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the french armoire – before & after

Some of you have been waiting a long time for this one. Trust me when I say that I have, too.

Back in March or maybe April, I was browsing Craig’s List.  I looked all over my area and didn’t find one thing that was of interest to me.  Hating to spend all of that time searching and only to come up empty, I decided to expand my search.  I looked in metro areas where I had family, including the Orlando area where my parent’s live.  And, I came across this French armoire for $150. 
“Um, Dad…will you pick up an armoire for me?  Pretty please?”  Batting eyelashes don’t translate over the phone, but my Dad melted at my sweet, angelic tone. 

Not only did he pick up the armoire for me and spotted me the money until I sent him the check, but he stored it in the garage and then packed it up and drove it to Pennsylvania in May for me.  My mom was freaking out for a few weeks about fitting the armoire and everything else they needed to transport in the back of the truck, but it all worked out. 

This is the armoire I used for my inspiration.  It was from the shop And George and was listed for $10,000.  That’s a wee bit out of my budget.  Okay, it’s a lot out of my budget. 
 
Mini Mustard Seed sanded the decorative painting off the pine armoire and then painted it in a mixture of ASCP Paris Gray and Louis Blue.  I then painted the details in Old White, distressed the edges and waxed the piece. 
 
I have always wanted a French armoire and I love how this one turned out. 
And the price was certainly right. 

Marian Parsons 

Paint Enthusiast | Writer | Artist | Designer

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114 Responses

  2. Beautiful! Just this week we tried our first Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I have been reviewing all of your tutorials today to learn more about waxing and such. You continue to be a great inspiration to me. Thanks so much! Terry

  3. Absolutely amazing. You are such an inspiration. This is a passion of mine, transforming furniture. My problem is, I work full time, but when I retire…I plan on having lots of fun.

  4. Wow! YOU did a fabulous job on the beautiful armoire and (as a parent with grown children myself I will say) your PARENTS are certainly wonderful too for driving it up to Pennsylvania!

  5. Simply Lovely! I am new to your blog via my cousin, Boston Bee(and new to blogging in general)and wonder if that chalk paint turns out well on cane? I recently got my second thrift store find (some very French looking, twin cane tables!) and wonder if I should give it a whirl. Any suggestions? And perhaps colors?
    You are an awesome inspiration! Thank you so much!

  11. You know what? I like yours better than the expensive inspiration piece. It is beautiful and you will love it for years to come and when you get sick of it I will send my husband with his little truck to pick it up and take it off yoru hands! xoo Diana

  16. Beautiful job as usual!! Love it! SO sweet that your Dad helped you with this. My Dad is also so supportive and is willing to help me with all of my request, no matter what. He and I call each other weekly with "oh goodness, I found an amazing yard/estate sale you just have to check out" or "Honey, they have these chairs, just wanted to know if you want me to pick them up for you". LOL. We are only a few miles away so that makes it a bit easier. Keep up the awesome work MMS!

  17. Wow! You did a great job. But Florida called and she wants her armoire back. I can help you, I will give you my address and you can send it to me and you won't be in any trouble with the law…hehe

  20. I just love the lines of this armoire. And what you do with color is just amazing! Your Dad sounds special. I miss my Dad, he did things like that for me. (he passed away in 07)

  24. Une belle histoire… J'aime votre entêtement à vouloir obtenir les choses… Je vous ressemble un peu! Je sais ce que je veux et rien d'autre ne compte.
    Gros bisous

  28. It turned out AMAZING! What a great story to go along with it. 🙂 I love how you added the creamy white accent on it. Very inspiring.

    Have a creative day,

    Amy W.

  29. I love that your parents drove with it in their truck like that all that way! Talk about awesome parents. It turned out fabulous!! It really does look nicer then your inspiration piece. Now yours is an inspiration piece 🙂

    Rachel~

  39. This is just beautiful. It gives me inspiration. I have an old china cabinet (plain brown color) that I got at a thrift store many years ago. I have been wanting to paint it for so long…now I know the colors to use. Yours is perfect.Have a great night! Love your blog!
    Cheryl

  43. CHECK YOU OUT! I have been waiting to see that redoux. Oh my, it is quite fabulous, and you outdid yourself on this one. Ahh, sigh, it is gorgeous. I would do a little happy dance every time I walked in the room and saw it there greeting me. Enjoy, you deserve this piece.

