Foyer Chest of Drawers

Please come on in and meet the new member of our family. 

I must start by saying that I am sorry that I teased everyone with all the color options that I shared in my Photoshop collage.   I really am thinking about repainting her (yes, I am going to refer to her in the female sense), but something stopped me quickly….. the approaching holidays!!  

Please , please, please tell me that the majority of you decorate your homes with the holidays in mind.   The color that I am thinking about painting her  just wouldn’t go with my winter holiday decor.  Is that silly?

So if I remember,  in January, I think I might try giving her a new color.

I purchased this sweet chest of drawers at the local flea market about a month ago.  From looking at the before photo you don’t see all the chips on her top and at the drawer edges.  I could have fixed it  and restained, but I have a lot of stained furniture in my home and really wanted to add a painted piece. 

I broke down and placed my first order of chalk paint.  This piece is painted in Old White.

Distressed.

Here is the reason that this piece took me a month to finish~

I added another top over the existing top. (see top left photo)  This was way over my head and I had to have my Dad do most of the work.  Two Poplar planks were glued together, then the edges were routered to marry the two tops, and then stained a dark Walnut.

I used the original knobs.

I love this unique copper emblem from the manufacture in the side of one drawer.  I didn’t show a photograph of it  but the drawers are dovetailed (a sign of good craftsmanship).

In this top drawer there is a divider.(bottom right photo)  I don’t know much about furniture, does anyone know it’s purpose? 

I was a little shocked at the size of the holes behind the knobs and that’s part the reason why I didn’t change out the knobs.  The other reason is that the ones that I want to replace them with haven’t gone on sale yet.  lol. 

New top in it’s dark Walnut stain.

Ooh la la.  My Pottery Barn mercury pumpkins!!!  Love. Love. Love them. 

Please ignore the awful looking floor.  New floors are the next thing on my to-do list for this foyer!  

Later I will share with you my thought on AS chalk paint.

PS.  Doesn’t the new chest look awesome with the new foyer mirror?!?!

New Foyer Chest

I have been in a dilemma ever since I bought this gorgeous mirror.

I love the mirror. 

The whole family loves the mirror. 

The mirror is staying!  

So what’s my problem? 

So glad you asked!   I hung the large mirror above the foyer table (made by my Dad) but something just did not look right.  I worried that the mirror was either too large for the wall and maybe too large for over the table.   It bugged me and I just could not put my finger on it.

I needed a new perspective. So I called in a favor from my blog friend, Becca (Adventures in Decorating), to have a look at this photo below.

(excuse the mess, this table was being prepared to be restained.)

Miss Becca spotted the problem quickly!  The foyer table is too dainty compared to the mirror.  (smmack.  The sound of my palm hitting my forehead.)  Yes, I am so glad Becca has better eyes than me.  For the life of me, I could not figure it out!

Off to town I go in look for a chunkier table/chest.  I straight to the local flea market, where I spotted not one but two chest that I thought could work (from different sellers) .  I went back and forth between the two sellers and brought home the chest with the best price tag. 

What?  That’s not how you make decorating decisions?  hum.

I’m not sure if it’s an antique or not?!?  It seems well built and very sturdy…. and  CHUNCKY!

Now doesn’t that work better in the space?

I shared with my Facebook buddies this photo above a few weeks back.  I asked for some suggestions on how I should refinish it.  And boy, let me tell you….. I was given some wonderful advise. 

Some suggested cleaning and polishing with Old English.  Which is a great suggestion if the piece didn’t have so many chips in it and the top is in very poor condition, in fact, I will be cutting a new top for the dresser.  Good thing I got the chest for a great price! 

Many suggested chalk paint!  Which I haven’t had the honor of trying yet, but find myself drooling over the wonderful things that you ladies are doing with the paint.

Just to show you one chip on the face of the lower drawer that needed fixing.   You can see that I am clamping several scrap pieces of wood and will fill the corner with a self leveling adhesive.

I think Barbara said it best in her Facebook comment.  I really think a pop of color would be exciting to add to the piece and a fun way to greet guest into the home.

Playing around in Photoshop, I came up with a few different color combinations.  I really don’t like the green, but there is two color options that are definitely speaking to me!  Once I get the new top cut, I will have some finished photos to share. 

Studded X Stools

Part 2 of the X Stools.

I mentioned that in my previous post on the X Stool that I thought they need some bling.

{Before}

{After}

I really like the look!  My son – not so much.  Well, they’re going to stay this way for awhile because it took me the better part of the day to put all those upholstery tacks in!    I really would love to paint the legs silver but my teenage son likes the white.  So we compromised,  I get to keep the tacks and he gets his white legs.

 

After nailing in the first 15 tacks, I realized that keeping them straight was going to be a nightmare unless I had a guide.  I created a template out of piece of light poster board.  I first marked a straight horizontal line just above one edge, then made tick marks 1/2 inch apart, and then cut a notch out to create a center point on each tick mark.

I used long straight pins to hold the template in place along the edge of the stool.   Nail the upholstery tack in but not all the way.  You will need to get the template out when they’re all in and then you can hammer the tacks in the rest of the way.

The template helped but I was still struggling to keep the tacks going in straight.  I pulled out my needle nose pliers to hold the tack and guide it. 

All of this helped and it looks pretty good but afterwards I stumbled on to this upholstery tack strip!  You only need to tack in every 4th or 5th tack!  This is a much better way to go and I will definitely be using this method the next time I do anything with upholstery tacks.

Linking to these fabulous parties.

Savvy Southern Style

X Stools

I know I teased you with these stools last week

and then got side tracked with the news of having painters come to the house and finishing the foyer.    However, I did get a chance to paint the bases and upholster the tops. 

Check them out!

This is the combination that my son choose, white base with the solid fabric.  He thought the patterned fabric that I had looked a little “girlie”.  So to use what I had on hand, we stuck with the solid fabric but I still think he needs some pattern in his room.  I will keep my eyes out for a new fabric. 

I used my dad’s air sprayer to paint the bases using the same paint that was used on the trim in Austin’s room.  For the upholster, I sewed the corners and removed the excess fabric so that it would be nice and tidy and a little less bulky then I used  the Hubby’s air stapler to attach the fabric to the seat base.  Don’t you just love having men in your life with such awesome tools that make your life so much easier?  I know I do! 

I wish I had just a few inches more of fabric.  I had to pull the fabric a bit more than I would have liked to make it work.  Hey but for $2.50 for the fabric I guess I can’t be to fussy!!  Yep, I found that remnant fabric at this great fabric wholesale place close to my house on the floor marked for $2.50!!! Overall I really don’t have much cost into these stools.  They’ve been a great way to use up my (and my parents) STASH.

To keep the underside of the stools looking tidy and professional, I used some scrap black fabric, turned under the edges with iron-on seam tape (Stitch Witchery), and spray glued to the bottom to cover all the fabric edges and staples.

It still needs something.  Some bling.  Some pizzazz.

You get the idea? I’m thinking about adding silver upholster tacks around the base to jazz it up a bit.

Wouldn’t you agree?