Mid-Week Design Inspiration: Settees

 I love settees and I have been looking for inspiration for a settee that my friend gave me. I brought the settee down to Southern California, so my dad can fix the broken wooden parts in his wood shop. Until Papa Rubbish finishes the settee repair, I will just daydream about what my settee will look like one day.

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I love the pale blue, petite settee set as the spotlight in this gorgeous room.  I cannot tell from this picture, but it looks like fuzzy, wool fabric. 

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This black settee is dramatic and I like the idea of using black because it would wear really well. 

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I love the contrast of this settee with the dark arms and pale linen.  I also adore the striped rug the settee is sitting upon.  

http://greigedesign.blogspot.com/

This large, white settee is lovely too and has a rustic charm.

http://www.decorpad.com

Cane-backing is beautiful on a settee too.

http://www.atlantahomesmag.com/

Of course, velvet is always a glamorous, plush choice for upholstery and this blue velvet is stunning.  I like the idea of having a settee in an entry hall, that is, if you have an entry hall big enough to hold one.

http://www.decorpad.com

I like the elegance of this settee with softly-colored, wide stripes.  

http://www.jaysonhome.com/

I like the monochromatic look of this one too with coco linen and natural frame.  

I found three striped settees and after seeing these,  I am really leaning toward upholstering my settee in stripes.

http://harvestfurniture.blogspot.com/

This black and white striped settee with the natural wood frame might be my favorite of all.  It is such a classic style settee with an unexpected fabric.

http://houseandhome.com/

The blue and white stripe against the gold frame is sharp and stylish too.

http://labrocanteuse.blogspot.com/

I love the way the French style of this settee is accentuated with this simple and charming, ticking striped fabric.  

Upholstered French Side Chair

Nancy had this chair for a long time and I offered to reupholster it for her.  It had been sitting in the corner of Loot, since we opened with just the stuffing, since she had removed the previous fabric. I love the lines of this French chair with the round back and curved legs.  Unfortunately, I do not have a before picture.  

Nancy painted the frame of the chair with French Linen Chalk Paint and then I applied clear and dark wax before upholstering.

Nancy and I went to our local fabric store and picked out this fun, linen, zebra-striped fabric.  

I cut the fabric pieces for the front, back, and seat and then I procrastinated upholstering it for over a month.  I am not always confident with my upholstering skills and sometimes I put off working on projects that intimidate me.  I would love to find the time to take an upholstery class to learn more.  I do not know how to make double welting yet, so for now I used natural, linen-colored gimp to cover up the upholstery staples.  

Upholstering this chair was easier than I anticipated and my mom's pneumatic staple gun, no doubt, helped immensely.  

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Chateau Gray Dresser

This vintage dresser is one of my favorite curbside finds.

While I was visiting my sister in Southern California, we were, as usual, out yard saling, when we spotted this vintage dresser at the end of a driveway with this sign posted on it.  I mean, I would have paid $15 for this beauty at a yard sale and here I was picking it up for free! 

It was in pretty good shape when I found it, besides the missing hardware.  My biggest concern was being able to replace the hardware since that can get pricey, especially when there are 18 places drilled in the dresser where hardware used to be. 

I decided to simplify and, so I patched all the previous hardware holes with wood putty before painting.  

While I was helping a customer decide on a Chalk Paint color for her newly purchased armoire, we painted a sample board with Chateau Gray and then applied dark wax.  I loved how the Chateau Gray looked with dark wax over it, so I decided to try it on this dresser.  Chateau Gray seems to be a misnomer because it is truly a shade of green.  I think it is close to the popular decorator color a few years back called sage green.

I was not sure what hardware I wanted for this piece, so I patched all the holes, figuring I could redrill them later, once I picked which hardware I wanted.  This dresser sure looked plain without any knobs.  

