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Furniture Makeovers

Before and Afters

lucketts green table base

 I bought a small farm table a few months ago to use as a center “island” in my booth at the Chapel Market and to, hopefully, sell.  Well, it was the one piece of furniture we took home with us from Alabama and it’s been hanging out in the studio since then.   You can see it buried a bit in this picture… Kriste and I talked about it and decided that we should paint the base of the table to make it a bit more eye-catching.  She painted it in MMSMP Lucketts Green without the Bonding Agent, so it could chip and flake away.  I lightly distressed it and finished it with the Antiquing Wax.  I think it will catch some eyes now. This was one of those times when the Milk Paint just chipped perfectly.  I literally just ran the sand paper over it, with very little pressure,

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All Things Home

primitive hutch makeover

Last week was a busy one and we got a ton of things accomplished.  I’m a bit whipped from it and I need to pace myself better, but it feels good to be really productive. Here’s one of the pieces I picked up and painted this week… I spotted it on Craig’s List and immediately texted my dad to see if he could get it for me. I have been looking for a great hutch or cabinet that could be a focal point of my booth at Lucketts and I knew this one was perfect for that.  It reminds me a lot of the hutch I use in the studio… I love how that one turned out, so I painted it the same way…MMSMP Mora on the inside and Shutter Gray on the outside.  Here is a video showing how I prepped the piece and applied the first coat of paint…

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All Things Home

design ramblings | the painted furniture trend

Several readers commented on the fact that I didn’t paint the frame of the checked chair and the chair with the toile back.  I was planning to write about that earlier in the week, but I realized that much of what I was going to say (write), I had already said in this episode of Design Ramblings (that we filmed a couple of weeks ago.) The first time Kriste and I had a brain storming session about topics for Design Ramblings, I immediately said “painted furniture.”  As you know, I love paint in general and furniture is my favorite canvas. I’ve always found it interesting how passionate some people can react to a wood piece being painted and how nervous/guilty some people can feel about wanting to paint a wood piece. That’s what we’re rambling about today… So, to answer the questions of the chair frames, I didn’t paint them because the wood had

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All Things Home

French chair makeover

I have a lot on my plate for the next couple of months and my mind has been churning trying to sort and prioritize.  When I hit these busy seasons, it helps me to get things checked off the to-do list, so I decided to get going right away on things this morning.  Before heading to the studio, I worked some more on the wallpaper mural in the upstairs bath.  Hanging wallpaper is tedious work, so I can only take it in doses.  I just have a few more rows to hang and then it will be all done.  I’m loving how it’s looking, though! I was a bit scattered when I arrived at the studio.  I wanted to work on about ten things at a time, so I sort of scurried from one thing to the next.  Kriste is great at helping me settle down.  She organized the furniture

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Before and Afters

French chair makeover

I have a lot on my plate for the next couple of months and my mind has been churning trying to sort and prioritize.  When I hit these busy seasons, it helps me to get things checked off the to-do list, so I decided to get going right away on things this morning.  Before heading to the studio, I worked some more on the wallpaper mural in the upstairs bath.  Hanging wallpaper is tedious work, so I can only take it in doses.  I just have a few more rows to hang and then it will be all done.  I’m loving how it’s looking, though! I was a bit scattered when I arrived at the studio.  I wanted to work on about ten things at a time, so I sort of scurried from one thing to the next.  Kriste is great at helping me settle down.  She organized the furniture

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All Things Home

checked chair

I have been in an upholstery mood lately and I’ve learned I need to take advantage of that sort of mood and get some upholstery done.  Kriste worked on stripping a couple of chairs we had hanging in the stash and I started upholstering this beauty.  One of my regular shoppers at Lucketts sent me pictures of it, asking if I would be interested.  Well, of course!  So, we negotiated a trade.  Jeff’s face was a riot when he saw someone bringing a piece of furniture to our booth instead of away from it.  Especially a chair with grass hanging out of it.  But he didn’t see what I saw.  I saw the gorgeous patina on the wood frame and the old straw and horse hair stuffing.  I knew I could bring this old girl back to life and she would be worth it. I’ve also been really into checks lately.  I’ve added

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All Things Home

french twins reveal

This reveal is a little anticlimactic, since you’ve already seen what one finished chair looks like and they are twins, so the other one looks pretty much the same.  As with all identical twins, though, there are some subtle differences, so I thought it was worth giving them both a proper introduction. I’m going to totally brag on my student Kriste and say that she did 99% of the upholstery work on one of these.  Can you tell which one? She did an amazing job and you can’t tell which one was done by the experienced upholsterer and which one was done by the rookie.  She did the one of the left, if you’re curious. We have a lot of chairs in the hopper to work on for Lucketts, so I’m glad to have her on my team!   Here is how the chairs started.  They weren’t bad at all,

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All Things Home

reupholstering a French chair | part 6 | applying the trim

We are finally at our final installment of this video tutorial series on reupholstering a French style chair.  It’s time to frame out those upholstered panels and cover the staples with some gimp trim. In case you missed the first five parts, or need to reference them, here are the links… Part 1 – stripping the chair Part 2 – painting the frames Part 3 – distressing & waxing the frames Part 4 – selecting & cutting the fabric Part 5 – reupholstering the chair I often get asked what the “trick” is to applying trim.  Honestly, there is no trick.  It’s just hot-glued on!  Really.  At first I thought I might be taking a short cut, but I’ve taken apart dozens and dozens of chairs and settees and almost all of them have been glued.  One or two of them were just tacked into place, but I’ve seen enough

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I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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