It's a Hall Tree

I've been on the re-purposing Band Wagon lately.  I love to take old, sometimes discarded items & turn them into beautiful, functional pieces again.
I get so many ideas from Pinterest & that is where I got my inspiration for this project. 

In my collection of roadside treasures I have an old  solid wood door that has a full size window in it.  It was perfect for what I needed.  I also had a large Mission style coffee table that had a few cosmetic issues, but it was also perfect for my project.
 Unfortunately, once again, I have very few before pictures.
  

  We sawed the coffee table right in half..

This will become the seat part of my Hall Tree.

We secured the table to the door & painted the whole thing White.

Loving it already....

Now it was time for the fun part,  the details & graphics.  I found a French address on The Graphics Fairy website that worked perfectly.

Now I wanted to add a vintage door knob & some coat hooks.  This proved to be very challenging.  The door knobs were easier to find then the hooks were.  I guess everyone is inspired by Pinterest & coat hooks are very desirable right now.

Luckily we were able to find them both at a huge Antique Festival a couple of weeks ago.  It took us a while to figure out how we wanted to attach the door knobs, with their back plates, to the door.  I like what we came up with....

The door knob is amazing with the back plate...

The coffee table is nice & big, perfect to sit down & put your shoes on....

The graphic is sooo cool.....

It's a Hall Tree!  I wish I had an entryway where I could put this because this would be a keeper. 

I scored another door this week, it has three horizontal panes of glass instead of one.  I'll be able to make another using the other half of the coffee table.  Maybe I'll get lucky & someone will want one customized with their name on it.

These Hall Trees are a lot of fun to create.  I've seen them all over the Internet lately.  Do you use a Hall Tree?  Was it handmade?

 You can find us on Facebook to see what we're working on next. Thanks for stopping by,  Dee

Shabby Lamp Makeover

During one of our after dinner walks this summer my husband & I noticed one of our neighbors putting a floor lamp out to the road.  Well you know me,  these are my favorite finds.  I was told it still works, they just didn't need it anymore.  I let him know we would gladly take it off his hands.  He was happy to oblige, he always thought it had potential.  I couldn't agree more. 

Here is a picture of it before:

I knew just what I wanted to do :)

I had seen some french paper online that was waiting for the perfect project for an excuse to order it. 

This paper is translucent & would make a perfect lamp shade.  I found it on Etsy, here is the link if you want to check it out for yourself.  I know, the wheels are just spinning aren't they?

I painted the lamp shabby white & stripped the wicker off the lamp shade frame.  Then I waited patiently for the paper to arrive.

I was NOT disappointed!  This paper is lovely.....

I saved the panels of wicker to use for a pattern.

Whew!  With only one roll, I had just enough for this shade.  I cut each panel out, making sure I would have enough to overlap the edges. I used Modge Podge to glue the new panels to the frame. 

Here it is all put back together......

I just love the end result....

It's so pretty when you turn it on. These pictures just don't do it justice.

I even tried taking a picture outside to see if I could get better lighting.

Here it is in my booth, all dolled up for the Holidays.

Well, now I can scratch that one off my "Dreaming about doing" list.  What would you do with this beautiful paper? I would love to hear your ideas.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Check us out on Facebook to see what we're up to.  Enjoy your day,  Dee

Cornbread Yellow Cabinet

A couple of weeks ago I went to our local flea market at Collette's Antique Mall,  I found a couple of nice things on that beautiful day.  The captain's desk I showed you last week, you can see it here.  I also bought this cute little cabinet.

It's child size & had seen better days.   It looked like it had been used as a display at some point,  there was a sign still stuck to it. There was also a drawer missing.

We had envisioned using chicken wire somehow inside the drawer opening but, that proved to be impossible.  We went with the easy fix, a false drawer front.  So much easier & in the end looked so much better.....

This is what we came up with. We painted it with  "The Vintage Farmhouse" chalk paint in "Cornbread" Yellow.  Then to break it up we added white to the false front & top.  It still needed a little something, so I added a couple of sweet Chickadee's on a Wire.

Here's a close up:

Soooooooo Cute!

Some little girl will be in Shabby Chic heaven with this.  I could even see it in a Bathroom or Entry way.

Here it is in our Booth:

Sorry for the fuzzy picture.  I had to take it with my phone & had a little trouble keeping a steady hand.  It gives you a better idea of the scale of this cabinet. It's small but so cute.  I love the pop of color it added to the booth.

Now we are working on Holiday pieces.  It won't be long before we are decorating the booth for Christmas. YIKES!!!!

Now that I've scared the dickens out of you, make sure you check us out on Facebook.  Thanks for stopping by.  Dee

Captain's Desk

It's been a beautiful warm fall, until 2 hours ago.  This morning it was almost balmy, now it's cold, rainy & blowing like the dickens.  Well, that's typical of Michigan, wait 5 minutes & the weather will change.  Luckily I have worked very hard these last couple of weeks on getting my garage cleaned out so I can park in there again.  That is a huge deal here in the north.

