One Last Find For 2015

Popped in to Goodwill tonight to put together an 80's outfit for my daughters and son-in-laws Flashback 80"s New Years Eve Party. Got everything I needed from head to toe and still had about 15 minutes to shop before they closed.

I always look over the furniture section knowing that I can't possibly squeeze another piece in...but I still like to look. In fact, I recently passed up a rather new and not gently used, French Provincial night stand and dresser that with work could have been rescued...just no more room.

UNLESS IT'S A CHAIR 

 Then I saw this sweet leggy chair with pretty petit point flowers and my heart and head were gone!

This cutie is rather new but real detail has went into making it appear as if it were made long ago. New type material underneath but tacked in the old fashioned way. And the wood work and upholstery is nicely done. No makers label but still quality craftsmanship. It's very sturdy and the wood has some very itsy bitsy blemishes and the fabric doesn't have a tear or stain on it...could use a good vacuuming though!

The back and arms are upholstered in a soft sage green velvet.

Pretty arms and legs!

The beautiful petit point flowers is what convinced me
that I could make room for one more chair!!!

I just love those fancy tacks and pretty trim anchoring all the fabric.

 

It wasn't priced and I was a little concerned it might be out of budget. The girl came over and said "oh, you

want this chair", she sounded a bit disappointed. But she gave it a good look over and said "it's new on the floor and it's $39.99" and I said " do I still get my senior discount?" and she answered "yes". So I did some quick calculations in my head, 10% off makes it $36.00, I had a return card good for $10.00 more off, so now we're talking a budget friendly $26.00 and yes, I would have paid more than the $39.99.

I'll take it!
I really didn't need it. I'll have to squeeze it in somewhere. But oh, how it makes my Victorian heart happy ;)

This chair looks as if it belongs in one of the many rooms of Downton Abbey. I can even envision Lady Violet perched erectly upon it's pretty hand needled cushion.  And I might just use it to watch the last and final series six, premiering January 3rd (Sunday night on PBS)!!!

Might even put on my lace gloves! And hat too!!

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Adding Pizzazz!

Of course this is an AFTER picture. I get my tools out to work on something, get it taken apart and then remember to take pictures!!!
 I've had this stool for quite awhile. It's a nice, very heavy piece, but not vintage...just looks that way now!

It worked for me but it lacked pizzazz.  And I need pizzazz!!!

 Molly decided to photo bomb the picture! But you can see the before fabric that she's standing on. Sort of blends with the floor.

And here's a shot of the original fabric and a leg that I haven't wire brushed yet.

It doesn't show in the pics but the white paint has a green tint to it, probably from the gold underneath, so it has a cool look and I prefer warm colors. Also the backside of the leg was severely white, I don't care for distressed pieces that still show "new paint" underneath. As in this case it would really be noticeable.

So I took it apart and wire brushed the legs with my cordless drill fitted with a wire brush.

Wire brushing metal is an easy way to remove rust and paint.  It's also an easy way to remove

your skin...so be careful.

See all of those little wires poking out every which way? I use a pair of long handled pliers to hold the chuck while tightening.

 I used the razor blade to scrape along the sides of the legs to chip off paint.

 After the wire brushing I applied stain with a brush to get into all the nooks and crannies (wiping most of it off with a rag) to change the tint and to help age the paint out. I also distressed the underneath and used stain on it so it has an overall aged appearance.

I got about 4 yards of this beautiful rose upholstery fabric at Goodwill last summer.  There's bits of light blue color thorough out the fabric. It's a nice visual surprise and gives it a modern feel.  I have a couple of projects in the guest bedroom that I'll be using more of it on.

I let the stain set for a day before I used clear wax to add a bit of luster and reassembled.

Here she is all pizzazzed and finished and in the bathroom, a great place to sit while drying my hair!!!

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Bluebirds, Golden Shamrocks & Red Elephants

I manged to find quite a colorful collection of glassware while out junking the other day. With several pieces of French origin, I was a happy thrifter!

 

Aren't these bluebird bread plates the sweetest?  Just found the five little plates, no other pieces, although I did give the shelves a good looking over.

I always get these decorated French, glass canning jars to hold bulk items in my pantry. They make for such pretty storage and I do prefer glass over plastic. I especially like this pattern. The red Poppies are so fun, and how often do you see Viola on something? The metal band had some oxidation that I cleaned off with steel wool and a brass brush, the brush gets into areas that you can't reach with the steel wool. I detached the metal from the jars before cleaning, otherwise the glass gets scratched.

Don't you just love the vibrant, bright green, fruit design on this container? I don't think it's ever seen the inside of a dishwasher! I've passed up quite a few of these because the top spout flap was not functional or partially missing, sometimes the whole lid is missing. In memory I associate these with "Tang", I know they produced a multitude of different containers for this "space age" drink. This one is going to hold my coffee, I think the rich brown and the lime green will look nice together. And easy to find in the fridge in the morning!!!

Along with the memory of seeing these when I was a child (1950's) and a wee bit of research, this cute as pie, little cup ( only holds about 2 ounces), was a "complimentary" container that held processed cheese spread. Referred to as "Swanky Swigs" they were introduced by Kraft Foods in 1933.  Love the wee little animals marching around the top and the red Polk-a-dot elephant. I think this one lived with the other jars, it's also in pristine condition.

