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A Tale of 3 Sisters & Limed Oak Wall Sconces

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Three sisters from the same parents. How could we all be so dissimilar while at the same time so alike? How could remembrances of our childhoods be so different? I guess, given the age spread, it isn’t all that surprising.

Sister #1 lived through the lean times.

Sister #2 was there when they were “movin’ on up!”

Sister #3, well, everyone said that she was just plain spoiled though that simply isn’t true!

One thing we had in common were two parents who cared a lot about appearances and looking their best. I once heard my dad referred to as “Dapper Dan” and my mom almost always wore a dress and heels, even into her 80’s when she struggled to remain steady on her feet. There she was, my mom and her walker, heading down to dine and dressed to the nines!

In addition to dress, my mom was a collector of things that made the home I grew up in a place of beauty. When you tour my home you’ll see some of her treasures on display.

So here’s the deal with the three sisters. Our parents taught us strive to look our best too but we pull ourselves together in very different ways:

Sister #1: Traditional style, think Ralph Laurenish. Her look is fairly casual and she loves color. Red is her go-to color.

Sister #2: Elegant style in the vein of Jackie O! She loves to dress up in designer clothes and rocks it in black and white.

Sister #3: Rustic Glam style - Pretty much a jeans girl but she likes to dress her jeans up with pretty tops and layers of jewelry. Blues and greens are her favorite colors - to match her eyes.

Now, can you tell me which sister I am? A lot of times the way we dress our homes is a reflection of the way we dress ourselves. Take a look at a few components of my dining room below to see if this gives you a hint of who I am.

Crystal chandelier

Antique oil painting

Traditional damask wallpaper

Painted and distressed china cabinet

A shabby ruffled tablecloth

Vintage frame turned chalkboard

As I pulled this dining room together with the oriental rug, the chandy, the buffet, the hutch, the wallpaper, and all of the other elements of the room it began to feel . . . FANCY. Too fancy for me (not too fancy for my husband because he loves fancy)! So to make it feel more ME . . . you guessed it, I’m the more rustic glam of the three sisters . . . I added a few rustic elements to the room.

One of these elements was the two oak cabinet doors that I had hanging around in my garage. I thought they would be the perfect foil for the fancy-schmancy crystal wall sconces that I intended to hang on either side of the oil painting. This is the process I used for liming the doors:

  1. I stripped the doors with a product called Citristrip. This is a product that can be used indoors. It is as easy as painting on, waiting for it to go to work, and scraping it off with a plastic putty knife.
  2. After stripping the doors I allowed them to dry thoroughly and went over each one with a medium grit sanding block to make sure they were ready to accept the wax.
  3. Finally, I applied Briwax Liming Wax which was as simple as rubbing it into the wood and removing the excess with a lint-free rag.

Can you see how these two doors tone down the elegance of the crystal sconces and the room a little bit? Now we can have a fancy dinner and still act like our quirky, funny, crazy selves.

Along with the crazy fun friends we seem to be drawn to.

This is the first time I’ve used liming wax and I love how it settles into the grain of the wood. That’s the key by the way. Liming wax works best with open grained hardwoods such as oak and ash.

I’ve added links below to the products I used on this job in case you are interested in purchasing any of them. As my statement says at the top of the page, any purchases through links on this blog help us keep the lights on here at Old Things New but do not cost you any more than buying directing through Amazon.

I do hope you enjoyed my little guessing game though y’all probably had me figured out from the get-go! Next up on the blog I will be sharing a tutorial for the Ruffled Linen-Look Tablecloth that I made for my dining room table.

Blessings until we meet again 😉

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!
Sunday:

TheDIYShowoff, LifeOnLakeshoreDrive, NiftyThriftyThings, SilverPenniesSundays, SundaysAtHome, RusticAndRefined, Spiritual Sundays,

Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:

At Long Last Dining Room Reveal

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Have you ever had a big project that you began with every intention of completing in . . . like 5 days? Then that 5 days turned into 5 weeks and the 5 weeks into 5 months . . . or even longer?

