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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Where, oh where to begin???

I have been stressing over where to begin my blog.  Well, I'm going to take Nike's advice......and Just Do It!!!

I really love the whole concept of "upcycling" objects, furniture, clothing....you name it!  I appreciate how you can take a piece of furniture that most might feel is irrelevant and suddenly it is the hippest of hip!  My design aesthetic is modern with clean lines and breathing room.  That is why it is so much fun for me to take a very conservative, traditional piece and completely make it fresh and relevant.  I have been collecting furniture at estate sales, yard sales and ebay with plans of upcycling them.  This sweet, little coffee table was purchased at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago.  Here is what it looked like when I bought it:
The table was structurally sound but had years of dirt buildup on the wood surfaces as well as the little brass feet.  The glass was intact but appeared to have cracked veneer under it???


Here is a glar-y close up of the "cracked veneer" ?


So I proceeded to completely dismantle it so that I could paint it and found that the glass actually had a film of printed veneer under it and that is what had cracked!  My plan was to put a beautiful handmade paper under the glass but that certainly was not going to happen with the faux veneer/glass that I uncovered!  Off to the glass shop I went to have a piece of glass cut to the exact measurements of the faux veneer/glass.  I then sanded the piece really well with a 220 grit sanding sponge after removing the brass feet. I then primed and painted the table in a high gloss white.  Using Brasso to shine up the feet was a snap and they look awesome.  I ordered my paper from PaperMojo, cut it down to size, dry-matted it to the masonite board that held in the old faux veneer/glass and then put it all back together!!!  And here is what she looks like today!  What do you think???  I could totally see this in a shabby chic living room or a teens bedroom in their very chic sitting area.
This shows the bright and shiny newly polished brass feet that were original to the table.  I even nailed them back in with the original nails.  I also kept all of the original hardware with which to put the table back together.  For some reason, paying respect to that detail just makes me happy!!


The glare is awful in this photo but it shows her beautiful legs and woodwork!




This photo shows less glare.

This view shows how really beautiful this handmade paper is!! The movement in the paper is really phenomenal, don't you think?
So, this is my first upcycled piece of furniture that I have posted on my blog!  Please feel free to comment on content and photos!  I promise I will show it as part of a room.......just as soon as I get one pulled together!!  Thanks for stopping by!



P.S.  I first found out about Paper Mojo from Jenny at Little Green Notebook.  If you haven't had a chance to check out her fantastic blog.....wake up and smell the non-VOC paint!!!!!  She's great and I have learned so much from her.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Melissa,

    Thanks for your comment on my blog! Your table looks great! I would not have thought to put the marbled paper on the table top but I love it! Would you mind if I put a link to this project on my blog?

    Thanks,
    Rachel

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  2. Thanks, Rachel! Yes, please, I would love to be mentioned in your blog!

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  3. Oooo, this project is awesome too. Yep - I heart you blog and am adding myself as your newest follower!!

    ReplyDelete