Round Back Dining Chairs

I would be thrilled to find one of these shapely dining chairs, so imagine my joy at finding a set of four.  Someone did not realize their value and had stored this set outside.  They were in bad shape and had black widow nests in the seat cushions.  I hate spiders, especially black widows, but I was not going to let that get in my way of salvaging these beautiful chairs.  I carefully removed the screws holding the  seat cushions in place and bravely killed any spiders that dared to crawl out.  Who said fixing up furniture was always easy or safe?

Before

After

After removing all the seat cushions, I patched any cracks with wood filler and then painted the chairs with two coats of Old White Chalk Paint.  I distressed the edges and then I painted a wash over the Old White, made by thinning French Linen Chalk Paint with water.

I wanted the chairs to be classic, elegant, and monochromatic.  I went to my favorite local fabric store in Santa Cruz and I spotted this fabric on the remnants table right when I walked through the door. I knew it was the one!  It is a heavy weight upholstery linen with grain sack stripes woven in and lots of texture.  The best part is that, because it was a remnant, I only had to pay $7.99 per yard!  I am sure this beautiful fabric is normally well over $30 per yard.

Next, I called my very talented upholsterer to pick up the chairs and finish the transformation.  She returned the chairs this past weekend and I cannot stop staring at them.

They look perfect in our Spring room at Loot!

They look perfect in our Spring room at Loot!

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Farmhouse Cabinet

I was lucky to find this unique, farmhouse cabinet at a yard sale recently.  This cabinet would be the perfect piece in a farmhouse style kitchen, for extra storage or as a  pantry.

The old latex paint was peeling and dirty, but this cabinet had great bones.  I did not plan on leaving it bare wood, but as Mr. Rubbish started sanding the paint off, I loved the look of the rustic, natural wood that was being exposed. 

The only part of the cabinet that did not have nice looking wood was the center of the door, which was a cheap plywood. To cover it up, I painted it with three coats of Graphite Chalk Paint to make it into a chalkboard.  I used Annie Sloan clear wax over the rest of the cabinet to protect the bare wood.

I love the little bit of green paint left on the edges of the door.

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Arles Chalk Paint Buffet

One of my customers at Loot told me to keep an eye out for a buffet for her new home.  A couple weeks later, I found this long dresser at an estate sale and I though it would make a perfect buffet for my customer.

Before

 It is a solid maple piece with tons of drawers and storage space.  I figured that if my customer did not like it, it would be easy to paint it and sell it at the shop. I pictured this piece painted with Arles Chalk Paint and I was excited because I have not used this vibrant yellow color yet.  Coincidentally, when the customer came by to see her future buffet, she told Nancy that she would like it painted with Arles.  This dresser's fate was decided!

After

 After two coats of Arles, I used Annie Sloan's clear wax to protect the finish and the dark wax to antique it. I love the dark wax over the Arles Chalk Paint; it looks like a fine dijon mustard.

I had just enough oil rubbed bronze bin pulls in stock for all the drawers and I painted the existing knobs with Graphite Chalk Paint and a little dark wax to match the pulls.  I love the contrast of the dark hardware against the bright yellow.

I distressed all the edges lightly, before waxing and made sure the dark wax stuck in the grooves.

My customer was so excited when she picked up her new buffet and she told me that it was just what she had pictured in her head.

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