How About a Game of Checkers?

We found this end table during a recent Thrift Store run.  It needed minimal prep, which I love, although it did need a good washing. It looked as if someone had left newspaper on the top, it had gotten wet and fused to the wood, but it was nothing that a little warm water, a scrubby and some elbow grease couldn’t cure!

Once that was all cleaned off, we sanded it just to scuff up the old polyurethane and then primed it with 2 coats of primer.

I decided I wanted to make this a gaming table, so I decided to build the design around the checkerboard in the center of the table.  I first measured out the square and laid down the faux to match the faux on the legs and the harlequins on the sides. Then I offset it with the cranberry checks.

Then we replaced the dowdy wooden handle with a vintage looking handle to coordinate with the earthy colors of the piece. As always I purchased it at Hobby Lobby ½ off! It only cost $2.00.

I also took the swirly designs from the back and brought them into the flowers.

Here is the final product! I decided to go with more muted tones, which as you know, is different then what I usually do, but I’m liking it!

Here are some pieces that we were lucky to find at the Thrift store this weekend, they all totaled $30! What a score! Look for them in the upcoming weeks.  

We have a huge show December 3 & 4, Plowshares! We are doing some demo pieces for a shop in the Adirondacks (keep your fingers crossed-more info to come on that) and we have many custom orders coming up for the holidays….so life is supercrazybusy, which is why this blog is so short-sorry! But please know A LOT OF STUFF IS COMING!

So, have you done any furniture redo's recently? If so, please share them with me! I love being inspired by you! Post them on my Face Book page! Or if you're a Pinterest addict fan like me, come find me there too! I'm trying to build a really big "painted furniture" page and love to have new additions/followers/ideas/pins!

Happy Painting!

Mary

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Heather's Gift

Two years ago my friend Heather was moving to Boston and asked me if I’d like this cupboard that had been in her basement for awhile.  She had warned me that it was in need of some serious TLC, but you know me…. furniture, TLC….sigh, I love a challenge! Little did I know though, that this piece would be one of my greatest make over’s. At least as far as before and after goes.

There was a lot of prep work that had to be done to this piece.  We had to remove the back, the inside bottom piece and replace them both with new wood. We had to add new shelves because the old ones were warped and had to replace the weathered hard ware. We scraped loose paint, than primed the entire piece, twice. But after so much prep work for some reason, it just got stored away. I think I was exhausted :D

But recently I was asked to donate a piece of work to the William Johnson Scholarship Fund and I thought… Heather would be so please to see this piece donated to such a worthy cause, so I dug it out of storage and started painting.

The school colors were black, white & red, so I went with that theme, which was actually harder than I thought. You know me, I kept wanting to add COLOR (which I did a little bit…can you see the hint of green, lol, I just couldn’t help myself, I know I have a problem!) but all in all, the black and white was the overall theme.

I added funky knobs and tassels to give it some extra punch.

I'm hoping this piece does well at the raffle and I hope I made my friend Heather proud with the transformation. It’s in her honor that I give this piece to charity.

Last month my dear friend was diagnosed with malignant gliamo. She is fighting hard and facing this monster with great strength and grace. The two birds on the front are a symbol of our friendship. Please keep her in your prayers
. 

Life is short people. Make everyday count and most importantly tell the people that are important to you how much you love them.

Happy Painting,

Mary

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