  45. i am sure my eyes are deceiving me… i am so happy that you are actually going to keep something for yourself!! and what a piece you are treating yourself to. congrats on all of it. it is so overdue.
    xow.

  47. Please tell your dad thank you for me. And not just for helping you and being such a great dad, but also for helping me to see the wonderful ways that I know my dad would be here for me if he were still here today. He passed away 8 years ago when I was 20 years old. Words cannot begin to express how much
    I miss him, but I am thankful for realizing even today his love for me through things like this. Thank you…

  50. Hello again! Vikki from Atelier Be here. I'm loving all your work and inspiration but I have a question for you which I'm struggling with….. How do you know what to sell and what to keep? I'm struggling to part with any of my pieces!
    Would love an email answer at Victoria@atelierbe.com
    Thank you 

  58. That turned out beautifully!

    (Can anyone tell me why I can't leave a comment here unless it's anonymous? Blogger tells me 'Your current account does not have access to this page' but it shows that I'm signed in??)

    Maggie

  61. I have been waiting (im)patiently for the reveal! I caught glimpses of it in the background from shots of other pieces being redone in your basement =) Beautiful job and well worth the wait!

  63. SIGHHHHHHHHHH….you've really done it. Made a trash collector out of me. I'm an amateur doing a little here and there with things I pick up that others throw out. Now seeing this…I'm done for.

  65. You are a girl after my own heart! What a steal!! And if the people that you bought it off of knew what it looked like now, they'd be kickin' themselves – big time! I'm just glad YOU got it and reinvented it into something that sends us all into a frenzy! hee hee! I sure wish I had a place to store pieces like that to work on, or I'd be buying things up like crazy. Well… maybe it's a good thing I don't have any room. ;^)

  67. My father bought, brought home, took apart, put together and refinished an antique rolltop desk for me (the owner at the garage sale said,"if you can get it out of this basement, it's yours for $50 and my father whispered to me,"They didn't build the house around it. I'll get it out!!") Your story brought back memories. Aren't Dad's wonderful? I kept it for many years and finally sold it for $1100.00 What a value all around. Yours is better than the inspiration.

  68. I am in Awe… seriously… sitting here mouth open flies diving in. It is FANTASTIC! Do you have a tutorial for waxing?? I never know how to finish off my projects.

  69. Oh, Miss Mustard Seed, how you inspire me!!!!!!!!! I'm leaping off a small cliff soon…(thanks to you) and starting my own business. My goal is 6 months…I just made my first official post on my blog yesterday. http://ashleysfixinit.blogspot.com/ I mentioned you in my first post ever…because well, I'm a stalker of yours. I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUR BLOG, AND YOUR STORY. Super inspiring! Thank you!

  70. BTW-I'd LOVE the chance er, excuse to drive a piece of furniture to you from Indiana….If you ever find something on CL from Indianapolis/West Lafayette, Lafayette….We'd bring it! My husband and I are HUGE Steelers fans….why not let the husband go to the game…and I could spend all day at Lucketts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  74. I have been waiting a long time for that one! And….of course, now I want one too! I have been looking on Cl for a long time….nothing yet 🙁 I am more determined than ever now! It is gorgeous….but then again, I knew it was going to be! (((hugs)))

  76. The price was amazing!! What a deal and thanks to dad…a bargain at half the price. Shipping too!! Wow!!
    And it turned out beautifully!
    Well done
    Hugs
    SueAnn

  78. Stunning! I have an armoire that I'd love to redo…I so wish you were closer. Your Mom & Dad were so kind to transport this for you ~ and the price was certainly right. Thanks for always proving inspiration!

    Pat

  80. It's gorgeous! Well worth the hassle of getting it up from Florida. Good thing it didn;t rain on the way up. We were in NY recently and snagged a cute side table someone was throwing out. Our car was so stuffed but we managed to cram it in there with our suitcases. I LOVE how you can find great throw aways for free up there. Here, the trash men will not take anything that does not fit in the can so road side pickins are slim.
    Love the piece!

  82. just a wee bit outta my ballpark too. But ooo.la.la, did she ever turn out lovely! Okay question…I have a cedar chest just like your armoire, pine with the tolle painting lightly on the front. So your saying I need to sand this off before painting? Mine is faint just like yours was on the front of the armoire. And one more question, when you are giving the names of the paint colors you are using, are you combining these colors or applying one color at a time. Wait I just re-read and you did say mixture, so that means you combined the two and then painted. Got it!

