Shabby Chic Desk

My mom scored this beautiful desk at an estate sale. The drawers were full of papers from the 70's and the wood on top wasn't in the best condition. With alittle paint and some elbow grease to refinish the top...this curvy lady turned into a beauty! One of my favorites--unique and pretty. [and I'm not a "pretty" kind of person!]

Antique Dining Table & Chairs

When it came to my first attempt at a dining set...I jumped in with both feet! I found a great antique dining table (1920's-30's) with three leaves and six chairs at a local thrift store. The clerk couldn't believe that someone would have a audacity to try to paint one of the chairs with brown paint! I had to confess that I was going to paint it...but with a pretty color, and I promised to do a much better job!

This thing really was a triple whammy--paint, refinishing and reupholstery! The wood was beautiful, but it had seen much better days. I wanted to keep the wood table top and I was envisioning a young family sitting around it...banging silverware and sippy cups. I sanded, stained (ebony) and applied polyurethane to give the top a durable finish for those sippy cups.

The chairs were in rough shape, especially the cushions! The leather was scratched, ripped and brittle. And, the cushion was non-existant. Once I began to take the chairs apart, I caught a glimpse of the age of the set...the cushions were made from horse(?) hair! It was pretty gross! I also found a stamp from a railroad line on the bottom of one of the chairs. I couldn't make out the date, but the chairs had traveled from Ohio to Tennessee. I thought it was pretty cool!

I knew as soon as I bought the table and chairs what fabric I wanted to use (amazing upholstery fabric I had picked up on clearance at Ballard Designs about a year prior). I used ASCP (Duck Egg Blue...love love love!) on the chairs, and did the table base with Old White. I used dark wax to tie into the stain color and applied clear wax to finish everything.

Again, this dining table and chairs set is totally up my alley! I love the colors, the quirkiness, the dressy but casual...all of it! Thankfully, I found someone else who loved everything about it and purchased it to go in the dining room of their first home! It was also a special sell for me because it was the first time a total stranger bought one of my creations!