Ch-ch-ch-changes…

When I bought this drop leaf table, it was standard issue “shabby chic.” That is, painted white over layers and layers of other paint, then marked up to a ridiculous price. I found it at a garage sale of the reseller who couldn’t manage to sell it. Imagine that. So, the price I paid wasn’t quite exorbitant, but I definitely paid more than what I should have, given the labor I put into it. Yes, folks, I stripped it all down. My original plan was to take the legs and base down to its original light-colored wood, then do a simple tabletop. Well, well, well. Another Plan B! I resorted to chemical stripper on the legs because of the number of layers of paint and I tell you, the color those legs ended up was frightening. See left. Gag. So, I had to paint. I had just used kind of an olive drab on an old file cabinet and really liked the color. So, O.D. for the legs and base. I’ve been dressing up furniture legs lately with little contrasting color “socks” and I used a nice rich red on these.

I learned from the legs not to use chemicals on the top, so I went back to what I really like to use to remove paint–a heat gun. It worked great on this. When I sanded off the residual, there was a wonderful greenish tint to the bare wood. I wanted the wood darker, though, so I added some mineral spirits to a darker, non-red stain, and applied. The color perfectly complimented the O.D. legs. I was happy. The large black checks completed the look which I then coated with 5 layers of varnish. I love this table!

Stories

I love the way this chest turned out. I bought it at an estate sale close to a year ago when it was just a very large plywood box on legs. It’s what was inside that made me buy it. There were newspapers dated 1936 from Austin, Texas, and the most bittersweet letter from one sister to another. These are the things I love about this business. The objects you touch have stories; they’ve been part of lives before mine. This piece in particular felt somewhat sacred, so I left it in it’s original condition to see if it would sell, newspaper and letter included. Well, my homely box just sat there, making me sad. So I changed it up a bit. I cut off the existing short legs and attached industrial strength rollers, then painted it. I love the way the distressing turned out and I love the color. The turquoise paint right out of the can was a bit garish, so after painting and roughing it up, I stained it with a light oak stain that had enough yellow in it to really bring it to what I was envisioning.

So, how big is this chest, really? You could probably smuggle a family of four out of the country in it.

I’m going to sell this piece, but I’m keeping the letter.