Dancing on the furniture!

I love this time of year for yard sales.

And all the things you find on the side of the road. 

Town wide yard sales are the best. Everyone is out and trying to get rid of their things. 

I'm getting much better at doing the whole drive by thing. You know, where you see a yard sale but it's all toys or kids clothes. 

Yes I know, sometimes they have something really good in them, but it's not what I'm looking for. I'm past that stage in my life. 

I started out grabbing a coffee at my local Timmies yesterday, then headed off. 

On my way, I found this

Of course I had to pull over. The picture makes it look pretty good. But the veneer is coming off all of it. The top and front have been painted. But what you can't see is why I nabbed it. The detail on the bottom and the fact that this baby is solid walnut under all that veneer. The top is loose as is one of the side. Thankfully I know how to fix that. Can't wait to start on it. 

Then off to a local town wide sale. 

Lots of clothes, lots of dishes..but only a bit of furniture. 

So I didn't get a whole lot, but what I did get was quality stuff. 

A few chairs. 

See the Eastlake one? That's a "ladies" chair, and thankfully I had already picked up the "gentleman's" Chair last year...so now I have a matching set. :) Yup....did a bit of a happy dance over that one :) 

Then my crazy wonderful find that nearly had me skipping and dancing on it. 

ok...I admit the colour is awful...but isn't she pretty? 

I had mentioned to hubby just the night before that I wanted to try my hand on this style. Almost like an extended wing back. I can't wait to get started on it. But it does need a bit of repair, and of course, new material. 

Hubby and I sat in front of the computer last night looking a fabric and design for this baby. 

But before all of that.......I have several other couches and chairs that need to be finished up. 

Better get to work. 

All of these are waiting on foam, but have been torn down, painted and ready to go!

My stapler and I are certainly going to get a workout this week :) 

What have you found lately?

My favorite chair

When I started this furniture journey I never considered upholstery. 

Painting was fun. 

Learning how to fix and rebuild and sand and stain and sand some more. 

That was all great. 

recovering a few chair seats here and there was great too. Loved looking at fabric and choosing something that I thought would really update a piece. 

Loved all of it. 

Upholstery? 

Scared the living daylights out of me. 

Doing my first couch.......terrifying!

I've done a few now. 

Not as terrifying as it used to be. 

So when I spotted this chair at one of my favorite picking spots I knew it had to come home with me. 

The material was in such good shape that I seriously considered leaving it alone. 

The only thing that stopped me was my evil brain. 

You see when I see a piece like this I can never stop wondering. 

Wondering what happened on that chair. Were there leaky diapers? A dog or cat that left something that may have been cleaned off the top but maybe soaked through? 

You just never know. 

So off it came. 

 I painted the wood

 New everything

 Different material for front and back

And a "new" chair was born. 

So what do you think? Would you have left it alone? 

Sharing:
Miss Mustard Seed
The 36th Avenue 
Elizabeth & Co.  

  

I thought it was unsavable

Last year I picked up a drop leaf table. 

I don't think I have any truly "before" pictures. 

It was really rough. See the light spot? 

I thought maybe I could save it...but that light spot is wood fill to fill in the burnt portion that I was "hoping" to sand out of it. 

Obviously that didn't work. 

That wasn't the only thing "wrong" with it. The legs actually had to be put back on. and the fold down side pieces were soaked and straightened. 

It was a long hard process...and I was so frustrated that I completely left it alone for the winter. I actually contemplated cutting my losses and tossing it on the burn pile at the cottage. 

Then I got my back up and told myself it didn't need to be "perfect" it needed to be saved. 

So I got back at it this week and saved it. 

 After painting it completely white to give it a base for a later treatment I almost left it completely red.

 Already it was looking so much better.

After letting it dry.....I started the fun work. 

 The top and edges got a really good sanding. Not only giving it a final smooth finish...but letting it really shine.

 I left the base without distressing.

 I thought those lovely legs could shine all on their own.

 Now normally I like tops and bottoms to be different colours, but this one just wanted to be the same.

Isn't she lovely? 

Sorry for the workshop pictures. 

But I do try to keep it all real :) 

Sharing:
Miss Mustard Seed
  

Saving history one piece at a time. My tribute.

I am a total lover of history. 

And I believe with my whole heart that as much of history should be passed on from one generation to the next. 

So today I'm telling you a story. 

Not just of a piece of furniture, but of the lives it has touched. 

 This is an army crate. I met the owner. Mr. Schultema a few months ago when I was invited to his home to "pick" through the things in his home before he moved to a retirement home.

 As you can see this was his from his army days back in the Netherlands. He has carried this crate half way around the world when he was stationed in the Philippines. All his worldly possessions were in it.

 After being discharged from the army he married and the new couple set out on a life changing adventure to Canada. They farmed and raised a family (I believe there were 4 kids) Then sold the farm and moved to town. There they enjoyed retirement. And still the crate stayed with him.

 When it was time to move to a retirement home he contacted his kids and invited them to come through his home and pick the things that meant the most to them. They did that. They left this crate behind.

No one wanted it. I talked with his wife, she didn't want it, the kids didn't want it. They had a yard sale and no one who came wanted it. 

And when I came, I learned how this crate held his things, his memories his loyalty for more than 70 years. I wanted it. 

He asked me if I would find someone to love the crate as much as he did. 

I told him I would. 

Although I'm drastically changing it, I have found a new home and I know they will honour the memory and take special care of this memory box and create their own new memories. 

I can't wait to share the transformation :) 

PS. 

Once I ripped out the cardboard and waxed paper from the inside I found several date stamps all of them saying Dec. 5/1919. 

I like finding stuff like that. 


Sharing:
Elizabeth & Co. 
Coastal Charm  

  

Art Deco Buffet......she's done!

 Cute right? Love the lines and that glass is to drool for.

See the veneer missing? But what's that peeking out from under the veneer? Solid wood? yup! 

So out came the hot iron and some wet rags and the work began. All the veneer was stripped off. Sanded and stained. In parts that is. 

 The stained glass was so pretty I didn't want to distract from that with "colour" So out came the antique white.

 When you have such lovely wood...why cover it with veneer? I don't get it.

 oops....looks like I need to get the glass cleaner out and finish this up. I was so excited to get pictures I didn't stop to clean the glass off first. Ever get that way? Snap pics due to the pure joy of having it done?

 This part confused me. The shelf is obviously a replacement..but they used half inch thick solid Mahogany. I think I could sell this separately and get more for it than the whole thing...lol

And of course, knowing it was locally made and high quality is always a bonus. 

What have you been up to lately? 

Sharing: 
Elizabeth & Co.