  83. I didn't expect to see it end up blue and distressed. I thought French Linen or a country grey/darker for the trim. It's cute though for sure.

  84. Really, really lovely! I did something similar to a $25 Salvation Army dining room hutch with BM paint & glaze, years before you turned me onto ASCP. I love the way it turned out but have actually been considering redoing in French Grey & rustic wax…… now that I've seen yours, I may have to go for it! Love your posts and pictures! xx

  85. I love what you do Miss Mustard Seed. You are definitely my inspiration and mentor. Barbara Renfrow at "Belle Leona" Thank you.

  96. Wow…this is way gorgeous! Let me get this right…your dad drove that from Orlando to Pennsylvania in the back of his pickup??? What a guy!

  97. LOVE the transformation. and what's comical is that i have the EXACT same set of furniture…i grew up with the headboard, bombay chest of drawers, and matching mirror in my room. i got married 2 years ago and have been working on wheedling the set out of my mom (it's still in my old room at her house)…so i can scrub off it's orangey tones and make it beautiful! can't believe there was a matching armoire out there! haha. thanks for sharing.

  100. LOVE IT! The whole thing is fantastic..the story, the photo of it laying in the truck, and the finished product is TO DIE!!!

    My house is decorated with so many pieces that have been inspired by "And George" . I live near by and I go in there frequently for inspiration, or when I just need to feel good. My daughter calls it my "happy store"

  102. Woo to the hoo! That Carolina blue is certainly gorgeous! You (via your dad), sure got a deal, not to mention a diamond in the rough. Man, it soooo needed a makeover. Glad YOU found it. It deserved to look 'purtier'. ;o)

  104. It looks lovely and I would love to be able to have one myself!! You are also a lucky person to have parents that are willing to do helpful things for you 🙂 Mine are very "conditional"… Keep up the good work!!

  105. Great job! We live in the Orlando area & my parents are in PA. The picture of the truck looks like my Dad's truck loaded up when he comes to FL. Sometimes it looks like the Beverly Hillbillies coming to town! Thanks for the inspiration!

  106. Put down the sandpaper and stand back. What's wrong with painting a peice and calling it done? Go back and look at the $10,000. There's nowhere on it, that the paint is worn off, especially high up on the peice. You're selling bad taste and unfortunately, the naive are buying it.

  107. Erica,

    Why do you keep leaving nasty comments for me? If you don't like my style or my work, then you don't need to visit my blog. There is plenty of room for differing opinions and styles, but there's no reason to try to bring others down. I want this blog to be a positive and encouraging place, so any future negative comments will be deleted.

    Miss Mustard Seed

  108. Dear MMS,

    I'm so glad you asked Erica to post only positive comments or questions on your blog. Her envy and anger are disturbing.

    Love your blog.

    Suzanne

  110. Dear MMS, Please excuse Erica there.. she obviously has her head shoved up her neither region to have left such a personal and unwarranted attack on you. ( Shame on her!)

    You have to be one of the most real and genuine people on the net and each time I visit I get not only a smile but inspiration… tickled pink that I get to meet you at the Haven conference!

    Maddie-Anarchist

  112. So, I'm obsessed with all of your furniture… it's gorgeous!

    That being said, I want to copy you but I don't know exactly how to go about it. I have this old dresser (I'm thinking it's from the 40's), and I want to do the whole antique/rustic look. I don't know how course the sand paper should be to take the varnish and stain off, whether to use chalk or milk paint, or use wax or polyurethane to seal the whole thing. I would like it to be a solid piece of furniture, and have less of a chance of scratching later once it's all finished and I don't know the pro's and con's of each product. Should I put the paint on with a paint brush or a rag? If I use wax or polyurethane, do I apply that with a paint brush? What kind of sand paper do I use after painting to give that distressed looked?

    If you're able to answer any or all of these questions, or give me any direction at all I would just love you forever! Thank you so much!

    Becki
    BRiding33@gmail.com

  113. I love all of your work Marian, and I wish you continued success on everything you. I cannot wait until the milk paint is on the market. Thank you for sharing with all of us and encouraging us in our passion. Barbara K. Renfrow,

  114. hi I really liked the armoire and how it turned out. ironic enough for me I am looking for that exact armoire as it matches my set. should be by Pulaski furniture. when u got off craigslist was it from a person or a furniture store? I am trying to find the matching pieces. thank you!

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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