child's Jenny Lind rocking chair

This is an adorable little Jenny Lind style rocking chair that I refinished recently.  I painted it in Pure White ASCP, distressed it fairly heavily and finished it with several coats of clear wax.  If you're interested in purchasing this little beauty click HERE to link to my For Sale page for more info.

Before:

xo Tanya

piano stool

This beautiful antique piano stool needed a bit of fixing when I purchased it (I didn't realize this until I got it home!).  The swivel mechanism no longer worked, it was likely stripped, and a previous owner had installed some make-shift supports for the seat. It wasn't pretty, or functional, as the seat could not be lowered/raised.  

Fortunately while picking up side rails at one of my favorite antique stores (Napier's Country Antiques) in Langley, Matt thought of asking about the piano stool (smart man - it wasn't on my mind at all!).  I totally lucked out, Ken just happened to have what I needed - an original 'threaded dowel' he had salvaged from a piano stool of the same era.  The parts were an exact match so swapping them out took no time at all, and the piece is back to its original condition!  

Next came the actual fun part - painting :)  I used a flat black acrylic paint and finished it with wax. After considering the use a piece like this might see, I added a coat of polyurethane (water-based) on the seat for extra protection.  I've included a before picture at the bottom but unfortunately you can't see the ugly supports someone had nailed on!

Before:

*SOLD*

xo Tanya

french provincial side table

Good afternoon!  I have a sturdy little side table to share with you today.  It's vintage French Provincial and very shabby-chic!  I found this pretty thing on craigslist about two years ago (I went through a 'stocking up' phase with furniture and had many pieces that sat for a long time!).  I finally painted her up last week, added pretty glass knobs and paper lining in the drawer.  Here she is (before pictures at the bottom):

Before:

*SOLD*

xo Tanya

cottage dresser

This cottagy dresser was one of the pieces I reclaimed from our furnished suite once our tenant moved out.  It was hard to put it into the suite when we first purchased it but alas, I have it now!  I've painted it in one of my favorite colours Duck Egg Blue ASCP over Pure White.  I painted a beautiful wardrobe that Matt and I purchased for our entry way (100 year old house = no closets!) exactly the same and I LOVE it.  I'll show you pictures one day.

Here she is:

Before:

*SOLD*

xo Tanya

duncan phyfe dining set

Ever have one of those projects?  You get half way through then get frustrated and 'put it on the shelf' to move onto new fun projects - like using chalk paint and wax for the first time!  Well this is one of those projects.  Today's furniture reveal is a beautiful black Duncan Phyfe dining set.  It includes a solid wood drop-leaf table, 1 additional leaf and 4 Duncan Phyfe dining chairs.  I started this set a looong time ago...11 months to be exact and it sat in my workspace and eventually became my work table while the chairs sat in my front room, seat-less, taking up space!

I had originally finished the table top with a water-based varnish.  If any of you have worked with water-based varnish then you know how finicky it can be (Jen!).  When you have a big area to cover, it can be difficult to get the varnish on without bubbles, spots where you've over brushed, or lines where you've started and stopped a stroke.  Well I ended up with start and stop lines.  I sanded and re-varnished, sanded and re-varnished only to end up with the lines still showing through.  Hence the reason I set this aside for so long!

When I finally picked the project back up recently, I had to sand off all the varnish and all the paint so I could start over...this time ditching the varnish and choosing to finish it with clear wax...SO MUCH EASIER to work with on a large surface! Varnish (I use satin finish) has a shinier, harder look to it.  It's a really nice finish but lately I prefer working with wax which has a soft satiny appearance and can be buffed to a shine or left to look more matte.  Any scratches that might occur on a waxed surface can be buffed out.

I'm finally happy with how the table looks and would love to keep it.  The flexibility of a drop leaf table with an additional leaf is great...but alas, I'm still in love with my 7 1/2 foot long 'Last Super' table! (as my friend Jeremy calls it!).

Enough said...here's the set:

*SOLD*

xo Tanya