I have a growing collection of floral frogs, so much so that I thoroughly look and debate the necessity of each new find. Well I was giddily surprised to see that this pretty crystal one was made in France. It is marked on the bottom and also has a paper label.   Wooo Hooo...crystal AND French, going home with me!

I don't need a salt and pepper set, but I did need to get these in the box Fitz & Floyd Christmas Geese shakers. They were just to pretty to pass up.

The petite little "Carolers" were gold with heavy dark brown antiquing...the first thing I did when I got home was to lighten them up...so much better! Also, this is a better picture of the Bluebird plates.

And the cherub got a "wing makeover", I didn't quite care for the copper and gold rather messily applied color of the wings.  The rest of the body was already white.

I also just gave a very light antiquing of golden oak stain. I pretty much dry brushed the stain on and wiped off immediately. I used another dry brush to pick up the excess out of the nook and crannies. Just be sure to keep this brush wiped off with an old rag. This way you can achieve an old look without the heavy build-up. I keep separate brushes to use with this technique.

Also got this smaller (15" x 18"), ornate frame (hard to find these in any size in my area). It was originally gold, rather flat and very light in color. So while I was spraying everything else, I gave this piece just a light coat of white (just a little so that the crackling from age is still visible) and used the same aging technique.

All three of these makeovers were so simple and easy.

But I believe the "piece de resistance" of my finds are the Gold Shamrock wine glasses.  Guess where they were made? If, like me, you thought Ireland (because of the shamrocks), you'd be incorrect!!! You have to go a bit further east, cross the English Chanel and set foot in France. Yes, these little pretties are French.

They might only be three leaf clover, but I feel very lucky to have found them! And they also must have lived with the other items that have never seen a dishwasher.

I wonder if most of these items could have possibly been donated from the same home. I often get this notion when I come across finds like this in a thrift store.  Do you ever get that feeling?

All of the new pretties arranged for this photo shoot are sitting on my granddaughters birthday surprise (that it's done). She has patiently been waiting for me to paint this stand for over 6 months. She found it at Goodwill for the unbelievable price of $4.99. Her selling point to me? It had a magazine rack and the cut outs were sooo cute! (I've trained her well, extremely proud)!!!

It was just your basic stained, wood tone piece of furniture, but very sturdy. Her color choice is Passion Blue (premium flat) by Benjamin Moore. Primed, painted, lightly distressed and clear waxed was all this piece needed, and was wanted! She knows what she likes.

Delivered and now in use as a bedside stand...Happy 11th Birthday Ciara!!!

...Love, Gramcracker.

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A Tale of Ten Chairs

I find it extremely difficult to pass up a chair, which has led to so many chairs (11 at present) in my garage that I have no space for anything else....well, they are taking up valuable real estate in there!!!  With closing the shop I have an overload of "what the heck am I going to do with this stuff". Something's gotta give!!!

 

I have four of these chairs that I've been using for the past 10 years. I like the openness of the high back, the graceful legs, the ease of re-upholstering them, all are remarkable sturdy given their age, but they are severely lacking in comfort.  I paid less than $7.00 for ALL!

 

 

 Doesn't the back look like a birds eyes & beak?

I know, fantastic huh??? Such lovely good bones!

I found six of these chairs last summer while out junking plus a table whose legs had been chewed beyond repair, $60.00 for all. So that comes out to about $10.00 per chair...not bad, I've paid more! These guys are rock solid and so comfortable. But that 1970"s stain, which has turned a greenish hue in places, has got to go!

 

 All four legs are wonderfully ornate!

 

 The front skirt below the seat.

Love those carved flowers!

 

 Ornate top front and back!  I bet that padded back was originally a cane back.

Some of the chairs have had a harder life than others, nasty scrapes and a chunk of flower from the top of one is missing. Two were in the process of a makeover (I guess) because the front top upholstered piece on the back is missing and it was the stabilizer piece. Since I'm using as is for now I'll have to come up with a solution for that. Thinking maybe using drop cloth as upholstery material with a French themed stencil. 

As for the rest I can live with the traditional pattern of the upholstery, it is in good condition will work in my dining area.  I don't know if my skill level is good enough to do the back part, but I'll be giving it a go. I've only recently tried my hand at cording...I definitely need more practice. The frames will be getting painted...all that glorious detail will really show when painted, dark waxed and distressed. I even have the option of painting the fabric...not sure yet how it it's going to work out.

Here's a look at all the legs together. Even though I have six of the ornate chairs only four will sit comfortably around the table at one time. I think I'll paint the table base and legs also. I enjoyed working on projects for the shop, but somehow MY to-do list never really happened. Now I'm going to put all the time and effort into fluffing my own nest.!!!

 The cabinet at back holds my linens, serving pieces, odds & ends table stuff.

 So my solution for the two chairs that I'll need to re-upholster the back on is...they will sit on each side of this cabinet in the dining area and can easily be squeezed pulled in when more are needed. And hopefully showcase their stylish new look.

 So that is how I'm reducing the amount of chairs in my garage...by replacing six large with four smaller ones!!!  Makes perfect sense to me;~)

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