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French Nightstand Painted Provence
I found this nightstand and loved the shape, but especially the pulls! It obviously needed painting and the bottom drawer needed its stop reinstalled but other than that it was in good shape… but strangely heavy for its size!
BEFORE
I hadn’t quite decided what I wanted to do with it yet, but I wanted to see if the top and drawer fronts were viable for stain… so I removed the old finish with 220 grit sandpaper, most of the original finish was already gone so this was a quick and easy process…
The top drawer has been sanded, the bottom drawer front stained in Dark Walnut Watco Oil.
Now onto the top… this is what it looked like before… not good right? Look closely at those two stains I’ve circled, they will come back to haunt me!
Look how beautiful it looks after sanding! It looks perfect doesn’t it? Can you still see those two stains, now in the top middle of the picture? They wouldn’t come out and darkened when I tried to stain the top. I’m pretty sure these are cigarette burns, but the piece doesn’t smell like smoke… any ideas?
So I had to move to option 2, paint the top, of course I should have primed it because even after 2 coats those stains kept showing through.. ARGH! So I had to sand down those little areas and apply a couple of coats of Kilz and then repaint to even up the finish… VERY frustrating!
Even though I was frustrated I love the end results! It is painted with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Provence…
AFTER
I used some gold Rub-N-Buff on the highlights…
I just cleaned up the hardware and used it as is… beautiful!
I waxed the entire piece with Annie Sloan Clear wax, buffed it with 0000 steel wool and then shined it up with a soft cloth!
I’m keeping this one and using it in my eldest daughter’s “new” room! I just love walking by her room and seeing it everyday!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Until next time…
Linking up to these parties!
Elizabeth & Co., Savvy Southern Style, Domestically Speaking, From My Front Porch to Yours, French Country Cottage, My Romantic Home, Redoux Interiors
Lets Try This Again
Ok… I don’t like to admit I’ve made a mistake… it’s a character flaw I know but I REALLY don’t like making mistakes! Sadly I made one with this French style Thomasville dining table…
This is a wonderful table set I purchased over the summer, it’s Thomasville (from the 1960’s I believe) and it has 2 armchairs and 4 side chairs as well…
I was hoping to refinish the top in a darker stain but there were too many issues with it to make that work (I tried)…
BEFORE
Here is the first “After”… I do love the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Graphite top but the base in Florence with the dry brushed Graphite is just too harsh for me… I waited for DAYS to see if it would grow on me but it didn’t so then I had to fix my “mistake”.. ARGH!!!
So I decided on Annie Sloan Duck Egg instead… as I was re-painting it I felt better immediately… I knew THIS was the right choice!
Now onto the chairs… 6 of them to be exact… have I ever mentioned how much I dislike painting chairs? They are very labor intensive as they take sooo much time, painting distressing & waxing… if I was just spray painting them no big deal but of course I was hand painting them… my poor hands are like claws now!
BEFORE
Here they are so much prettier in a couple of coats of Duck Egg!
And just check out this PERFECT fabric I happen to have on hand… and have enough of… I got super lucky with this! The blue in the fabric is almost exactly the color of Duck Egg!
I removed the chair seats from the frames and removed the old fabric. The two armchairs are going to have their backs upholstered to give the a slightly different look… no need to paint the cane on these!
I picked up a new roll of batting… trust me I will use all of this, not on this project but I have a lot of chair seats to update!
As you can see I have already distressed and waxed the chairs. I have also reattached the recovered seat cushions… now on to the backs!
First I cut out a piece of batting roughly the size of the back of the chair.
I then attached it to the back of the with staples, no need to use this many staples (I didn’t on my second chair) you are just stapling it in to loosely hold it in place. Trim the overage with scissors.
I roughly cut the fabric to size and stapled it in over the batting staying close to the edge of the chair. These staples should be positioned very close to one another and the fabric should be pulled taught before stapling it. Always start your place staples first with one at the top, bottom and both sides, pulling the fabric taught before each staple. Once you have our place staples in then start from the middle and work your way to the sides.
I made double welt cording and hot glued it around the edge.
I did the same process as above for the back but I had to staple the pieces to the sides of the chair as there was no wood to attach the staples to on the back. This is a great dark grey fabric with a herringbone pattern…
Again I made double welt cording and hot glued it around the edge.
Here is the finished dining set!
The fabric coordinates perfectly with the table and chairs!
I love that the captain’s chairs have the padded backs.
I also added a little pop of Provence chalk paint in the grooves around the table and chairs.
One complete dining set down… one more to go!
This was a TON of work and thank goodness my SAH (Super Awesome Hubby) helped me out a lot on this project! I just love the final results and I am so happy to have it completed! I have one more table and chair set that is VERY close to being complete as well, I should be able to share it with you this week!
This set is for sale and will be listed on my FOR SALE page, which seems terribly empty… I am going to the Lucketts Spring Market again this year and I need to have a whole lot more done before May 17th or my 10×20 booth will be very empty! If you are interested check out some pictures from my booth and around the Market from last year… I hope you can make it to the show it is ALWAYS full of great stuff!
As always thanks for stopping by…
Until next time!
Linking up to these parties!
Between Naps on the Porch, Coastal Charm, A Stroll Thru Life, The Dedicated House, Elizabeth & Co., Savvy Southern Style, Domestically Speaking, From My Front Porch to Yours
A Couple of Cute Table Makeovers
Thank goodness we didn’t get any of snow from the big storm that has hit the Northeast… but I feel for those of you who have! Stay safe and keep warm!
These are a couple of little tables that I finished up a few days ago…
I remembered to take a before shot of this one… maybe because it was so hideous I didn’t think you would believe me! It looks like the top Formica but it really is just marbled contact paper, VERY classy!
BEFORE
I was able to peel the contact paper off rather easily, but the glue residue took me a while to remove… I used paint thinner and steel wool to remove the residue and let it dry before I painted it.
Look how cute it is in a fresh new coat of CeCe Caldwell’s Carolina Sunshine Yellow! I just love this yellow, it is so perky and bright! While I wouldn’t paint my walls this color an accent piece in this shade is just fabulous! On a side not check out my Daffodils coming up through the mulch… I’m so excited and ready for Spring!
This little table is very similar but I don’t have any “BEFORE” pictures. I did have to remove the veneer on the top and sand it down REALLY good, but structurally it was in good shape.
I wanted to use this one in my oldest daughter’s “new” room so I decided to paint it in Provence Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, this color is still one of my all time favorite colors!
Now she has a perfect little spot to drop her purse, put on her shoes or have a place for a friend to sit other than her bed…
You can usually find these kind of tables super cheap, I think I got both of these for $10. Most of the time the tables are in bad shape and/or wobbly, if so they are VERY easy to disassemble and fix so don’t pass them up as they can be perfect tables for a small space!
We are keeping the blue one, but the yellow one was sold before I could even get this post written!
Thanks for stopping by as always…
Until next time!
Writing Desk Updated
Ok.. I officially suck at getting “before” photos! This desk was in very good shape though, it just needed to be updated. It is very solid and really didn’t have any issues other than being less than inspiring! It was a traditional dark stained desk with not so nice looking pulls… but great lines!
The AFTER
I painted the base in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint “Provence”, lightly distressed it and applied a coat of wax. I also sanded off the original finish ofrom the top and refinished it with dark walnut stain and a couple of coats of wax.
I love how this beautiful grain pattern showed up more prominently after I refinished the top!
The desk has great legs and lots of storage in the 3 drawers…
I replaced the original pulls with these lions head pulls that I painted flat white..
One of my wonderful neighbors saw this desk sitting in my driveway and knew she had the perfect home for it… I almost didn’t sell it as I was still trying to figure out where I could possibly put it in my house, but I knew she had a “need” and mine was just a “want”… but I sure loved this piece! Maybe she’ll let me visit it sometime 
Thanks for stopping by…
Until next time!
Linking to these parties!
Savvy Southern Style, Domestically Speaking, Restore Interiors,
Crafty, Scrappy, Happy, French Country Cottage, From My Front Porch to Yours, Decorating Insanity, Classy Clutter, Funky Junk Interiors, Coastal Charm, Between Naps on the Porch, A Stroll Thru Life, Primitive and Proper, 413 Sparrow Lane
Drexel “Touraine” French Provincial Bed
SCORE!!!! Ok… sorry to be so excited, but when I got this bed I was SO very excited! Ok…so what if I had to drive 45 miles away, in rush hour morning traffic, to a semi sketchy area….whatever.. I got the bed! I was originally thinking of fixing it up for my youngest but I changed my mind… HEY! I’m allowed… I have another bed I picked up for her a while back that I like better, well maybe not “better” but I think it is a better fit for her… Anyway, this is a full (or double) sized Drexel piece from their “Touraine” line… it is a French Provincial line that I think is just beautiful. Sorry…I only took one before picture.. and we had already fixed some spots and I had put a little paint on it.. see I told you I was excited!!! 
One of the legs on the footboard was a little loose so my hubby and I removed it, sanded off the old glue and reattached it using Gorilla Glue. We used a strap clamp (that is made for frames) to pull it tight and ensure it stayed snug while the glue dried. There were a few nicks that needed some wood filler and some rough spots that needed smoothing, but other than that it was in great shape! After the glue and filler dried we lightly sanded the rough spots and cleaned it with TSP to get it ready for some chalk paint! We decided to paint the frame in Old Ochre and the headboard in Provence…. at this point though I lost helper number one (hubby) to a round of golf! What! Golf over painting… how could he?! But I forced recruited helper number two, my middle daughter, to help me with the painting…. let me tell you she was THRILLEDto help.. (if you are not “hearing” the sarcasm I’m sorry, it’s hard for me to convey it through writing, I’ll work on it!) After the painting was done (two coats) I “retired” my helper (much to her dismay) and worked on the distressing part of the bed… I think it’s difficult for two people to distress a piece because you never seem to distress the same way… Distressing chalk paint is SO messy, but super easy and fast! I then applied a coat of wax, let it set, came back later and buffed it with a combination of 0000 steel wool and a final rub down with a soft cloth.
Here she is… I wanted to put a mattress in it and take a nap under the birch tree…
A shot of some of the detail on the headboard…
Look at her AWESOME legs (or leg)!!
I’m in LOVE with this bed! Great legs.. you know I have a thing for legs! If I was keeping it I would put my daughter’s initials in the center, but since I’m selling it that would not make sense 
! Let me know what you think….but I hope you like her!!! On to the next project…
Parties I’m linking up to:
Between Naps on the Porch, A Stroll Thru Life, Vintage Wanna Bee, Coastal Charm, Primitive and Proper, Savvy Southern Style, Domestically Speaking, Restore Interiors, My Romantic Home, Miss Mustard Seed, French Country Cottage, Chic on a Shoestring, Classy Clutter, Funky Junk Interiors
I was FEATURED at!!!
The Trestle Table Tale
Say that three times fast…
The table is a wonderful Pennsylvania Dutch oak trestle table that I purchased from a very nice lady over the summer (she cried as my husband was packing it into the truck). I had every intention of refinishing soon, but it was the perfect height and size to use as a work table.. YIKES! So there it sat until a super nice lady came by to see the 5 Legged Table that I had just refinished.. she LOVED it but it just wouldn’t work for her in her newly remodeled space. So, as luck would have it I had three (yes 3.. don’t you have 3 dining tables hanging out in your garage too..!) unfinished dining tables for her to look at… and no I’m not a dining table hoarder, but I TOTALLY could be if given the chance! Lucky me she fell in love with this table and wanted it to be finished like the round one.. no problems there! Let me tell you though this oak top was a seriously hard.. some stripping, lots of sanding and few coats of Dark Walnut stain. I distressed the stained top to have a more casual feel to it.. see the client has kids and starting it off with a slightly worn look may help the natural wearing that it will get! I also chose to finish the top off with a couple of coats of wax instead of polyerethane. My reasons for this were simple.. if something should ever happen to the top (you know kids and sometimes husbands 
) she could easily fix the scratch with some stain then apply another wax coat and it would look as good as new! The base is painted in ASCP Provence with the stripe in ASCP in Old White. The base got a very light distressing, a coat of wax and then a nice buff.
The table with the leaves in is very long!
The legs are really neat and have a little flair at the base.
The client wanted VERY little distressing, I think this does it!
I also need to mention that I have a lot of projects going on so my SUPER WONDERFUL Aunt came to help me out for a few days and this is one of the projects she helped me on.. I was very grateful for her help but also felt kind of bad that she always left me looking so dirty… Oops! I did warn her…
Thanks for stopping by!
Parties I’m linking up to:
Crafty, Scrappy, Happy Miss Mustard Seed my Romantic HomeFrench Country Cottage 2805
A Much Loved China Cabinet
China Cabinet - After
This one is uniquely mine… there was no way I was selling it after all the time I put into it and how much I loved it… it was perfect for me!
The cabinet was a score from the Goodwill store.. I just happened to be at the right place, at the right time, don’t you just love it when that happens! We couldn’t fit both pieces into the SUV so we had to make two trips.. but it was so worth it! The cabinet is solid wood and was probably manufactured sometime in the 60′s or 70′s.. (ok, so I’m just guessing the date range, but based on the overall feel of the piece I think I’m pretty close). All of the metal work was old brass in color and the cabinet had a fluorescent light with a plastic diffuser cover in it… gross!
This was the very first piece I painted using Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint, wow… have I learned a lot about this paint since then, way back in June 
. I will admit that I really didn’t believe the hype about not needing to prime… so I primed… crazy huh? At the end of the project I was glad I did because it gave me an additional layer of color to work with during the distressing process.
I used the Kilz primer that I had on hand, it was tinted grey from a prior painting project, and primed the entire outside. I then painted the outer cabinet with 2 coats of ASCP in Provence and freaked out! This color looked WAY too bright… (let me tell you that today Provence is my favorite color, I just LOVE it)… but 8 months ago I wasn’t so sure… I continued on, hoping that in the end it would look great. Does this ever happen to you? You are partway through a project and you are thinking “oh no, what have I done”? Well, that was where I was, but I pressed on, having just enough faith to keep me going… I sanded the paint down some to give the piece a little distressing… I LOVED how easy the paint distressed, but not all of the dust it creates… I was so filthy after this part of the job it was ridiculous! But I still wanted to tone the color down more, so after I applied a coat of clear wax I applied a light layer of dark wax. I loved the way the color toned down and the dark wax aged the piece just right… The inside I painted with Old White, no distressing just a light sand and a coat of clear wax. I finished up with a lot of buffing! I was very happy with the color combination and level of brightness of the toned down Provence. The handles and grate I painted with oil rubbed bronze and reattached. The original fluorescent light box was brought into the 21st century by replacing it with puck lights wired to the original electrical wiring… we rarely turn them on, but we wanted the option just in case! This project took a LONG time, but it was not difficult…. it’s a big china cabinet with a lot of nooks and crannies… but in the end I think the results were worth the time invested.
- Great Old Chunky Handles
- After Close Up
- Interior – The Only Original Finish Left
I have a collection of pitchers that I wanted to display… some are vintage, some are hand-made, a couple are mass-produced, but they all have meaning…. truthfully this cabinet has turned out to be the perfect piece! It brings in a fantastic pop of color into an overall neutral room and allows me to display pieces that hold such wonderful memories for me….
I think every room should have a pop of color… it doesn’t have to be big, it can be something as small as a vase… but I think color can have a tremendous effect on you… and as I write this I find myself eyeballing my black accent furniture and thinking hmmm…. what if you were BLUE or maybe a great GREEN… (please don’t tell my hubby I’m thinking that!)
How about you? Are you feeling like your room could use a little pop of color?
Thanks for stopping by!
Linking Up to These Parties:
House of Hepworths
French Country Cottage
2805
Miss Mustard Seed
My Romantic Home
Sisters of the Wild West
Between Naps on the Porch
A Stroll Thru Life
Vintage Wanna Bee
Coastal Charm
Domestically Speaking
Savvy Southern Style
Restore Interiors
Primitive and Proper
The Five Legged Table in Provence and Kona
Ok…. so the title of this post sounds a little like a weird Indie film title… oh well … I think the tale of this table is so long it could be made into a short Indie film… who would they get to star as me… covered in sawdust… stain… gunk I don’t even know what it is… not many women I know.. maybe if the part was written for a man!
Perfect guy for the job.. MIKE ROWE…
- Mike Rowe as ME!
This is a nasty, dirty job most of the time and I pretty much looked like the picture of Mike above.. FUN times 
On to the tale of the TABLE…
This table was listed as a “paint me” special at a local shop…. I of COURSE fell in love with it immediately because of her GORGEOUS legs… she is mahogany and has no missing parts (if you don’t count the missing leaves, which I don’t ’cause they are always missing, umm.. is there a special place where all of the missing socks and table leaves go to be found later?)
The Top:
- The MOSTLY Before of the Top
She had some pretty good-sized scratches on the top, but I was hoping to be able to sand them out and stain the top.. my backup plan was to paint the top.. I told myself there was NO WAY I was removing the veneer… I sanded the top down and had to fill one tiny scratch that was just too deep, I then stained the top Kona, I had to use two coats…. after the first coat some of the scratches were still visible, but once the second had been applied they virtually disappeared.. man did that make me happy!
Now, for the apron..
She had a lot of allergatering (can I use this word in this way? sorry if not, but that is what was happening!) I started out sanding the apron with the orbital sander and that worked great, except for the areas near the top and the bottom molding.. I tried to use my mouse sander for those areas, but the poly just kept melting on the sandpaper and gunking it up.. so the table sat for a while I thought of how next to tackle it. My next thought was to use a stripper (as a side note I do love it when my husband calls me and asks what I’m up to and I can honestly tell him “stripping in the garage”.. hee.. hee, look it’s the little things that keep you going right?) Anyway.. I did two applications of the stripper, it took a lot of it off, but still left goopy areas that I was having a hard time getting to, not to mention getting off so…
- Yummy Gunk & Trim
My final solution (partially based on the fact that some of the veneer was loose) was to remove the trim molding (intact, to be reattached later) remove the veneer and use the wood underneath..
- My Veneer Removing Tool of Choice
Now some of you may know that depending on the age of the piece you will still have a VERY good quality wood under the veneer.. I was totally banking on that! So I removed the veneer, which could have been a much worse job than it was, and sanded the apron with 80 / 100 / 150 / 220 sandpaper, in that order. The wood was beautiful.. and in great shape..
- Beautiful Wood Apron
I applied a coat of Kona stain and let it dry. Meanwhile I removed the old nails & gunk from the apron trim piece and sanded it down to reattach. I applied some glue, clamped it on and nailed the piece to the table using the original nail holes. I had to trim it down when I got to the end because the circumference of the table had changed with the removal of the veneer, by 1 1/2″! After I filled the nail holes & sanded the trim piece I then stained it to match the rest of the top.
After everything was stained and dry I applied a couple of coats of polyurethane to the top and apron.
Whew! Now the base..
- So PURDY!!!
She got a good sanding (again the allergating) and two coats of ASCP in Provence.
- Bringing Sexy Back!
We have a had a run of nice weather here recently so I was able to take her outside to sand her down and blow her off with the blower (love that!) I put a coat of clear wax on the base and then I painted a few areas on the legs with an accent stripe in Old Ochre and then buffed her down.
- Old Ochre Stripe
Oh yeah, almost forgot… she also got some new wheels.. the original ones were missing (went to hang out with the socks & leaves I guess :0) so I replaced them with some wood ones that I think would have been similar to the original wheels.
- Replacement Wooden Wheels
The End Result….
I love this table… it’s funky legs, the color combination, the wheels and the fact that it was resurrected to provide many more years of happiness for someone! The top is not “showroom” perfect but it is as good as it can get… and it really does look great!
- Dining Table – After
- Finished Table in Basement Kitchenette
I would love to hear what you think about her… I love comments
Thanks for stopping by!
Linking Up to These Parties!
Domestically Speaking
The Shabby Creek Cottage
House of Heoworths
French Country Cottage
Miss Mustard Seed
My Romantic Home
Funky Junk Interiors
Sisters of the Wild West
Between Naps on the Porch
Coastal Charm
Vintage Wanna Bee
A Stroll Thru Life
This one is a keeper.. I think..
- Beautiful in Blue
I TRULY love this buffet (or chest of drawers) … I was so anxious to get started that I didn’t take a before picture! Maybe you can picture it for me… she had a mid range dark stain, working locks on all of the drawers, peeling veneer on the top, broken piece off one foot & drawers held together with Duck Tape (what? who does that?)! But she had some beautiful curves and the drawers were perfectly sound they just needed to be reglued. Overall it was in prettygood shape, I KNEW with a little TLC she could be beautiful again!
What I Fixed:
The top veneer COULD have been reattached, but it was so thin and coming off in several places that I felt more comfortable taking it off… and unlike my last buffet project, with the veneer from “you know where”, this veneer came off easily with a scraper! It was completely removed in 3 minutes and made me feel a lot better about my decision to remove it. The top was sanded with 80 to 150 grit sandpaper until smooth.. I knew I was going to paint the top of this one so there was no need to sand to 220. The damaged foot I repaired with some moulding putty.. it’s not perfect by any means but it is not very noticeable. I removed the Duck Tape on the drawers, reset, glued and clamped them until they were dry. I removed the old wood knobs, which were attached with wood pegs (new to me..), not screws, so I drilled through the pegs and wiggled them with a wrench until they came out. Lastly, I sanded the drawer fronts with 150 to 220 until super smooth
“Dressing the Chest”
The drawer fronts had this BEAUTIFUL flame pattern veneer on them that just winked at me after the sanding. They received two coats of Dark Walnut stain and two coats of wax. The cabinet got two coats of Annie Sloan’s chalk paint, in Provence, some very slight distressing and a coat of wax. I added the faux tortoise-shell knobs and I was done! She seriously is a beaut… This one is technically for sale, but it is in my Family Room where it will probably have a permanent home… or at least until a new “favorite” comes along… UPDATE (1/12) This piece was sold to a nice couple from Northern Virginia.. now I have to find something else to go there… I think I have a piece in mind
Thanks for checking her out! She loves to hear how pretty she now looks
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