Yup, that’s pretty much the way my dining room makeover went. I felt quite vindicated on Sunday though when our Pastor, who is doing a series called Flip my House, talked about how building anything good takes time. It is a process. So I’m thinking this dining room of mine must be pretty good because it took way more time than I ever could’ve imagined!

It began with my trying to strip some very stubborn wallpaper, only to find out that it was applied directly to the sheetrock. Not a good situation. Believe me, I tried every method known to man to remove that paper and it wasn’t worth the time I would have had to put into it to get it to the point of being paintable.

So I repaired the damage I’d already done and moved on to Plan B, new wallpaper. Shopping, shopping, and more shopping, ordering samples, rejecting samples, ordering more samples and finally finding just what I was looking for The wallpaper application itself also took way longer than expected but it wasn’t such a bad experience because I had a good GREAT friend who came all the way out from Washington to help me. Pain shared is pain lessened!

Of course there was also the painting of the buffet and dining chairs, reupholstering the dining chairs, repairing and painting a hutch . . . you get the picture.

It would’ve been a whole lot easier to pick everything I wanted from a catalog and have it shipped but that’s not the way I roll . . . Mrs. Old Things New here.

This was the style board I originally put together for my dining room using Olioboard. This great design tool actually kept me from making mistakes when I realized that some of the things I originally planned on using in this room didn’t look good together. If you are interested in reading about how I came up with the inspiration for this room you can read the full post HERE.

Dining Room Before

This is a view of our dining room BEFORE, looking toward the kitchen. Very classic wallpaper in a pretty shade of red but, like some of the other changes we’ve made in this house, it just wasn’t me.

Dining Room Before

This is the dining room view looking toward the front door, where Sasha hangs out all day long looking for something to bark at.

And here she is, my somewhat glam, somewhat rustic new dining room.

The hutch is the first piece I worked on, using a color wash in different grey tones. You can find the tutorial for that HERE

These old doors were taken from another large piece that I’m working on for my bedroom. I used liming wax for the first time to give them this weathered look.

Then I attached some vintage wall sconces for that Rustic Glam look that I like.

You may have heard about my chandy before. It was a birthday gift from my husband the first year we were married. Even though we had to pay a small fortune to have it specially packaged and shipped across the U.S. it was worth it!

An antique frame turned chalkboard so I can write messages to myself.

This is a close up of the wallpaper we used. I like that it has a very subtle pattern in pearly greys, cream and tan. The pattern is Brunate Damask from Seabrook Wallcoverings.

This is the little redeemed and restored hutch I recently wrote about HERE

The pattern in the glass of the hutch . . .

. . . matches the pattern in the fabric I used to recover the chairs . . . and also the pattern in the rug that once belonged to my mom.

I’m either very clever or very lucky 😉 You guess which one it is.

I painted the dining chairs with the same color wash technique that I used on the buffet.

One of the items on my style board was tufted and upholstered chairs for each end of the dining table. These are Bennett Camelback armchairs from Restoration Hardware and they were on sale at the time I purchased them. Though the price was pretty good I guess you could still say they were my big splurge since all of the other dining room furniture combined cost less than one RH chair.

That doesn’t include these vintage Florentine nesting tables. They don’t normally hang out in this room but needed a place to stay while the Christmas tree takes up their nook in the living room.

This antique frame holds blue and white vases filled with dried roses.

An antique French mirror hangs between the two dining room windows.

This, of course, is my favorite thing about this dining room makeover! I have loved this painting from afar for years, ever since I began following Sherry’s blog, No Minimalist Here.

Sherry and I at her home. Eeek! #bloggerfriendsnowreallifefriends

Sherry’s was one of the first blogs I followed. I’ve always loved her style (being a non-minimalist myself) and I’ve always admired this painting which hung in her home. Several months ago, after downsizing, she had an online garage sale through her blog. Would you believe that we drove the 7-1/2 hours to get this painting? It was actually hubby’s idea because he knew how much I loved it. It not only makes my dining room but it also has a special history behind it, in that it comes from the Jamestown Plantations in Virginia.

