Our Kitchen Table

For years, I have dreamed of finding a very old wooden kitchen table and refinishing it. Having refinished several pieces of furniture, I felt ready to tackle a kitchen table.

I found this pedestal clawfoot table from the 1800s at a thrift store in North Wilkesboro. From the 1800s! Instantly, I began to picture a whole "life" this table had. Another family must have made memories around this table. Maybe a little girl did homework there every day? Maybe there were long family dinners eaten at this table? I had to have it!

Since I had a significant amount of time off from work for Fourth of July, I decided that would be the best time to tackle this project. I wanted it to be white (a true white) so I decided to sand, prime, and paint with latex paint.

I put one coat of primer on and a large stain worked it's way through the primer. I put on another coat, thinking it just absorbed the stain the previous owner had given it. Again, this stain appeared through the primer....only this time there were ripples in the wood. I poked one of the ripples and a piece of wood flaked off....followed by more and more pieces. I realized this whole spot was just bad wood and had to literally dig it out with a putty knife.

There was a giant hole in the top. I felt sick. How was I going to break it to my husband that he had wasted a whole Saturday driving more than an hour away to get this thing? Do I get rid of it and pretend some thief with French country style stole it out of our garage overnight??

I had to fix it. Then it hit me-wood filler! I got Minwax Wood Filler and filled the HUGE spot in, and thankfully, after a TON of sanding it worked. I applied another coat of paint and sealed it. Once I got it inside, I decided it needed to have a more warm, worn look to it. So, AGAIN, I repainted it in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Paris Grey with Old White on top. I then sanded the edges and put two coats of furniture wax on to seal it.

FINALLY....it's done. It's in the kitchen, and even though the table and I got off to a rocky start, it's ready to get new memories in its "life" with our family.

A Painted Chandelier

When I found out Briggs was a boy, I knew I had to have a blue chandelier in his nursery. That's how I had always envisioned it. I looked online, but like it so often happens, I had an exact picture of what I wanted in my mind and could not find it anywhere. So I decided to make it! I went hunting for an old brass chandelier. I went so many places and I finally found one that was the perfect size. I found it at (where else) ReStore.

The first thing I did was paint it blue.

I added white lampshades.

I bought a white ceiling medallion and also painted it blue, but exposed some of the white to give it a "worn" look.

My husband mounted the medallion and hung the chandelier (poor guy....it was a really hard fixture to hang and required multiple trips to Home Depot.)

It's my favorite part of his room!

Tiffany Blue

Is there anything more uplifting than Tiffany Blue? My stomach always flips when I see that little box (hint, hint honey.) :)

Which is exactly why I had to put it in my entry way. What better way is there to greet all those that enter my home? So, off to ReStore I went, hunting for an appropriately sized table to place in the entry. I found an old, wooden "country-style" sofa table. The knob on the drawer was awful and I hated the color, but the shape of it was beautiful. (Once again, no before picture.)

With a little paint (in Tiffany's blue, of course) it brightened my entryway!

I found a perfect mercury glass knob at Anthropologie.

In my opinion, every entryway should have a little sparkle.

Dining Room Sideboard

I wanted to find the perfect sideboard for my dining room. I took measuring tape into the room and measured out my "perfect" piece of furniture. Several days later, I found a dresser/sideboard (look at all the drawers!) in ReStore with the EXACT measurements I had created! It had to be mine.

All it took was a little black paint and stain (for the antiquing)

and it became the exact sideboard I was looking for. I added a polycrylic topcoat to make it durable (LOVE Minwax Polycrylic....it's all I use.) All of the drawers hold serving trays, silver, linens, etc. It's functional and well, just pretty to look at.

Feed Sack Chair

I bought this chair a LOOOONG time ago at a thrift shop. It has a great shape, but I thought it was boring and wanted to "dress it up."

I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with it. For months, it sat in my guest room. (Ok, more like a year and a half.) This past week, I've been in my "projects" mood. So I got busy on this chair and.....

Voila!

It became a vintage "Feed Sack" chair.

With a little white paint and aged burlap upholstery, it became JUST what I wanted.

Robin's Egg Blue Cabinet

I needed furniture for extra storage space, so I went to one of my favorite thrifting hubs: The ReStore. I found an old wooden cabinet. The lock was broken and it looked (and smelled) like someone had left it out in a shed for years. But the shape was FABULOUS. It just needed a little love. I wish so badly I had taken "Before" pictures, but this was pre-blogging days. I washed it and used Pine Sol to get the scent out. I then prepped it for painting, gave it a coat of yellow paint and topped it with a robin's egg blue paint that I mixed together.

I sanded it to give it a weathered look. It's one of my favorite pieces.

It holds all of my crafting supplies. (This interior pic was the color of the cabinet.)

It's a catchall for everything from bottles and blankies to dishes from the "manroom" that need to be brought downstairs. It's perfect.