The Ones That Got Away

The Ones That Got Away

Ever have a piece of furniture that you just can't stop thinking about? Like seriously, cannot get it out of your head? Ok, obviously I realize this is totally strange, and basically only a furniture hoarders connoisseur's problem. But really, for me this is like a bad breakup, and I just can't get over it. Here's the pair causing the problem--these curvy, lovely night stands that I sold last year during the neighborhood flea in Pittsburgh. Which, on a side note, is a fantastic event and you should totally put it on your to do list for this summer. 

Anyways, check out the sophisticated gray and white...coupled with that glamorous gold...drool. Insert pathetic SIGH. What was I thinking selling these things?!?! Yesterday I was perusing a local store and saw a similar nightstand, painted in a completely different color scheme, but curvy and gorgeous none the less. And similar enough of course, that now I'm back to thinking about these two All. The. Time. I'd classify these as "the ones that got away". Now friends, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take all my weirdness eccentricity over to the nearest corner and grieve my "breakup" a little while longer...

Silly my friends, but true. 

Zsa Zsa & Eva

"Zsa Zsa & Eva"

These two are quite the pair. Yes " dahling," these tables are named after the ridiculously over the top, outlandishly over-glamorous, Hungarian divas ZsaZsa and Eva Gabor. Sisters that lived oh-so-lavish life styles that were similar, but not exactly the same. Such is the case of these tables.  Look closely, one has more "glam" than the other. 

Table on the left has 2 gold inlays.

Table on the right has only 1 gold inlay.

 But really who's counting when you have this much glam... Like with the gabour sisters - Eva only had five husbands, while ZsaZsa had nine. Does a little more or a little less really count when we're talking about things SO over the top? Well apparently it did to them...but not so much in the case of these tables. They might be a bit different but they are equally fabulous!

I'll be honest in had no idea they were different when I bought them. I found them at one of my local consignment shops. They caught my eye while I was driving by and I knew I had to have them! They looked the same to me. I cleaned them, I primed them (ok the hubs did that, gotta give credit where credit is due), I painted them, I glazed them...and only when I went to apply the gold leaf did I notice the difference. Observant, aren't I???

I really love how these turned out. The glaze gives the color some depth and the gold makes them pop. So. Glamorous!

These tables scream glitz and glamour! They'd be absolutely fabulous in a Parisian boudoir or girly and glamorous living room. Please visit https://www.etsy.com/listing/199611299/pink-gold-nightstands-end-tables?ref=shop_home_active_1 for pricing and details. 

Happy Shopping!

Tucker

"Tucker"

Coolest thing about my "job"?? Taking someone else's discarded junk and breathing new life into it. Second coolest thing about my "job"?? Finding old clues and relics -like pictures, papers, markings, etc. left in or on the pieces that give me some clues of its "past life". Such is the case with Tucker, named after the boy in this picture that I found jammed up under the drawer while I was cleaning and prepping it for paint. Hope he doesn't mind that this piece is named after him!

Tucker was not an easy finish. Here's some before pics.

First of all it had a layer of dust at least an inch deep and it stank, like old man "drawers". As a side note- being an RN makes me an expert at identifying "old man stanky drawers smell", and this piece definitely qualified. Here's the cleaning solutuion after I cleaned it. Now that's some dirty water. Gross.

 It needed primed then painted to get rid of the stank, and that's a pain. The primer sucks up the paint so instead of 2 or so coats of paint it took like 4 coats. Ain't nobody got time for all that! Seriously, I have NO patience. I also wanted to switch out the knobs. The first set I bought from Anthropologie were super cute - but not on this piece. Bummer. The second set I bought didn't fit. Double Bummer. Third set were just plain ugly. Did I mention that finding the perfect knobs has really been a bummer?? Fourth times a charm I guess...um, well in this case at least. The sunflower knobs go beautifully with the sunflower color. And look at the lovely paper lined drawers...drool. It's been painted and glazed beautifully, then dark waxed and buffed to a lovely sheen. Best of all - it's now stank free!

 

 

So after all that work, this little gem is finished. And I'm glad it is done. Really glad. It was a pain labor of love. 

How would you use this table? Maybe as an end table or nightstand? I think it would add a lovely pop of color to just about any room! Please visit my Etsy Store for pricing and details. 

Happy Shopping!

Sanibel

"Sanibel"

Distressing furniture is NOT for the faint of heart. What's the big deal? --Take some sandpaper, rough it up, and in the end it will be beautiful! Easy peasy, right? Uh, no. At least it's not that way for us OCD types. Ya know, the types of people who like things to be "just so". The types who sort out loads of laundry into specific color groups, rearrange the dishwasher after someone else has already loaded it, or organize their closet by shirt sleeve length and color. Uh, not that "I" would know anything about "those types" of people... 

But really, WHY would you want to take sandpaper to a perfectly lovely piece of furniture that you just spent hours painting?!?! That puts my OCD into overdrive. I suppose for the sake of "art" I'll do it, but not very often, which is why I have very few distressed pieces. It seriously causes me to panic! PANIC---How much is too much sanding?!? What if I sand it and it looks like crap?!? What if I have to repaint it cause I don't like it?!? What if I do all this work for nothing and have to start all over again?!?  You get the point. Panic, with a capital P. I digress. 