Ever since I put the last sprig of greenery in my centerpiece in preparation for taking pictures for the blog I’ve been walking by my dining room and feeling delighted at the transformation that I knew would one day be. But you know what? When it comes right down to it, it is all just stuff! Temporary treasure that brings some temporary pleasure but nonetheless, just stuff.

Because of that mindset, and because I’ve had times in my life that I’ve struggled financially, I have a hard time spending too much money on the temporary things. That’s also why I like to restore things that others have no use for, or to create things myself to add beauty to my home.

I know that not everyone is like me. Not everyone enjoys searching through junk stores and spending hours in a hot/cold garage restoring their finds, and I certainly don’t begrudge those who have decorated their homes with high end furnishings. In fact, I love going to into their homes to OoHH and AaHH and gain even more inspiration! Like I’ve said on my sidebar, I believe anyone can create beauty on a budget.

Now, because I can’t help myself . . .

Another BEFORE

And AFTER

BEFORE

And AFTER.

Yup, I like it better this way!

Blessings,

P.S. I have one dirty little secret. It is the dirty, scratched up dining room table hiding under the tablecloth I made to hide it. It is a table just like the one on my design board except beaten. One day I will be stripping and restoring that final piece to it’s original wood tone. One day . . . but probably not too soon.

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!
Sunday:

TheDIYShowoff, LifeOnLakeshoreDrive, NiftyThriftyThings, SilverPenniesSundays, SundaysAtHome RusticAndRefined

Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
TheBlissfulBee, Posed Perfection,
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:

 

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Redeemed & Restored - A Little Painted Hutch

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There she was was, one among many in a jam packed antique mall. She’d been there a long, long time but today they’d put a new price on her in hopes of moving her out quickly to make room for better pieces. Many people came and walked around this petite lady, checking out her classic lines, only to walk away when they saw the raw signs of wear and the peeling veneer . . .

. . . until the one came, the one who was much like her. The one who chose her and took her home to give her a new life.

Many long days and nights were spent on her restoration, and in the process the lines began to blur between the life of the restorer and the one being restored as comparisons were made of their similarities. Peeling veneers were repaired, putty used to fill the larger cracks, and experiments with different colored paints were tried to see what she would become. No, this one was not meant to be a bold colored statement piece. Nor was she meant to be a sophisticated lacquered lady. This one’s past, it was determined, would be allowed to shine through the layers of paint that would eventually bring her to this soft and muted color.

This petite one was solidly built by her original creator and as she is restored she becomes even stronger.

When the transformation is complete she looks different than before but her original character still shines through.

Her freshly cleaned and painted interior is carefully filled with treasures from generations past.

These treasures remind her of the values instilled within her by family members when she was young.

They also remind her of lessons learned from friends and acquaintances who intersected path along the way.

Of course she can’t help but recall lessons she learned through her own mistakes!

If you move in real close you’ll see this lady’s imperfections quite clearly . . .

. . . and the wear that came from living life long and full.

Life wounded this one deeply at times . . .

. . . but the pain that caused the visible scars is long past and nothing more than distant memory.

Mostly now she recalls the joys of her life. She has been blessed with much, MUCH joy!

See the layers of color representing childhood, young adulthood, motherhood, career, and now a sweet time of less responsibility but a passion to continue living life to the fullest! And always with the expectancy of, “What’s next?”

Though she was once closed and private, she doesn’t mind throwing her doors wide open now to share with others the pathway to becoming beautiful. Though it is at times frightening to her, and sometimes others don’t like what they see in her or what she has to share, she has been called to this purpose of giving back to others what she has so freely been given.

This one, she is different than those around her, and though she once detested her differences she is now at peace with who she is. The once shy girl has come out of her shell of insecurity. She laughs freely now and loves to make others laugh along with her. She believes that others can find the same freedom to be who they were created to be and loves to offer to let them borrow her hope until they can find their own. She is often heard to say,

Wait for the miracle! Click To Tweet

In reality, we are all different. Unique creations made to love and be loved by Father God. Fighting your way through life all alone can be hard. Sometimes it takes another person coming alongside to help point us in the direction God originally intended for us to go. God tells us that His way is easy and His burden is light. Won’t you place your life into the Master’s hands and let Him do the work of bringing you into complete restoration?

