Earth Day Furniture Makeovers

Happy Earth Day!

Today seems like a great day to try and explain a little bit about why I do what I do. I don't know when it actually started, but I think it was long before I even knew what was happening. {funny how we pickup on the habits of our parents and you don't even know it until years later} When I was growing up, my mom was always finding ways to reuse, repurpose, and refinish things. And if you can believe it, my dad was all for said projects too. It was actually hard to throw something away at our house...you would have to sneak it into the garbage when dad wasn't looking so that he wouldn't question why you were throwing it out! We weren't hoarders, but we weren't wasteful either. So by all means we were to save stuff that still had potential until we could find it a new purpose for it.

 Then years later, I found myself trying to furnish my first apartment. With our minimal budget, my roommate and I went to a ton of garage sales and found a bunch of stuff that was in good shape but didn't have the flair that girls in their 20s would want...so we got out the paint and customized our finds to better represent our youthful personalities! {an eclectic mix of turquoise, purple and pink painted garage sale furniture--it was PERFECT}

Fast forward to several years after that...I finally came to the realization that my mom was right! {aren't moms always right!} Decorating your house with a mix of old and new makes for a home that is more representative of your personality. It makes our homes more YOUnique.  Not to mention it's fun, challenging and quite rewarding to breathe new life into an tired and worn pieces and ultimately save them from the landfills.

In the name of Earth Day, I challenge us all to think about how we can repurpose or upcycle the goods we have before we make the decision to throw them out!

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Let's get on with projects fresh out of the shop this past weekend...from a stocky buffet cabinet to a Thomasville buffet and finally an antique round side table...all three have a new lease on life.

Here is the round table first. Finished in a custom mix of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint that resulted in a nice warm blue color.  The detailing on the leg and the little cream knobs are fantastic.

The next piece is this sturdy buffet cabinet. this is another custom color, not sure these pictures do it justice. It's a nice soft green paired with the natural stained top, perfect representation of spring!

 

Finally is this Thomasville Buffet. This piece is actually finished in the same color as the antique round table, the only difference is that I used more dark wax on this piece so it's less blue and more grey.