Side Table Redo

This Craigslist chest of drawers/dresser combo has turned our house upside down as I squeeze the absolute final pieces of furniture I could possibly fit into our house. Until I have final pictures of the dresser that match this chest of drawers. I will show you a quickie I painted.

Said dresser will go in my daughter's room which I just finished putting together.
The changes never end.....

Since the dresser is gray I decided to paint her little bedside table to match. It's been sitting there without hardware looking sad. This little table and it's twin belonged to my grandmother. My mom painted them years ago and they sat happily in my bedroom when I lived at home. Before painting every thing in sight was a fad, my mom was a beast with a brush and latex paint.


I decided to freshen one up for my little girl....

(Paris Gray & Old White)

In true Lori fashion, I had to embellish the top (I have an embellishment addiction)....



Such beautiful details were begging to be celebrated!



I am amazed the original skeleton keys have not been lost after at least 70+ years! They are so pretty....

Somebody Stop Me!!!!!!!!!

I know it's been a while but I have an excuse....a good one....

First, I need to confess that I just need to stop looking at Craigslist. I need a filter on my computer to keep me away from that website. Soon my house is going to look like a junked up antique store with pieces of furniture piled on top of each other.

Would you go visit these?
 (pardon the blurry Craigslist pictures)

Oh.....
.....but I did.....
....and I bought....
.....for $50....BOTH for $50!! That's my excuse for being MIA

I don't have a proper "before" photo because I just got so dang excited and started painting but basically this:

and this:

turned into this:

************************{{sigh}}************************

I think I am in love with chalk paint after all. This is my 5th project and I think I finally got the hang of it. More on the process later....

The after picture is actually a bit blurry and has weird shadows but I couldn't wait to take some glamour shots of her. I made my husband (and his friend who happened to drop by for a visit) stop for a moment of silence to admire the transformation. Let's revel in the details, shall we?

Oh, hardware, how stubbornly tarnished you were...

but it was worth the 3 step process to get you shiny again!

Let's not forget, I have a dresser I need to paint also now!

Can paint change your life? I think Annie Sloan is my new BFF....

***Update: The Dresser: Play-by-Play post is up here***

Craigslist Excitement!!!

I have a sneaking suspicion that, like me, you all love to peruse Craigslist, go to garage sales, and rummage thrift stores. I get downright giddy browsing Craigslist for some well-priced hidden treasure. So in the spirit of sharing....look what I scored on Craigslist!!!




I have a thing for ladderback chairs. LOVE them. I bought a $5 ladderback at a yard sale the other day but that's another story.

The great part about this pair is that I don't even have to paint them because they already have a wonderfully distressed, aged paint job. I have a suspicion that chalk paint and wax was used on them because of how the paint will flake if I really dig my nail into it. But they also have a beautfiul, hard sheen that looks very similar to my waxed furniture pieces.



Ok, so I scored these BOTH for $60. That's good, right? I don't think the person knew what they had. I thought $60 was a steal. Oh, I looooooove these details!

Chalk Paint Endeavor #4

I finally took the plunge to transform these side tables!



I know, I know....there's nothing wrong with them, right? Why would I paint these? The horror!

Disclaimer for all the wood-o-philes: these are mass produced manufactured pieces, by the way. I am not destroying Aunt Ethel's prized antiques! :)



I do love the shape and style of these tables but I bought them when we first moved into our house 4 years ago. I was 11 months pregnant with #1, and in a remarkable twist of fate they were the perfect, exact match set to a coffee table I already owned (purchased in a small little furniture store 2000 miles away in a different state, no less). In a desperate act of "I-need-side-tables-right-now-and-{crazy}-they-match-my-current-coffee-table-so-it's-meant-to-be" I bought them.

But this girl has always got to go changin' things!

Reading Shaunna's FAQs and watching her video on chalk paint and waxes gave me the final UMPH to do this. I highly recommend the video for some FYIs on chalk paint. I also re-watched Miss Mustard Seed's video on waxes. Again, very informative. Just watch them and hopefully your fears will subside enough to get you to hold your paint brush without breaking into hives. At least it helped me.

This is my 4th chalk paint endeavor. #1 & #2 were successful, #3 started to give me hives again but I did some experimenting on that one which I will share in a later post along with some chalk paint lessons learned......

but for now, let's enjoy the after!






Lighter? Brighter? The Mister is not convinced. He says the table looks a bit bipolar. Fancy on top, shabby on the bottom. Ok, I can receive that. It is quite shiny on the top but I love the wood grain pattern so I was nervous to touch it. But I may strip the top and do a wash over it to tone it down a bit....we'll see....this is a work in progress!

Linking up to

Before & After Party @ Thrifty Decor Chick

Piece of Work Wednesday at Primitive & Proper
Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming

Frenchy Benchy

I bought this sad bench a while ago. The lady I bought it from wasn't planning to sell it until she had painted and reupholstered it. As she talked, all I heard was "red....velvet.....floral" and I knew I had to save this poor bench from certain embarassment.




It looks worse than it really is. The springs and seat part were in good shape. I knew it just needed a paint job and some foam/batting/upholstery on top. That's something easily remedied with my handy dandy staple gun.

First I gave it a coat of Valspar's Sea Salt Blue...love this color. Then I dry brushed my Annie Sloan's Old White Chalk Paint over the blue. A coat of Clear Hannant's Wax. Then a little strategic sanding (which ended up letting the weird green peek through but I rolled with it). Then a bit of Fiddes & Sons Jacobean wax. Using the waxes is a learning process but I've found I like the finish and control these waxes give you.

On to the upholstery....

I cut 1/2" high density foam and 1 layer of quilt batting to size.



Then staple it all down. I don't think I even bothered to staple the foam. I just stapled the batting over the foam to keep it in place.



Then staple the fabric down. This is the part that makes me sweat....literally. I usually staple in the middle of each side, pulling tight as I go. All that fabric pulling is a strength work out. Then staple all in between.


The corners can be tricky. I usually start with a staple in the corner, then start stapling to either side of that staple and work out toward the sides (does that even make sense?)



Stapling can drive one crazy but I was just thankful I didn't have to contort my body like I did for the french chairs. Now that was major work.

Next on to the finishing touch...the piping. Now, I was prepared to make my own piping like I did for my daughter's headboard. However, the fabric I bought was a bit thick. I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but the weave and hand reminds me of an antique grainsack. It has a beautiful texture. I tried to make piping and it just wouldn't go through the machine. I couldn't even fit the fabric wrapped piping under the presser foot. What to do?? I cut strips of 1.25" fabric, folded it in thirds, and sewed down the middle.....



Then hot glued the trim strip to the edge. Not quite double welting but with the thick fabric it was the best I could think of using materials I had at home and without using that gimp stuff. Not that I'm against that...I used it on my french chairs but I didn't want to use it for this.

If I get brave I might do a stencil on the top....maybe a monogram or a simple graphic of some sort...I feel like it's begging me to do something to the fabric but I'm so nervous to touch it! What do you think? Will I ruin it?

Now....where to put my little bench??? It keeps moving to different places in the house. I just can't decide

Showing off at: