I have a pair of these that I got on ebay for a song. well, maybe a song and a half but still a good deal and it was within my budget.
Recently, as we've been thinking about where we will live when we sell the house, we've been talking about recovering them. It's been a fun "dreaming project" where every time we walk by them we say, "Hey honey, what about a yellow floral?" .... "Hmm.... I think a retro print, maybe in a blue?"
Tonight I did a little google image searching after finding my old ebay purchase listing to know what key words to search for. Enter search terms: Hollywood Regency Slipper Chair.
BINGO. I found a pair just like mine. I mean CRAZZZY. Granted this set has been recushioned/reupholstered and is for sale in a fancy store. But they are just like mine!!!
The bad news is, they don't know the creator either. Boo hiss... They are listing them as 1970's which is totally cool with me. And for $2400 for the pair, I have plenty of wiggle room on the reupholstery costs.
Thank you Hobby Lobby and your Brush 'n' Leaf. You kept my dream of gold alive for just $6.99.
This stuff rocks. First, it's pretty gold, like a gilded frame around a priceless piece of art not shiny gold like cheap jewelry. Second, it covered in one coat, went on smooth and dried mega fast. On the downside, it smells like turpentine and I'm pretty sure I got a contact high.
Second time is the charm people (1st time FAIL). Allow me to introduce you to my gold buddy.
I used a small artist brush because the bottle top is little and I didn't want to waste a precious drop by decanting it. So it took me like 3 hours to paint the back of the shelves. Up close, you can see a brush pattern but in reality it looks more like a "hammered" finish than actual brush strokes. BONUS.
She's photographing really yellow in the top pictures but believe me, she's beautiful. So glamourous! Now I just need to find some retro handles for the drawers.
I had a good start with this hutch/bookshelf we built a while ago. It is practically the same color and I thought, "Self, why don't you paint the back of the shelves gold?"
FABULOUS IDEA SELF. I thought about gold leafing. In fact, that's what I went to Michaels to buy... but I was swayed by the thought that metallic paint might be cheaper and less steps. Enter this guy:
Acrylic gold metallic paint. PERFECT! And it was only $4. I got home, stoked about the fact that I would have gold and teal bookshelf in no time. I emptied the shelves, wiped it down..
and started painting with a foam brush. Here's where the FAIL started. The back of the shelves is plywood and was a little rough which means the foam brush hung up and the paint did not go on smooth.
Ok, no problem. "Self, get a regular brush." Great, good coverage, it will probably just need 2 coats and then...
HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM...
You see where the paint is not sticking? Yeah, that's not good.
So, I spent the next 10 minutes wiping all the paint off with a wet paper towel. I am now left with this:
and I need your help. If I went back to Michaels (dreading, dreading...) and got gold leaf, this cheap project would soon turn into a $75 project. I would love to do gold spray paint but this thing weighs about 400lbs and I am not lugging it outside. So what should I do??
I am feeling myself more and more drawn to mid-century/glamourous/retro/hollywood regency pieces lately. Take this little nugget for example. Gorg!
It's the Dauphine Armoire from SHINE SHO - there is no price listed so I am assume major bukoo buckerroos. BUT I think it could be a fun DIY project. I just love the gold touches.
Beautiful! What a chic take on the traditional quilt! I'm filing this idea for future use. I have a great craigslist chair that needs some attention. top 3 pieces from Squint Limited, final pic unknown source.
Since my craft room absolutely never looks like this, I just had to share. Eric actually said, "No offense, but this is the cleanest I have ever seen your room." The sign is all ready for the craft show on Tuesday! I actually use it for goals or to do lists but it seemed perfect for identifying my table at O Happy Night.
In case you are wondering my craft table is actually two base cabinets from Ikea (I didn't splurge for the doors) put on legs also from Ikea and a slab of butcher block counter top - also from Ikea.
I am so very late in sharing this... It's cold in most parts of the country already and here I am talking about patio furniture.
Eric and I built a farm table with (modified) plans from Knock Off Wood back in May. Remember this post about inspiration for our extra large patio way back when? Well, I am finally getting around to showing you the finished product. Gorgeous huh? This was our second piece of furniture made from plans on Knock Off Wood and though this is considered a "beginner" piece we modified it a bit after our first attempt was not so pretty.
We changed a few things right off the bat. I wanted to have a full apron all the way around the table and the legs tucked behind the apron in the corners instead of having the legs built into the apron corners. We also changed the legs from cut wood pieces to spindle legs. This was our inspiration photo. See, we started out making the frame to go underneath first and then planned to lay that on top of the "top" of the table. The frame was basically a large rectangle (the apron) and then small horizontal supports where we would fasten the planked top into. Well... you see, our frame turned out not so "sqaure" as in it was wonky. FAIL. See this next photo - we have it lined up the best that it can be on one end of the top of the table and as you can tell on the other end... it wasn't happening. ok, grunt and move on to plan B. We either had wonky boards or our cuts and line up was not so straight (the latter is most likely the case). We took apart all the boards and decided that we would screw the apron and support to the top as we went, making any necessary adjustments or cuts.MUCH BETTER. See how there is now equal distance from the apron to the edge of the table all the way down? We also added "corner pieces" to help keep it square and supported. We thought we were smooth sailing... I had picked up some turned table legs at either the orange or blue big box stores - I can't remember which one and we attached them in the corner with some brackets for support. and then we turned the table over proclaiming it was finally time to sand and finish this baby. Do you see what I see? Reminds me of that dinosaur movie from Disney where the T-Rex says, "I have a big head and little arms" except this goes, "I have a big top and little legs".
Ooops, we hadn't thought about that. Not only did it look silly but setting a cup of coffee on this thing let alone the table dancing I had planned was out of the question.
Off came the legs and I went on the hunt for something more substantial. I searched high and low to no avail when I finally found some porch posts at Shinola in Greenville, SC. I bought 2 that were about 8' long each and then cut 'em down to size. Here they are attached to the table. They came in this grey/blue paint color that was just perfectly "antiqued". I also grabbed a few finials from Lowes to make it look more finished - they just happened to be the perfect circumference to screw onto the bottom of the freshly cut porch posts - now legs. Finally, we started finishing the piece. We stained the top planks and I mixed a custom paint color for the legs and apron in a mason jar. Finally we topped the whole thing off with Helmsman® Spar Urethane. This stuff is marine grade so it should hold up well. We've been pleased with the results so far though we did have a few "blisters" in the finish when it got really hot. We attributed it to moisture in the wood expanding - it should be fixed by next summer as the wood will have dried out and we plan on sanding and resealing before next spring.
Voila! Our rustic farmhouse patio table. Phew, sorry for the super long post. We LOVE this table, it is so well suited for our decor vibe and also the size of the patio. It comfortably seats 8 and is super sturdy without being ridiculously heavy. The best part is that we built it ourselves for around $175 (including the finishing materials). If I had purchased an outdoor table this big metal or wood I would have spent at least 5 times that.
So we saved on the table and splurged on the chairs but that story did not have a happy ending... I'll share the deets with you soon.
