Upcycled Vintage Lace Stenciled Table Before and After

I've got a before and after for you today.   I found this table, solid wood still great for many years of use but super ugly.

So, you know the procedure by now, clean the stuff off, sand until I can't breath....and paint magic.  This time I tried something a little different.  I found a few yards of vintage lace that had a really great pattern.  After I had a couple of coats of black paint I used some spray starch and ironed the lace on top of the table.  Then I used antique white and painted over the lace.  After the paint dried, well mostly dried, I took the lace off. 

The effect was great, it turned out perfect. 

 

 



 It looks even better in person, measures 42" and is selling for $225.  I have it listed on etsy;
https://www.etsy.com/listing/117987925/hand-painted-distressed-black-and

This would be great for a kitchen table, craft table, game table, dining table.....

Oh, my kids just said it would be great in a retail store too, cuz it looks like a Victoria's Secret panty table......I don't know, did that just ruin it for you?

Antique Office Chairs Before and After

 

 

 

 

 

I love old things so when I found a pair of these early 1900's office chairs I loved them despite the fact that they were missing casters and coverd in grime.  One of my favorite parts was the gears and engineering that was put into them to make them ajustable, very industrial. 

 

 

Here's the before

 



 

 

 

Here's the after!

 

 

 

I stripped off all the gunk that had built up over the last hundred years, painted them a deep black, and then distressed ther paint job.  That was followed by a layer of stain.  Then I used some images out of a antique natural history text, illustrations of butterflys and moths and applied those to the chairs.  I love the mix of the natural and the industrial on the chairs, its ugly beautiful.  Finally a hand rubbed sealer for durability.   Oh, I almost forgot I replaced the casters with copper casters.

 

These chairs trigger all my horder instincts, but there is a limit to how many chairs I can have... so these are off to market!

This Week in Before & After

This weeks projects, all of these pieces and more will be in my booth at the Freemont Sunday Market this week.  I also can ship all over the country via several carriers for reasonable rates, if you see something you like let me know!

Before:  Goodies collected from thrifting and craigslist stalking, the most expensive item $19.99, the least FREE! It sometimes takes a while for me to re-imagine what each piece should look like so we often have random ugly furniture sitting around the house waiting for me to feel inspired. 

Trash or treasure?  I see lots of potential and I think I have a bag of knobs left over from another project that will be perfect for this dresser.

Ugly.

After:

Rich Pacific Northwest inspired green, painted over a black undercoat to deepen the color saturation, paraffin wax rubbed before the green coat and then distressed.  The green comes off where the wax was creating the distressed effect.

Electric Apple green with glaze, total transformation from a dated 80's piece of furniture that had outlived its use to a piece that I'm sure people will be fighting to take home from the market this weekend!

One of my favorite blues, aqua awsomeness.

The magazine rack is now grape and distressed and the chair I didn't get a before, but the great vintage needlepoint plaid on the seat looks great with the grey.

Vintage lamps, now eye candy for any room.  I like to use them without the shades and with a antique style low wattage edison bulb. 

I didn't get the before picture of this one because once what to do with it I was so excited to get started I forgot the camera.  Grey and Yellow, always a great combination but then I used vintage lace on the drawers to create the negative image of the lace, perfect!

Finally my favorite this week, the ugly monster sticker dresser with no knobs.  First a dark slate/navy blue and then I used vintage blueprints that I rescued from a dumpster a few years ago and applied them all over the dresser.  The blue prints are detailed and ornate with lots of technical notations and wonderful color, who would throw those away!  The detail of the blueprints is a great contrast to the simplicity of the vintage dresser.   Finally over sized orange knobs and a dark glaze.  I love it!  I'm taking it to the market this weekend but may spend the day talking people out of buying it so it can come back home with me!

Before & After Projects For This Week

I have done quite a few projects in the last couple weeks and wanted to get all the before and afters up in one post.

 I have lots to tell about what is going on with the family and the kids too in the days to come.  We have had experiences with birth parents, switching some of the kids to home school, and Gelly coming up with some great questions about why our family has different colors.  So check back.


OK, here goes with the before & afters;

If your one of those people that freak out when in comes to painting original antiques, relax, its a reproduction with a cherry stain that has no personality.  A thrift store bargain at $12.00.

Green paint, antiqued glaze and now we've got something.  SOLD

Before,$3.99 thrift store find with lots of possibility but ruined finish and a little plain.

After, finish restored, birds on a wire added.  Simple and beautiful.  SOLD

Before, sometimes I get so excited to get going on a project that I forget to take the "before" picture!  I remembered part way through on this one, the sanding and part of the priming is done.

After:  I found this clown paper a couple of years ago and was waiting to use it.  It makes me laugh every time I look at it because the clowns look a little evil, well, even more evil than your usual clown.  Time out chair anyone?

This chair we'll just go right to the after because I forgot to take the before.  This lovely chair was a trash can find.  My heart skips a beat when I see legs like this sticking out of a rubbish bin and the kids know that no matter how late we are the 12 passenger van is pulling over for discarded furniture!  They are just enjoying the anonymity of our new neighborhood when it happens now.  My absolute favorite is when the homeowner sees that your taking their trash and invites you into the garage for some other "junk" they were getting rid of, no seriously its happenss enough times to me that now it seems normal.......my reality.  SOLD

Before, what can I say blagh.  Thrift store find that is yelling trailer park chic.  Don't under estimate the power of paint and paper.

After, complete transformation.  SOLD

Before, nice but very dated.

After, rich blue with black glaze for additional depth.  SOLD

And Finally,

Before, was this even attractive when it was new?

After, much better.  SOLD

Just to put these projects in the context of my life as a stay-at-home dad; during the couple of weeks that it took to make these pieces I changed more than 100 diapers, did roughly 40 loads of laundry and drove almost 400 miles to dance lessons......

Oh, yes I did!