Before & After

Before and after antique oak dresser. This guy was really banged up and took a lot of elbow grease to get the super old paint off. I probably would have just left the natural wood and re-stained it with wood stain, but the blue paint was really stuck in the grooves and I couldn't get it out all the way unfortunately. But, I think the aged, chipped paint look is really nice too. It's always a tough decision to leave a piece with it's natural wood, or paint it. I love both.

before:

after: (with most of the paint off and re-stained)

 

after: (final product)

 

before & after

Before and after Rosebowl Antique Faire find.
Cute little side table with caster wheels. Refinished in "Old White" Annie Sloan chalk paint, distressed and waxed finished.

before:

after:

before & after

Found this little guy on the side of the road (free!). I stripped all the old fabric and wicker off, had to make thin strip's of wood to squeeze into the side's of the arm's where the wicker was (had to steam the wood strip's with a teakettle so they bent with the arm shape and shoved them in quickly while they were still bendy), stained the frame and ended up taking an upholstery class to help me through the process of reupholstering it. I was going to just wing it, but when I went into the fabric store for new fabric I saw that they were giving upholstery classes so I figured why not start out the right way and know how to do things properly with future projects. It ended up being a great experience and I learned a lot of valuable techniques that I would never have thought of on my own. Very excited with how it turned out and I'm excited for future upholstery projects! 

Side-of-the-road glory.

before & after

Before and after unfinished side table. Painted with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint in "Olive" with dark wax finish. 

vintage iron bed frame

Finally found a vintage iron bed frame after looking for one for a long time that came from an antique shop in Portland.

Here are some other lovely iron frames for inspiration. 

flea market find: apothecary drawers

While rummaging through the flea market one Friday, I was thrilled to find twelve vintage apothecary drawers that someone was selling for a dime. I already had an old crate in mind that ended up being the perfect height and width to fit all of them! I'm so excited because authentic apothecary cabinets are usually really expensive. In the mean time, my make-shift one will do fine and I can drool over these ones.

 

DIY shelf

This weekend I made a shelf out of pieces of scrap wood that I painted and distressed, antique nails and two rusty flea market brackets. It was quick and easy to make and will add so much to the future room it will go up in! Very happy with how it turned out. 

before & after

Before and after Goodwill coffee table! I was immediately drawn to the vintage-style industrial pulls that I see on really expensive pieces at places like Restoration Hardware and Anthropologie, but the shiny orange wood color had to go. I used a wood staining technique that gets you a much better looking weathered, drift-wood type color using steel wool that sits in vinegar over twenty-four hours. Much better!

before and after

Before and after flea market coffee table I found at the Friday market. After painting and forgetting about it for the sprinklers to attack (oops), I decided to try a new painting and wax technique that I have been wanting to try for a while now. Since things weren't going perfectly to begin with, I figured it was time to experiment with a potential disaster of a project. But, to my surprise it came out better than I even imagined! I tried a wash and dark wax technique that really brought out the detailed carvings on the legs and sides. I couldn't be happier!