Brilliantly Funky

Hi Everybody, this is my first attempt at blogging!  I keep waiting for just the perfect thing to start out with, but it doesn't look like my brain is going to cooperate, so..... I guess I will just begin.  I love painting furniture and as my blog develops, I will post more pictures of past projects and tips on how they came to be. I love color as you can see, and I've been told my furniture just makes you smile to look at it. I hope you enjoy looking at it half as much as I enjoy putting on the paint!
My goal is to share some ideas, my art, and to answer any questions that I can. I certainly don't claim to know everything but will be glad to let you know what has worked for me.
Most of my projects are repurposed pieces, garage sale finds, cast offs or thrift store pieces.  I see them and just want to breathe new life into them so that they are once again enjoyed and loved.

 I also do commission work like this piece. A friend from the gallery I display in (Noyes Art Gallery in Lincoln, NE) commissioned me to do this adorable little table. Here are some before and after pictures to give you an some ideas of what you could do with some old pieces of furniture you have laying around.

This is a what the table looked like before I started painting. I have sanded it at this point and patched a few boo boos. Not too appealing, right?

This is what the table looked like after a few (hundred thousand ) brush strokes.



Makes you want to to start looking around your basement for hidden treasures right?

Here is a chair I painted for a benefit for Kylie Remmereid.

Kylie's Chair

The seat is recovered with canvas (painters canvas preprimed) . When I decided to paint this, I couldn't find the seat I had taken out so I was cutting a new one at 2am so that I could recover it, and have it painted for the next day and ready to be delivered by 10:30 AM. I don't know why, but I always seem to work better under the pressure of a deadline. Are you like that? ..And yes, I was tired the next day.


 I love to do polka dots and as you read more of my blog, you will see a lot of polka dots! The top little knobs are always crying for polka dots, even before I know what color the chair is going to be,.....I KNOW there will be polka dots on the little knobs.


This picture was taken at the Gallery in Lincoln, part of my display for the month. This is a cabinet that was hand made. I found it at a garage sale. It originally was just brown, had a mirror in the oval opening, and was roughly finished.

Interestingly, I talk about having treasures lying around in your basement and how you should get them out and make them fun, ....I had this started for at least 3 years before I drug it out and painted it! I can tell you that I was glad I had already put a base coat on it before I started on it again. Those little boxes on the side were kind of tough because my paint brush was too long and kept running into the sides.

The knob on the front was an old finial part from a second hand store down town here, and I just doodled on a couple of them a few years back. It seemed to go well with the rest of the piece, What do you think? I like to put funky knobs on my things.


The little flowers in the center were kind of a fun touch, people seem to really like the little flowers.

I was pleased with the way it turned out and I guess other people liked it too because it is sold!..

So what pieces of furniture do you have hanging around that have seen better days, or that you are just tired of? Stay tuned and I will give you some tips on what has worked for me . Feel free to email me csoconnor1@aol.com with any questions, or just leave them in the comment section and I will do my best to answer them. Remember, it doesn't have to be fancy or real detailed to make a big difference and make you love it again. So start looking for some projects.

Ta Ta for now.