn.to/3bN5xTt with a disposable chip brush, 3 inch, 24 pack https://amzn.to/2WNntJf. The sizing goes on white but will dry clear. Once it is dry, gently press the leaf https://amzn.to/3RaH3IZ onto the piece, smoothing out with a natural bristle brush.

When the area is completely covered, go back over it with a larger brush and brush away the excess. You will probably see parts that you missed. No worries, just go back over that area with the same steps. With legs like that, I thought they should be shown off! I repeated the whole process on the legs. 💃

I found some drop pulls for the cabinets which I again, using the same process, added copper leaf to. I decided to give the door fronts a little something extra and found some thin wooden appliques at Hobby Lobby, which I painted and glued to the door fronts. They were the perfect something extra to give added interest and showcase the new, copper leaf drop pulls. I guess I forgot to take pictures of this process, but the outcome was just what I envisioned.

I turned my attention to the top of the buffet. I waited until the end to stain it because I wasn’t sure about the color. Once it was sanded down, it had a pretty reddish hue to it. I wanted to see all the colors together before I decided if I wanted to stain it. I ended up going with a Dark Walnut Stain, Minwax Dark Walnut Stain https://amzn.to/3e7D1h8, applied in long strokes with my favorite method, a Stain Applicator Pad https://amzn.to/2Xfun9d. After a few coats, with ample drying time between coats and after, I sealed the whole piece with Minwax Water Based Polycrylic, Satin https://amzn.to/3g7e7Qw, applied with my favorite method, Car Detail Sponge https://amzn.to/2ANgY0K. What do you think? Definitely the right choice!

Last, but not least, it needed beautiful matching fabric to line the drawers. I found this fabric at Hobby Lobby and I really feel like it completed the moody, luxurious look that I was going for. Much better than yucky, old, stained, paper tacked in! Amiright???

Here it is, Penny Candy, in all its glamorous, antique, beautiful, delicious, moody glory! 💥

Thank you so much for joining me for Sugar Plum Sundae! Please check back every Sunday for more yummy recipes to transform reclaimed “junk” into sweet little treats for the home! 🤗

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XOXO

Michele

Materials List (may not be all inclusive):

Orbital sander – https://amzn.to/3mOzGsi

Mouse sander – https://amzn.to/2Yf42cT

Angled 2 inch Stubby Brush https://bit.ly/3oI0V9z

3 Wheel Dolly, 4 pack https://amzn.to/3bKfilf