antique vanity

Whew!  I am exhausted from all of the excitement surrounding the chalk paint giveaway!  But I have lots of pieces to catch up on, so back to the daily grind.

This gorgeous piece was given to me (yes, I said GIVEN!) by a family I have known for years & years.  I watched their children grow up, they were by 'bosses' when I lifeguarded at the neighborhood pool, they were references for me when I got my first job… I love this family!

Mrs. C contacted me when she was having a garage sale recently and gave me first dibs on what she had.  I loved this piece but when I tried to buy it she offered me a deal instead.  In exchange for refinishing her breakfast room table & chairs, she would give me this piece & some others.  Yes, please!

Here she is before.  I don't normally name my pieces, but I'm calling this the "Katie" vanity, after the C's daughter who had this in her room for years.

Pre-broken-arm, I might have totally refinished this piece.  Sadly, that is out of the cards for me now.  I just don't have the strength in my right arm to do the heavy-duty work like that anymore.

So I painted her in Annie Sloan's Old White, distressed, used clear wax and then a teensy bit of dark wax.

I did strip & restain the top.  It had some damage (see below) but the dark walnut stain all but covered it up.

"Katie" was also missing one of her gorgeous pulls.  I went to Eugenia's (see post about Eugenia's here) and although they didn't have an exact match, I found two antique pulls that I felt like 'went' with the piece for the top two drawers.

Top after stripping & sanding:

You can see some of the damage that I couldn't remove in this picture:

And after just one coat of wood conditioner & dark walnut stain:

You can see here that the original stain is still slightly visible, but you have to be looking for it.

Here she is in progress, missing her top two pulls (I had the one in my purse to try to match it).

And after:

Here are the 'new' antique pulls I selected.  Since I couldn't get an exact match, I went away from the original since I didn't want it to look like I tried to match them & failed :)

I knew I wouldn't sell this piece  but if you remember, I have two boys (not exactly boy-appropriate!)… so my sister walked in, took one look, and asked if she could have it for my niece.  Yes, you can!

So I'll get to admire it for years to come :)  And, Mrs. C, if you decide you want it back, it is yours!!

thanks!
kathie

inking to these great parties:

Restore Interiors Restored It Wednesday

Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday

My repurposed Life's Catch as Catch Can

Primitive & Proper's Piece of Work Wednesdays

DIY by Design's Swing into Spring