Last weekend was one of those perfectly perfect warm fall weekends. The kind you dream of when you live in the north & so much of your day depends on the temps & sunshine.  We went to the best flea market in our area, Collette's Vintage & Antique Mall, & I scored yet again. 

I bought the most adorable Captain's Desk.

 Have you ever seen a desk like this?  It has four drawers on both sides & the top lifts up for more storage.  It's petite so it can go anywhere.  I just had so much potential.

I decided to paint it "Garden Gate" Green. It's one of the colors in my new chalk paint line from The Vintage Farmhouse.  I painted the drawers in "Dairy Cream".  Then it sat for a couple of days, I had a graphic block.  Ever get that?  I was trying to think of the "Blow your mind" kind of graphic & it just wasn't happening.  Sometimes you just have to go with the familiar.  

This is what I ended up with:

My all time favorite French script stencil.

I know you are all probably getting bored with this one, but I love it!

I plastered it all over this baby.  The top, the sides.....

And the front.  So pretty....

I paired it with a petite chair painted in the same cream.

Here it is in my booth.  You can see the chair peeking out from behind the desk.  I just love how much storage you get with a desk like this. The petite size with that kind of storage is a perfect combination.

Stay tuned, I will be posting about that cute yellow cabinet next!  Check us out on Facebook to see what we're up to.  Love to hear from you. Thanks for stopping by,  Dee

Charak? Who's Charak??

Are you ready for my tall tale of the table I showed you at the end of my last post?

My Mom received a phone call one morning from one of her co-workers saying someone was putting a table out to the road. It looked like something we could use.  That was all I needed to hear. My Son & I jumped into my mini van & made it there within minutes.  At first glance it looked like your run of the mill drop leaf table.  It was in pretty good shape.  So we loaded it up.  It came with four leafs in a custom made crate.

When we get it home I take a closer look at it.  The first thing I notice is how dry the wood is.  The top has several scratches, a couple of gauges, two water rings & a huge bleach ring.  OK, now do I paint?  I decide to wait.  There are two arms under the top that swing out, but their on the same side of the table... Why?

 We open it up & install all the leafs..

Wow! This table is Huge. It would seat 10 easy.  When we opened it up, inside there is a label...

We stopped what we were doing & did a little research.

Charak Furniture Company? Have you ever heard of Charak Furniture?  Turns out  Charak Furniture was one of the leading manufactures of reproduction Colonial Furniture during the 19th Century in Boston. They are known for their eclectic pieces.  Most of their pieces are dated & numbered.  The date on this table is 1934, the "Danbury" table, number 89.  

Now I'm thinking maybe I should wait & not paint this table.

We couldn't figure out how to get the leafs to drop.  We could see the hinges underneath, so it had to drop somehow.  There is a bolt underneath at each end of the table top that secures the last leaf to the base.  When un-screwed, it releases the top from the base.  But it wouldn't drop.  Hmmm.....

Then my brilliant Husband said "Wait a minute,  it can turn!"

What!?  The light bulb goes off! That's why the arms are on the same side of the table.  This is not your traditional drop leaf table...

Once you pivot the top, you insert two of the four leafs to fill the open cavity of the base & you get a serving table!

Amazing!..... Not only am I not painting this table, I am not selling it either!  I am keeping it :)

I'm not sure if this table is a valuable antique or not, but if it is I don't want to do anything to it to hurt the finish. Since I am keeping it though, I do want to make it look as good as I can.  Not being very knowledgeable in Antique Restoration I didn't know where to start.  The table was dirty & had a funky smell.

So we decided to look on You Tube for some direction.  That sent us on a quick trip to the hardware store for some Murphy's Oil Soap & a bottle of Old English Oil.

We first vacuumed it off, then washed it down with the Murphy's Oil Soap & let it dry.  Now we wanted to see how this Old English Scratch Cover (for dark woods) would work.

We started with the leafs & was pleasantly surprised!  It made the scratches disappear & hydrated the wood as well as shining up the finish.

This stuff worked miracles.

I swear you could just hear the wood soaking up the oil & sighing with relief.......

This I could defiantly live with!!

We quickly moved it into our kitchen....

We love our new table.  Now when we have company we can add a leaf or two & enjoy a meal in the same room at the same table. 

It amazes me every week what Treasures I find on garbage day.  This has to be my best Roadside Treasure to date! Thanks Chris for the phone call & No, we did not paint it!  

So that is my tall tale on the Charak table. Unbelievable, yet true.

Have you found any Roadside Treasures you couldn't part with?

 Don't forget to check us out on Facebook to see what else we're up to.  Thanks for visiting,  Dee