Take it from a little painted hutch,

There is no joy greater than to finally become what God originally intended us to be. Click To Tweet

I’d love to pray for those of you who are struggling in any way. Simply leave your prayer request in the comment section. I moderate all of my comments so if you’d like your prayer to be private please let me know.

Blessings to you dear ones,

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!
Sunday:

TheDIYShowoff, LifeOnLakeshoreDrive, NiftyThriftyThings, SilverPenniesSundays, SundaysAtHome

Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
TheBlissfulBee, Posed Perfection,
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:

I have been known to link to the following Inspirational Parties:

Wednesdays A Wise Woman Builds Her Home Woman to Woman Word Filled Wednesdays A Little R & R Whole Hearted Home Mom’s Morning Coffee Women with Intention Coffee for Your Heart Capture Your Journey
Thursdays Serving Joyfully/Thriving Thursdays The Deliberate Mom/Shine Blog Hop I Choose Joy Live Free Thursday Thought Provoking Thursday Imparting Grace
Fridays A Look at the Book Christian Mommy Blogger Fellowship Fridays Blessing Counters Missional Women Faith Filled Fridays Faith & Fellowship Bloghop Grace & Truth Linkup Grace&TruthSharingRedemption’sStories Dance With Jesus The Weekend Brew
Saturdays Still Saturday The Weekend Brew Recommendation Saturday Make My Saturday Sweet
Sundays Spiritual Sundays Sunday Stillness

A Color Wash in Layered Greys

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I’m SO excited to share this post with you tonight as it is the first furniture project I’ve completed in my new home. Please read on for all the details on how to do a Color Wash in Layered Greys.

Buffet Before 001This is the “before” picture of a buffet that we found at a great local antique/junk store. It was very dark in the store and the buffet was kind of hidden behind a lot of other stuff so I wasn’t sure of the condition of the piece until Mr. OTN brought it home. I thought the burled wood on the drawer fronts might be worth restoring but it is veneer and had a lot of hairline cracks on the surface so I decided to just paint over it.

The top had some surface scratches but they didn’t look too deep so I decided to see if I could sand back and re-stain the wood.

Here is the “after” of my gorgeous new buffet. I used two tones of grey, painting on the darker color first and then adding a color wash of the lighter grey. I then used white wax as a finish. I have a ton of “how to” pictures and also some other shots of the piece so read on please . . .

Buffet with gray wash 001I began with a color I had custom mixed at Home Depot to match the Annie Sloan chalk paint color French Linen. I buy the sample sizes and make my own chalk paint. I’ve tested and reviewed several home made chalk paint recipes and my favorite can be found HERE

After the first color was dry I painted on a wash of Home Depot’s version of ASCP Country Grey. This was also made with my home made chalk paint recipe and watered down quite a bit so it would wipe off easily.

Here I’ve wiped it off using one swipe of a crunched up paper towel. The important thing here is to use a new surface of the paper towel for each swipe. Otherwise you’ll be putting paint from the paper towel back onto your piece of furniture and it sort of ruins the look you’re going for in a wash.

After everything was dry I used some Miss Mustard Seed white wax to seal the paint. It is a different look completely than some of the pieces I’ve done with dark or clear wax and I really like it on this piece. According to the ASCP website you can add white chalk paint to clear wax to get the same effect.

I sanded the old finish off the top of the piece and, luckily, there weren’t any deep scratches that couldn’t be removed.

Buffet 001I used a Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner by MinWax to prepare the wood to receive a smooth stain, then stained the top with MinWax Wood Finish in the color Cherry.

Finally, I sealed the wood with three coats of a water based Polycrylic, also by MinWax. I used a clear satin finish for this piece.

Buffet 024So this is my new buffet standing all alone in my new dining room.

