furniture

Pinterest Challenge: Brass Etagere

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For those of you who are big Young House Love fans like I am, you are probably familiar with their Pinterest Challenge series. I have wanted to link up a project for so long, but never got around to it in the previous editions. I’m proud to say I actually completed a project, photographed it, and wrote a post in time for this season’s challenge!

I’ve been crushing on brass furniture lately, which I mentioned when I was swooning over coffee tables. I’ve also been seeing some great hacks of the Ikea Vittsjo pop up all over Pinterest. Our living room is fairly long, so it lends itself to having two distinct seating areas. On the left, I decided we needed something with more height, and I also wanted a place to display accessories and make our house feel a little more lived in.

One day when I wasn’t working, I went out to Ikea. I never go to Ikea on a Saturday if I can avoid it, so it was nice to head over there on a weekday morning. After spending some time wandering through the showroom, I went downstairs and grabbed my Vittsjo. Only I didn’t think about how huge it was….60 lbs and a little over 7 feet. Although I was encouraged to ask for help per the sign by the box, I  stubbornly wrestled the box onto my car myself and made my way to the checkout.

Sorry about the crummy iPhone pic!

Then I had to get it into the car by myself…good thing I have Fiona, because this thing was huge. I could see people around me looking skeptical, but I was able to fit the whole shelving unit in the car by folding the front seat down. Honda should seriously be paying me for the number of times I show people how much cargo room the Fit really has.

Anyway, I managed to get my new Vittsjo home and in the house by myself (woooo girl power). Then I went to work trying to figure out what color gold spray paint I should use on the piece. Some people spray painted theirs, some people used Rub ‘n Buff, and some people gold leafed their’s. I went the spray paint route for time’s sake. I originally intended to buy Krylon’s Gold Leaf based on Kate’s recommendation on Centsational Girl, but they were out, so I ended up buying another Krylon color instead.

First I put together the frame, and then took it down to our backyard and spray painted it. It took a few coats, and I had to do some touch up after I brought it back inside and realized that I had missed a couple places. I let it dry for a few days and then brought it upstairs and added the glass shelving, and added accessories…which continue to change on a regular basis.

I’ll be honest, I’m not in love with the color. I think that I will go over it with Rub’n Buff when school slows down a bit. But for now, I’m still really liking the look in our living room.

Oh, and if you’re interested in the sources for the objects on the bookshelf, here’s a rundown of what they are:

Did any of you participate in Young House Love’s Pinterest Challenge? Make sure you check out the projects of the other hosts: Katie from Bower Power, Megan from the Remodeled Life, and Michelle from Decor and the Dog.

Also linked to: Miss Mustard Seed

furniture, Projects

Blue Chevron Child’s Chair

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If you didn’t see it via facebook already, I’ve added a new item to my shop: this vintage blue and white chevron child’s chair. It’s painted with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Provence and Original White, lightly distressed, and sealed with wax. I actually made a bunch of the fabric garlands you see in the photo and will be putting them in my Etsy shop soon. The framed alphabet print is also for sale. Have a great weekend! Linked to: Miss Mustard Seed, Redoux, My Repurposed Life, Primitive and Proper

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furniture, home decor

Marble Coffee Table Obsession

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I’m not sure what’s gotten into me lately, but I am obsessed with finding a marble coffee table for my living room. I love the crisp, white surface, and the way it reflects light. I also like to mix textures and materials in a space, and something about natural stone gives the room a bit more interest. From House Beautiful via  The only problem is that marble isn’t the cheapest material in the world. I’ve scoured craigslist and even purchased an oval table, only to reach the sad realization that it was too small for the space. Actually, it wasn’t that sad since I confirmed that I do indeed love marble in that position, and now I know what kind of dimensions I’m looking for. Yay for knowing what I want! And if you’re in the market for a oval marble table, let me know… I now know that I […]

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furniture, paint, Projects

Beautiful Blue Chairs

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Happy Saturday everyone! When I picked up this pair of chairs, the finish was poor and they had cracked cane seats. I really liked the scale of them and how skinny the spindles were, so I knew they were a good candidate for a re-do. I painted them in Benjamin Moor Advance Satin Marine blue, applied some upholstery webbing over the cane just for extra support, and padded them with batting. Then I used bold fabric from Premier Prints over the batting, and trimmed it out with white trim tape. This pretty pair of chairs is now available in my shop. I can picture them at a little cafe table in the corner of an apartment. Have a great weekend! Linked: Miss Mustard Seed, My Repurposed Life, Primitive & Proper, Redoux, Doodles & Stitches

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furniture, painting, Projects