I decided I wanted oil rubbed bronze bin pulls for this dresser.  I went to Home Depot to check out the prices and  there was no way I was paying $5.99 per bin pull on a dresser I got for free.  I originally planned on putting two pulls per drawer, so that would have been over seventy dollars plus tax.  I searched on Ebay and found these lovely, oil rubbed bronze bin pulls for only two dollars a piece.

After I got the bin pulls in the mail, I had Nancy hold them up on the drawers and we decided the dresser looked better with just one pull in the center of each drawer. 

I have to give credit to Mr. Rubbish, whose excellent math and spatial skills came in handy, for locating and drilling the two holes required for each bin pull to line up exactly centered on each drawer.

This dresser sold at Loot this past weekend after being at the shop for less than a week.  Not bad for a roadside find!

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French Linen Buffet

My friend gave me this amazing, old buffet.  One of her friends gave it to her and she did not have space in her house, so she passed it on to me, thinking that I may be able to salvage it.  

The details on this buffet are very special, but it was in pretty rough shape.  I will take you through all the repairs I made to it.

First, I had to flip it over and clamp and wood glue the legs because they were a little wobbly.

Some of the beaded wood trim was missing from the doors of the buffet and I was worried that both sides would not match.  Then, I noticed this strip of trim that ran down the center, between the two doors.  I used a flat head screwdriver to pry it off in sections and used that to patch the missing parts on the doors.

Now all the trim on the doors is complete.

Mr. Rubbish put this drawer, that came to me in pieces, back together again.

One of the drawer pulls was broken off when I got it.  Nancy had some JB Welds, so I mixed that up and clamped the pull to the broken, metal post inside the drawer, clamped it, and waited for it to dry. I was relieved that it worked because I like the old hardware and I did not want to replace any of it.

I dry brushed Old White Chalk Paint over all the lovely wood trim and appliques.  The Old White really made the details stand out and the details are what I love most about this piece.

I decided to do one coat of paint instead of two because I liked how the wood grain underneath showed through.

I waxed the entire buffet with Annie Sloan clear wax and buffed it to create a soft sheen.

I put it in the front room at Loot and we sold out of French Linen Chalk Paint this weekend because so many customers loved the look of the buffet.

I have to admit that this is one of my all time favorite pieces too!

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Vintage Desk Redo

This small, vintage desk was found at a a yard sale and the only thing wrong with it was the padlock stuck on the bottom drawer pull.  Luckily, my landlord has a metal saw that he used to cut through the lock for me.

The desk is solidly built and has great detailing.

I used Country Gray Chalk Paint with Pure White trim on this desk, which was a simple fix.  

I have a degree in Biology and I love incorporating science into decorating.  I love the large, weathered science charts, test tubes, beakers, etc.  I have been wanting to create a science desk at Loot for a while and I am finally displaying some scientific paraphernalia on this little desk in a corner of the shop.

 I found this vintage, visible man at my auto mechanic's shop.  My mechanic is an avid yard saler too and I always look forward to seeing his new finds, when I take my car in for an oil change or tune up.

This is one of my favorite new items: a vintage light bulb bottle.  

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Bleu & Blanc Frenchy Mirror

It is difficult to find perfectly round, old mirrors, so I was excited when I found this one at a yard sale.

It had beautiful details and original beveled glass, that is so old it looks wavy at certain angles.

I wanted the mirror to look like an old, French antique with original paint.  I chose my two Chalk Paint colors to create the look: Duck Egg and Old White.  I painted the frame with Duck Egg and then dry brushed the Old White over the appliques at top and bottom, as well as the raised trim running up the sides. I dry brushed the paint, in all different directions, purposefully missing parts, so that the gold underneath would show through.

After the paint dried, I waxed the entire frame with Annie Sloan's clear wax.  Then,  I made a glaze with Annie Sloan's dark wax by blending it with unscented mineral spirits.  

I painted the glaze on the frame and then wiped back, making sure to leave the dark glaze in the crevasses.

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