The wallpaper is in the process of being stripped behind her but that job has become bigger than I ever imagined . . . and I’ve removed a lot of wallpaper in my day!

So far I’ve removed the second layer of wallpaper and in doing so found that the first layer was glued directly to the sheetrock, without the use of any sizing to prepare the surface . . . Ugh!

So I’m working on tearing it off one little piece at a time with my steamer in one hand and my scraper in the other.

Buffet After 003I’ll be moving a Craigslist dining room table and chairs into the dining room for our Thanksgiving dinner. They too are in need a lot of work but just a good cleaning will have to do for now. Chairs take hours and hours to paint and, as my sister said, “Don’t worry about the house. FOOD is all that is important!” Haha! Food AND family. I’m so happy that my sister and her hubby are coming out from SoCal for the holiday and also that we’ll have our dear college friend Holly here with us as well.

By the way, remember the old tarnished brass hardware? I rubbed just a touch of Martha Stewart’s Metallic Craft Paint in Silver over the metal. Not too much as I wanted the dark color to still show through.

I’m pretty happy with this piece and I’m excited about my vision for this room. I’m not sure what colors I’ll use on the dining room set. Maybe the same colors but in the reverse order for a completely different look with the same color base. I’ll have to do some experimenting to see what feels right.

Buffet 018I do have a color scheme in mind for this room by the way and my grey buffet with the bluish undertones fits right in.

Buffet 039Here’s a sneak peek at my inspiration piece. Curious? If you’d like to see more pictures of this piece and hear the story behind it, please join me tomorrow for Freedom Friday - On Becoming The Person You Were Created to Be.

Blessings,

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!
Sunday:
UnderTheTableAndDreaming, TheDIYShowoff, LifeOnLakeshoreDrive,
ThreeMangoSeeds, NiftyThriftyThings,
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:

Shabby Kitchen Table . . . You’ve Stolen my Heart!

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My Shabby Kitchen Table has been used in many a photo shoot here at Old Things New, but I don’t believe she’s ever had her very own feature! I guess it’s about time since this was one of the first pieces I ever painted with chalk paint.

Vintage Kitchen Table (fold-in leaf) 006She is a great table with lovely legs!

I recognized her potential right away even when I first found her painted gold and sealed with grime!

I was so excited to bring her home and give her a fresh new look.

The best thing about this dining table is that she easily goes from being a table for four . . .

. . . to a table for six, simply by pulling up the built in leaf!

It is always so hard to find a place to store table leaves when they aren’t in use. I think whoever came up with this idea was simply brilliant!

This was another paint project that was done by layering and mixing different colors of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint . . .

. . . then distressing with a damp cloth before the paint dried completely . . .

. . . and distressing a little more with a sanding sponge before sealing with wax.

I was so pleased with the way the layered colors came out and the soft sheen of the wax.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this little dining table and she has been perfect for our lake house. Since we’re moving cross country though, and need to lighten our load, she was sold at our flash garage sale last weekend. Note: We’ve found that cross country moving expenses are unbelievably high and I’m sad that I’ve had to part with quite a bit of furniture. The upside is that I will be doing a lot of thrifting and antiquing once we get to our new home. Plenty of future material for Old Things New!

It feels sorta funny (if funny qualifies as a feeling) to let go of this shabby kitchen table. I think even more so because as I look at this table I remember the many faces that have sat around it over the past several years. Parents, children, sisters and brothers, friends both old and new, my dear crafting buddies, some amazing pastors and leaders, Freedom Session facilitators and even many of our FS participants, who have poured out their hearts right here at this table.

Wow . . . I don’t think there is a single piece of furniture that holds my heart quite as strongly as my shabby little kitchen table. I can only hope and pray that her new family will create as many fond memories around this table as we have.

Blessings,

My Signature-001

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!
Sunday:
UnderTheTableAndDreaming, TheDIYShowoff, TheTablescaper,LifeOnLakeshoreDrive,
ThreeMangoSeeds, NiftyThriftyThings,
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday: