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Thursday, December 29, 2011

It's All In The Mix!

Call me weird, but there's something really cool about rescuing pieces of furniture that are on their way to the local landfill because some soul has deemed them worthless. To scoop them up and take them home makes me... well, happy.

Case in point:  the chairs below.  They were a mixed bag and needed some serious sanding (aka the glorious grit).  Two of the cane backs were awfully tattered.  But those round seats and fluted legs begged for resurrection!

Re-cane them?  No.

For some reason, removing that spent caning just felt right.  Sometimes the pieces just speak to me.  (Did I mention my moonlighting as Arlene: Chair Whisperer?) More on that later...back to topic. Here's the before:


Deciding to paint them a warm creamy white felt right too, along with a light distressing and an umber glaze to settle into all those nooks and crannies. The satin polyurethane protective finish brought them to a blissful state of finished imperfection. Note to My New-Blogger Self:  Didn't take a SINGLE picture of the painting process... uggghhhhh! OK. Suck it up. Move on.

Anywho, on to fabric selection. I just LOVE mixing fabric textures, so a pastoral ivory/tan cotton toile accented with a coordinating french gimp was used for the inside back, and doubled burlap for outside back and those scrumptious round seats.

Drum roll please.....TaHDaHHHH!





This is the back view...clean and uncomplicated.




 Below, the "open weave" appeared
refreshingly light and airy in its new shade of warm white...





What do YOU think?

It was so much fun to pull it all together!  I told myself that I would understand if no one "got" the quirkiness of this offering. Afterall, I could always bring it home 'cause I loved it.  And so, my dear hubby and son carried it to my spot at the antiques store.  Laura, shopkeeper extraordinaire and owner of De'Ja Vous, had it placed at the store's entry.  What a privilege!  She said I had thirty days...it sold in four.  WOW.

I am amazed...and humbled...and off in search of more pieces in need
of a little Georgia Grace...and Grit.


~Blessings and Abundant Peace~
Arlene

5 comments:

  1. Oh My Word ~ that is a beautiful transformation! I love the fabric you chose ~ a perfect mix! Best of luck with your new blog, I can't wait to see what you come up with next :-)

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  2. Hi, Arlene, so nice to meet you & yes, there are a bunch of us bloggers who have that same love that you do for fixing up the old & unloved. I am addicted to yardsales and the hunt is so much fun. Welcome to blogging & I see you are a GA girl too, how fun! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Thanks for introducing yourself. Have fun out there!

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  3. Oh, and I forgot to say how pretty those chairs turned out. Great vision & perfect choices!

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  4. Those are some pretty awesome chairs!! You did such a fabulous job!! Welcome to blogland!! :) I found your blog through Miss. Mustard Seed's FFF!!!! Happy New Years!!

    ~*Jessica

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  5. Thanks so much for the encouragement guys! I so appreciate it!

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Thanks so much for taking the time to write...it's such a joy to hear from you!