Time for Rehab

Our new home is filled with old things (no, I don't mean Craig) and that makes me happy.  Hand-me-downs that have a history (still not talking about Craig). Pieces that have character and show their age (maybe I am talking about Craig?!)

I hesitate to use the word "antiques" because that makes me think of elaborate Victorian furniture and that is not my style.  My idea of antique is a lot simpler, more rustic and worn. Shabby-chic if you will, although I'll still like it after that descriptor has ceased to be trendy. What I love best is being able to take an old piece and transform it with a coat of paint.

I am fortunate to have plenty of pieces to work with; many from my mother-in-law, who shares my love of all things old, and of course many pieces that came from the original farmhouse and have been in my family for ages.  Here are a few of the pieces that I've rehabbed for the new house.

This lamp hung over the kitchen table at the farm for as long as I can remember.  I suspect it was put in when the new kitchen was added on to the house in the 60's (the original kitchen was a separate building).  I wanted to be able to incorporate it in the new house, but I wasn't really feeling the groovy green-ness of it.  

It might be a stretch to call lotus lights a classic, but they have been around a while and are currently enjoying a resurgence in popularity:

Too gold!

Too Expensive!

  

Too mod!

All I needed to do to update this light was a bit of spray paint and a lot of patience.  Unfortunately I don't have a lot of patience so it took me much longer than it should have, mostly to touch up mistakes from trying to rush the process.  Plus there was an incident with dust kicked up by the lawn mower...but I finally got it finished to my satisfaction.

Here's the paint I used, in case you want to recreate this look with your own
vintage light you just happen to have lying around...

I'm really thrilled with how it turned out - I'd love it even if wasn't a family heirloom.  Can a plastic light really be an heirloom?  I say yes.  Now it has pride of place in our new farmhouse kitchen.

Isn't she lovely?

Another piece I re-used from the old house was this dresser that belonged to my Aunt Wanda long ago.  I knew I wanted to have a vanity made from a dresser, and this one was just the right height to sit a vessel sink on top.  I wanted to give it a pop of color and protect the wood from water, and chalk paint was the easy answer.

I'm too cheap to spring for the "good" chalk paint.
This came from Lowe's and it worked just fine.  

If you haven't heard of it - chalk paint is basically paint with plaster of Paris added to it and you can use it on pretty much anything without much prep.  I'm a lazy painter and so no prep is very appealing. Of course it helps if you like a distressed finish, which I do. A couple of coats of paint, a little sanding, a coat of wax and you're done.  In this case I also added a top coat of polyurethane for water protection.

Tip:  bed lift platforms are great for painting furniture 

We thought we'd just wind up with false-front drawers once the plumbing went in, but our carpenter was kind enough to shorten the upper drawers and cut a notch out of the back of the lower drawer.  It is super easy when someone else does the work!  

The color is "Beaded Reticule" so maybe I do like Victorian stuff?

I'm really, really happy with how it turned out

I'd had my eye on this pie safe for a while, long before we ever thought we'd wind up living in Georgia.  It has been on the back porch since at least the late 60's and it was pretty grungy and grody, but obviously hand-made (probably by a relative) and still in good shape structurally.  I wasn't sure where I was going to use it, but I knew I'd find a place for it once the house was finished.

The biggest challenge with this piece was making it sanitary!  Luckily paint can cover a multitude of sins and grime.  I washed it off first with the aptly named "Krud Kutter", and then turned to my trusty chalk paint.  I watered it down a bit to get thinner coverage and only used one coat on most of the piece, because I wanted it to still look its age.  Finished off with the wax and voila - it fits perfectly and provides storage in the guest bath.

I had a bit of paint left over from the dresser so I rehabbed a thrift store box with it.
I might have a paint obsession.  

So that's a few of the pieces I've done so far - more to come soon!