China Cabinet Perfection

I am soooooo excited! I have finally finished the china cabinet that has been in my garage for 11 months! It was a LOT of work, but it was worth it! It came from the same house that the secretary I did a couple of weeks ago came from. I loved the way that piece turned out so I chose the same color and toile paper for the china cabinet. Here is what it looked like before I worked my magic.

It was a lovely wooden piece from 1979 that was sturdy, solid wood, and very brown. It is also quite big and very heavy. That is the main reason it took me so long to get to it. It was much easier to do the smaller lighter pieces in the front of the garage :)
I sanded the piece and painted it out in ASCP in Old Ochre. I adore this color! It is so cozy and warm.  The back wall of the cabinet was covered in the toile paper that I used before. Love the combination! It just makes me happy :)

After painting it was distressed and waxed. I found some great black iron knobs at Hobby Lobby that just finish it off perfectly! Sigh....

  It turned out awesome!

It will be making its way to Market Antiques in Ottawa in the next couple of days. Stop in and check it out :)
See you soon!   ~Christy

Dresser From My Picker Stan!

     As I told you last time Stan from Antiques on the Prairie has been picking some great items that he has sent my way. Such an awesome way to get pieces at a great price with a lot of potential. This dresser was from the 60's and looked like something Mary Tyler Moore would have had on her show :) It had a very angular look about it, but I wanted to nudge it in another direction.

I sanded it all down and repaired some veneer issues it was suffering from. The drawer fronts were in beautiful shape and I knew I wanted to leave them alone. I had just purchased some new ASCP in Coco that I used on the body of the dresser. LOVE that color! I didn't like the look of hardware, but it was a very unusual size so I knew I couldn't replace it without having to fill the old holes. My solution was to paint it black. I wasn't sure if it would do the trick, but I love the way it turned out!

I think it made it feel updated and new :) I did lightly distress the body of the dresser and followed that with dark wax. Love the way this color deepens with the dark wax!!

See that cute leg there on the bottom? I thought they would be cute stained to match the drawers. They totally blended in before and the brass cap on the bottom was yuck.

Now that is a Fabulous dresser!! It is at Antiques on the Prairie. Go check it out!
See you soon!  ~Christy

Matching Set of Nightstands

     When I was up checking on my Antiques on the Prairie booth earlier this week Stan had a few great pieces for me to check out. Stan is the owner and he does an excellent job of sending items my way that he comes across. Thanks Stan! There was a set of nightstands and a dresser. I am going to share the nightstands in this post and the dresser next time ;)
     The nightstands were straight out of the 70's. They were very similar in style to the secretary piece I did last week. Average, run of the mill, super heavy, brown......I am sure you have seen hundreds of them over the years. Oh what potential though!

As usual I forgot to snap pictures before I got started. I had already removed the hardware, but it was big and bulky and not the look I was going for. First on the agenda was sanding. I followed that with a coat of colonial red paint. I forgot to take a picture of that step. Bad blogger. Then it was time for some Annie Sloan chalk paint in Country Grey. This color definitely reads more of a beige grey. Distressing was next. I went a little heavy to show off that beautiful red underneath. Wax was last.

 I had some great iron pulls from Hobby Lobby that I knew would be perfect! They have such a lovely rustic look to them.

So cute!

When they were finished they headed off to Antiques on the Prairie in downtown Baldwin City :) They are waiting for  a new owner to take them home and love them!

See you soon!   ~Christy

Bench Warming in Style!

I just finished a bench for my neighbor Jill and am so excited to share it with you! It was a treasure I found at Market Antiques in Ottawa. It was absolutely adorable but in desperate need of a makeover :)

The fabric was a little dated and tired.

