Sunday, April 3, 2011

Before and After: A desk and a buncha chairs

In an effort not to jinx myself, I haven't shared with you yet that I've found a space to sell my furniture here in California! I didn't want to say anything until it was a sure thing, but the rent's been paid, some pieces are in place and I've even sold a couple of things! What an exciting feeling this is, knowing that I can do what I love and have a place for it all to go!


I thought I'd share with you a few of the pieces that have gone over to the shop recently. This first chair spent quite a while in my living room because I really loved its shape and the maple wood tone that it had. Then I found a pair of matching armchairs and I decided this one could go to somebody else. But first I wanted to give it a new look. It got a coat of white primer, then sprayed in Rustoleum's "Lagoon" and then sanded to heck. This chair was also plain ol' maple and was given the same treatment but in "Meadow Green". Spring makes me want to break out the COLOR! Can you tell? I'll be honest- these aren't my favorite makeovers ever, but hopefully somebody will appreciate their colorfulity and distressedness! (Yes, I make up words.)


Next up is a desk that we were using but have recently replaced, so I finally decided to do something fun with it. It used to look like this. Kind of tired, kind of boring, but since it was stuck in a closet I didn't really care. With a little "Heirloom White" it was suddenly kind of charming. Here it is in my space at the shop, just waiting for someone to take it home. The top of the desk received some dictionary pages decoupaged to it, though I'm afraid I didn't take a good photo of the whole top. I used some pages with words on them like "letter", "study", and "word" and kind of highlighted them with red pen before sealing them. Next to the desk you'll notice a chair that's also been painted. It looks really blue in these photos, but it's actually wearing that quandary color I asked you about. Here's the actual color and in person it really is pretty. I'm glad I decided to test it out on another chair before trying it on my own pair. After seeing it on a piece of furniture I realized that I love the color, but that I'm not that brave yet. So I'll pull it in with accessories but probably won't paint my chairs with it.


And thank you all for your advice about my chairs. I'm still undecided about them but your feedback definitely got me thinking about other possibilities. I guess I still need to do some more mulling.


Here's one last chair to show you. Sorry there's no "before" on this one, but again, just picture a plain old maple chair with a worn rattan seat. This was a sample of gray paint that I had mixed up and I really like it, though I can't remember the name now. Oh, and the pillow isn't mine. It's the work of another vendor, but doesn't it look right at home on my little chair?


Well, that's it for now. It will probably be a little while before I have anything new to share. This week I'll be getting ready for a solo weekend visit back to Idaho, but once I'm home again I plan on diving head first into my paints and sandpaper (figuratively speaking, of course)!


Have a great week!

3 comments:

Amy Bahnmiller said...

I am glad you didn't paint it the bold blue afterall... :) I think you will find the inspiration for that piece once you really get settled there and find the voice for that chair and table set. You are ever amazing!

Our Life In A Caravan said...

Hi, great feeling getting a new shop, just taken on 500sq ft myself! Exiting times, Good luck with your quest for furniture! From Jools and "M" http://ourlifeinacaravan.blogspot.com

Alicia@ eco friendly homemaking said...

Wow what a great transformation! Really like tour blog. Glad that I found it!