Refinished Finds

This week was a good week of finds.  On Thursday, Mark found 6 antique pieces for me to refinish in one morning.  I have a garage full of work that needs to be done now, which is a good problem.  But let me pause on work and share some things that I have gotten done!




This was a solid, antique buffet.  The colour is 'Patina' by Van Gogh Chalk Paint.  The doors were missing on it, but no worries; I simply removed them, painted the interior white, and placed some baskets inside.  Voilà!  

Another piece I finished this week was a lovely little tallboy.  Mark found this tallboy with the matching dresser.  They needed new hardware, but otherwise they are in beautiful condition.  On this piece I used 'Renfrew Blue' by Homestead House Milk Paints.  I mixed in a little bit of Upper Canada (a bright green) to make the colour a little more green.

Here it is, staged in my living room.

 
We also found some beautiful dining sets this week.  Typically the fabric is pretty nasty on these sets, so I pull out my handy staple gun and give them a quick recover.

 
These chairs were beautiful, but they just weren't selling.  Then we found a matching antique table, and now they'll sell, lickety split.

 
Notice the Persian rug in that photo?  We found 2 Persian rugs this week.  One was in good clean condition, the other was NOT.  I rented a Rug Doctor carpet cleaner, and cleaned it 3 times.  Each time, the water came out black, and I gathered about a cup of soggy, matted dog hair.  So gross!  I let it dry, then spent about 3 hours going over it by hand with my vacuum, cleaning out the rest of the dog hair.  It was worth it, I sold them both last night.

This rug I haven't sold yet.

I don't know why... I mean, look at it, in all it's 90's glory!

However, it's in pristine condition!  No dog here!

Here's another set I recovered.  It's more of a blond wood tone, so I chose a trendy grey and yellow damask fabric that was on sale at Fabricland for $7 / yard.  I needed 3/4 of a yard, so about $5 for this project.
 

 
This table was DISGUSTING!  It was caked in grime and marker and gunk.  I pulled on my trusty yellow gloves (my Mom always believed that nothing was truly cleaned unless you were wearing those gloves!) and scrubbed it gone.  Thank the Lord for Goo-be-gone.  That stuff removes everything.

Today Mark raked the leaves with these two.

If you've been wondering why I've been so tardy in blogging lately, it's because this is happening at our house:

Potty training in full swing.  The most intimidating part about being a parent so far.  What's with the crazy outfits?  Well, Dad was making them dinner and I was out running an errand.  And so Elmo is a popular show around our house.  Smarties too.  I'm not ashamed to admit that I reward poop in the potty with Smarties.  It worked for Hannah - that kid will do anything for a Smartie!

Finally, today I went to an open house for my friend, Jane Koopman.  She is an artist, and specializes in creating art using upcycled material.  (yes, a girl after my own heart!)  She uses materials such as corks, beer caps, bread tags, plastic straws, etc.  The thing I love about her work is that you don't realize it's upcycled items - until you look closer.  I wanted to share some of her repurposed work on my blog. 

Earing made with recycled cork, wood and resin.

Some gorgeous necklaces made with glass beads and other materials...

She also does these beautiful art prints using old stamps.  The colours and the textures pop out just so, you have to run your fingers over them.  This one is called "Letters From Europe".  They are so unique and original, so creative!

You can check out her facebook page at www.facebook.com/JaneKoopmanArt

Until next time, friends!