It was a great price so I snatched it up and brought it home. I didn't have any plans for it right away so it was set aside with a few other "soon to be fabulous" pieces. All of my neighbors know that if I am out working in the garage they are welcome to come "shop"! That is exactly what happened when Jill came to visit. As a musician Jill was drawn to the back of the bench that is shaped almost like a music stand. She put her claim on it and told me her wishes for the finished project. I was able to find fabric that coordinated with the curtains in her piano room and everything else fell into place! The bench was sanded, painted, distressed, and reupholstered to perfection :)

The antique ivory paint looks so beautiful when it's distressed to let the dark wood show through.

The contrast of the dark rich fabric and the light paint is wonderful.

It was really cool to discover that the previous upholsterer dated and signed the bottom of the bench. It was last made pretty in 1966. I made sure to sign and date my handiwork as well!

What a beauty she turned out to be! The best part.....she looks beautiful in her new home, and Jill couldn't be happier!

Summer Is Over, I Feel a Little Lost

     It is officially that time of your again. My kiddos will be heading off to school tomorrow and I have that sad feeling that comes with the quiet empty house they leave behind. It will only last a few days and then that will become the new normal. I am not a fan of change and each year this throws me for a loop! With that being said, I will probably get a lot more done when I am not picking up after them all day :) On to a great piece I just finished!
     This lovely secretary wall unit sat in my garage for about 9 months. I was waiting for inspiration to hit me, and that's exactly what happened last week! My husband was thrilled for me to getting moving on this "mammoth piece of junk".  Oh ye of little faith.....It didn't start out as anything all that special, but it certainly ended up that way!

As usual my before pictures are lacking. When I get excited about something I dive right in! I had already taken the back and the secretary door off. You get the general idea though. Did I mention how heavy this piece is?! Wow they certainly knew how to build things in the 70's.
     I started by sanding the piece really well. I knew I wanted a light color so I chose to paint it in ASCP in Old Ochre. It turned out great! It just so happens that I picked up a roll of toile wallpaper a few months ago that matched the color exactly. I put that lovely wallpaper of the back and......voila!

It gives the piece such a great cottage feel. The paint was distressed to reveal a bit of the wood underneath and then waxed to perfection! While they might have built sturdy pieces in the 70's their hardware was terrible. I picked up some great pulls at Hobby Lobby that worked wonderfully!

Here she is all finished and ready for a new home :)

Fabulous! She went to Market Antiques in Ottawa if you are in need of a great secretary cabinet :)
See you soon! ~Christy

Louis Blue Table and Bench

I wanted to share a great little table and bench that I finished last month and never got around to blogging about. The bench came from Salvation Army Thrift and the table came from Goodwill. Love those stores! Don't know what I would do without them :) I forgot to take a before picture of the table, Grrrrr! I hate it when  I do that!  The bench was absolutely calling out to me! "Please take me home and get rid of this ugly geen velvet and horrible gold paint!" I was happy to oblige :)

 Poor little 1970's bench! I will make you pretty again! What you need is some chalk paint in Louis Blue and some new upholstery!

Look how pretty you are now! Fabulous! When I found the table I knew they would look great together. They have very similar styling and legs!

So cute!! They are waiting at Market Antiques in Ottawa for someone to take them home!  See you soon! ~Christy

Trashy Armoire

Sorry beautiful armoire! I am not calling you trashy, merely just stating your location when I found you! I love it when someone calls to tell me about a piece of furniture on the curb. I can't be everywhere at once and it certainly makes it easier when I have a lookout person! This lovely piece was on the curb just down the street. I got the call and dashed out to take a peek. Good thing I took one of my teenage daughters with me.....it is heavy!!

Oak is a beautiful wood, but it needed a little help :)

The back was missing and there were some scratches and dings. It was also kind of awkward. No one really uses these for TVs anymore. It was going to need to be revamped. I had a great cabinet door that was the perfect size for a shelf. Bead board was added to the back. It was sanded and painted black. The distressing and waxing were just the final touch needed to turn it into a fabulous primitive pantry cabinet!

I can see this working perfectly as a kitchen/dining room piece or a bed/bathroom piece! It was just in need of a little sprucing up :)  Fabulous!  See you soon! ~Christy