Using What My Mama Gave Me....

Well, she only gave it to me after I hounded her a little bit. She had this old secretary desk that my Dad had given as a gift to her in the 80's.

And I had this big chair in my bedroom - only due to the fact it was about an inch too big to fit into the tv room, which as comfy as it was, just "bugged" me. I always felt like it had a neon flashing sign pointing right at it!

So after months of me politely asking (ha!) she agreed to give it to me. It was special to her and while she didn't really use it, she wasn't ready to part with it completely... Well, it needed a little work. I am not a fan of "golden oak" as testament to my dining room table and hutches that I restained & repainted (another gift from my Mama!)

So after a few weeks of it sitting in our garage - I finally got the husband and his brother to drag the chair out to our guest room and heft this HEAVY little lady up the stairs. Then I decided to refinish it IN OUR BEDROOM. Not such a good idea but with open windows and a tarp underneath, I went to work...

Which is probably why I have a cold now - we had to sleep with the windows open for a few nights for fresh air and two fans on! This little lady wouldn't dry with the colder weather.

And Ta Da!.....

(But I guess it's not such a shock since it's already been posted as picture no#2. Forgive me, I am on cold medicine!)

I picked up this chair in an antique store - I need to recover the bottom "cushion"

And again, I am happy I took pictures of this desk b/c no one had noticed that I had put 3 out of 4 handles on upside down! Of course I fixed it!

Cute little lamp from Homegoods. you can't see it but it has little birdies carved in it!



Just some other things around the room...
This painting was $29!


I saw this lovely high back victorian chair with velvet upholstery in an antique store that would look "STUNNING" in that corner but trying to convince the hubby that while we got rid of a "comfy" chair in the room to only replace it with one that I would be yelling for him to get out of! would go even beyond my persuasive skills! ...sigh..I can dream though....

The tv cabinet that was bought in the "nude" and has seen many shades of paint and as for the design - I first penciled in the stencil and then went back in with the gold paint. I like that it wasn't "perfect".

Many things around the house are "recycled" items. Hand me downs, curbside finds & garage sales. I think it's more fun to repaint, refinish or any other way to "rework" furniture than go out and buy it from a showroom (at least that's what I tell myself anyway! If I ever get the opportunity to compare the difference - I will let you know! ;)