Hinged-Top Waterfall Dresser

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When I see a beautiful piece of unpainted furniture, I am often torn between wanting to keep the original wood, and wanting to paint it. Sometimes I make my decision based on the style of furniture. For example, something that screams 1970s is the worst of ways might look fresh and modern with a clean, glossy coat of paint. Other times, I find pieces that are so hopelessly beat up that only people who enjoy cruel and unusual punishment would attempt to refinish the wood. That’s what happened when I stumbled upon this waterfall dresser on craigslist. It needed some serious help. Veneer was missing all over the place, the top had something crusted onto it, and a piece of the frame was missing between the top drawer and top of the dresser. It was actually that missing piece that sold me. Seeing that 2 inch gap between the uppermost […]

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furniture, Lucketts Spring Market, painting, Projects

Lucketts Favorites: Mid-century Modern Herringbone Tables

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Thank you SO much to Becky from Preparing for Peanut for sending me this picture she snapped during the market! Shortly after I found out I would be selling furniture at Lucketts, I picked up these mid-century modern tables on craigslist. The finish on both tables was in really bad shape, and had alligatored in a lot of places. The tops both had water rings on them.  They were very solid and had potential, so I was excited about the acquisition. To take off the bad finish, I sanded until my hands were about to fall off. I even bought a Dremel Multi-Max with the detail sander attachment to help sand the places where I was struggling and make the process go faster.  Once the finish was gone, I applied a coat of wood conditioner and then a coat of Minwax Antique Walnut stain. I really didn’t like the color […]

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chairs, furniture, Lucketts Spring Market, painting, Projects

Lucketts Favorites: Blue Rocking Chair

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When I was getting ready for Lucketts, a lot of my friends asked me which pieces were my favorite projects. So, I thought I’d do a few posts about my favorites. I bought this rocking chair at the last minute, about a week before the market. It had a cane back and cane bottom. The cane bottom looked new, but the back looked terrible. I haven’t yet learned how to weave cane furniture, so I decided to reupholster this chair. And I was in such a rush to finish projects that I forgot to take a before picture. Bummer. Using spray primer, I primed it and painted it with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Provence. I mostly primed it because I didn’t know what color I wanted to paint it, but I’m glad I did because I didn’t want any of the black paint to show through anyway. After the […]

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furniture, Projects

Coral and Gold Dipped Table

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I have been crazy busy attempting to finish all my projects for the Lucketts market next weekend. So, I don’t have time to type out a full tutorial but I wanted to share one of my latest finished pieces! This is a vintage Henredon end table that I painted with Benjamin Moore Advance satin in Tuscon Coral. I got the “dipped” effect by spray painting the ends of the legs with gold paint first, and then using painters tape to create the crisp line between the coral and gold. This sassy little table will be available next week at the market, along with the brass duck and a bunch of telephone insulators! Linked: Miss Mustard Seed, Chic on a Shoestring, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Redoux, My Repurposed Life, Making Lemonade, Domestically Speaking, Somewhat Simple, Savvy Southern Style, 36th Avenue, The Shabby Nest,    

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before and after, furniture, Lucketts Spring Market, painting, Projects

Stenciled Chalk Paint Table

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If you spend as much time reading furniture and design blogs as I do, you’ve probably read about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. Well, I had read about 5 million blog posts where people use this magic chalk paint to change their furniture into a Paris flea market find look alike. I had two major issues with this: While the chalk paint was cute on romantic antiques, I was sick of seeing people apply a “cottage chic”, “parisian flea market” style to Danish midcentury modern tables. It just didn’t make sense to me. Some of the furniture looked great, but did every piece of furniture a person laid their eyes on need to be painted? And in this way? Gahhhh. It’s freaking $36 a quart. And by the way, you really have to buy wax to put over it, which is another $26.  But really my main reason was that there’s […]

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furniture, Projects, shopping

Furniture Hoarding

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One of my favorite parts about re-doing furniture is seeing the potential in old beat-up pieces. I love treasure hunting. As I mentioned last week, I’ve been collecting furniture to refinish/refresh for my space at the Luckett’s Spring Market in May. Because I’ve been spending so much time thrifting/craigslisting, I haven’t actually finished any projects. But, I’m proud to show you the collection I’ve gathered. Here is what our dining room currently looks like. Some of this is for the market and some of it isn’t. That’s our dining room table, which normally has a table cloth but has magically transformed into my sewing table. This mid-century dresser is by Stanley furniture, and I’m having a hard time figuring out when it was built. Some clues: It has a stamp on the left side of the top drawer that says “Distinctive Furniture by Stanley”.  The drawer glides in the dresser itself are […]

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