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 😉

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