So this will probably be my one distressed piece for the year. This old sewing machine table came sans sewing machine from Goodwill.  She sat in my basement for quite a long time before I secured her top from opening, painted her black with copper knobs, and put her in my front entryway.  This table is sturdy solid wood construction with a single plastic side drawer that's great for storing keys, cell phones, etc. --all the little junk you need (and can never find) as you're running out the door. Now it has a spot to live! I really like this table but the black seemed sorta drab. When I stumbled across these starfish knobs I thought a coastal inspired makeover was in order. It is summertime after all... 

Here she is in her original condition, not too shabby.

This table got a lovely coat of pale blue chalk paint, was lightly distressed, and then finished in a clear wax. I really think she turned out lovely, don't you? 

The little drawer makes this table perfect in an entryway, mud room, or just about anywhere that needs a little reminder of the beach (which is everywhere in my book)! Please visit my Etsy Shop for pricing and details.

Happy Shopping!

Jade

Jade
 

I've been working on this Moroccan inspired table for several weeks now. Oddly enough my inspiration came from a quick furniture pic on an HGTV commercial. I guess that's what happens when a lot of hours of your day are spent sitting in front of the TV feeding a new baby. It's a wonder that I haven't tried to convince my husband that we NEED to flip a house site unseen, or  maybe demolish our perfectly fine kitchen for a full "reno" --HGTV gets my "project gears" turning. 
Every. Time. 

Anyways, the table... It came from a consignment store back in my hometown of North Canton in Ohio. This Drexel piece is clean and in excellent shape, stamped "Heritage" in the dovetailed drawer. It was a great find!

 

 The emerald paint color was a risk for me. It's bright and bold and I really, really loved it on the color chip, but wasn't sure if I would really love it on a whole table. And that's A LOT of work and time spent to possibly NOT really love it, ya know what I mean?  As for the pattern - I love chevron, and for awhile that was my go to pattern - but that was before I found quatrefoil. Isn't it fabulous? It's so chic and has an awesome Moroccan flair. It's all hand painted and the gold is a perfect match for the jewel toned emerald. I switched out the hardware for some Moroccan inspired drawer pulls, painted the drawers in a contrasting and bold orange/coral, and finished the table in dark wax. Magnificent!

 

  

This table is a great accent for any room and is sure to be a conversation piece wherever it finds it's final home. Please visit my Etsy Store for pricing and details.

Happy Shopping!

Charlie

 "Charlie"

Love this set! I found the footstool at a local thrift and the chair at a Goodwill. Here's the before of both. 

Um, yea...gross. Seriously disgusting upholstery on the chair. Dirty, stinky, sticky, yucky - GROSS. Enough said. BUT really curving lines on the stool and super pretty detail on the chair. So I put on my "stink cover" (as my son would say) - a.k.a. shirt over the nose, bought the chair and brought it home.

 

I removed the nasty upholstery (after I donned my heavy-duty  orange "ick removal" gloves of course) and set out to get some paint. I've been wanting to do a piece in blue, but everytime I go for paint I get sucked into the pinks and turquoises and buy those instead. I swear I have "shiny object" syndrome. Oh well. I found this pretty upholstery to go with the blue paint. Done deal.

The bottom of the chair is stamped "Boggs & Buhl Pittsburgh, PA."
After consulting the ever so trusty Google, I found that the Boggs and Buhl department store opened in 1826 and closed its doors in 1955. It was considered a "North Side institution here in the 'Burg. I'm not sure what era this chair dates back to, but it's a neat piece of history that I feel honored to have saved from the dump. Check out the article here.

So here they are finished. They're painted pretty peacock blue with a coat of glaze to bring out the details, and finished in a dark wax -Lovely! I'm calling the pair Charlie, after the lovely southern city of Charleston...which I'm in love with by the way! The fabric adds to that tropical southern charm. Can't you see this chair on a porch side piazza for which Charleston is so famous for? - Cool breeze, good book, and sweet tea in hand? Ahhhh....lovely!

This set isn't for sale in my Etsy store. It's going to raffle for a great cause - The 10th Annual "Sarris Candies Run for Alex" in Bentleyville, PA on June 7th at 9am. This is a great event put on by one of my dear friends and her family in honor of her sister, Alex Loos, who was struck and killed by a reckless driver in August of 2004 at the age of 15. Proceeds from the event and raffle go to scholarship funds in her honor. Please consider coming out for this event. There is a 1 mile fun walk for kids and adults, a 2 mile run, and a 5 mile run. Please visit From Alex with Love for more information. It's sure to be a great day and you could even go home with this beautiful chair!

Audrey

"Audrey"

This piece really doesn't need an explanation or blog write up - It's beauty and elegance pretty much says it all. I bought this nightstand at a Goodwill. I wish there had been more of the set cause it's really charming and pretty. There is some veneer on the piece, but overall the quality is very good. You can see from the pictures that it needed some work but nothing major, so I had to have it. It took some sanding and major stripping of the top shellac layer, but I think she cleaned up pretty nice!

The color is fantastic. It's a chalk paint I've used on several other pieces, but on this piece it looks totally different and REALLY pops! It's not really pink, it's not really coral, and it's not really red...it's somewhere in the middle of all three shades - and I love it!

The gold trim and hand painted painted gold drawer pulls add such elegance!

The inside of the drawers were in excellent condition but I stumbled across this beautiful paper so I added paper lined drawers as finishing touch. The print is so sophisticated! 

This elegant table/nightstand is available for purchase at my Etsy store. It would look amazing adorning an entryway below a mirror, in your chic Paris boudoir, or even as an end table in a "glammed up" shabby chic living room. The possibilities at endless! 

Happy Shopping!