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Monday, May 11, 2015

EVOLUTION OF ME AND PAINT

Once upon a time, long, long ago (1969 to be exact), in a land called Arkansas, there lived a very young bride-to-be. She was to be married in August, so in the heat of the Arkansas Summer, she was re-doing furniture for their very tiny first house. With no money to spare, she raided her parent's attic for finds to enable her turn their first house into a home. One of the pieces she tackled was a vintage smoking stand.  


PAINTED SMOKING STAND before 1

She wanted to use one of the "new" antiquing paint kits.  Since her kitchen appliances would be Avocado Green (It was either that or Harvest Gold - the 2 appliance colors in that ancient time), she decided to "antique" the piece green. She spent two days outside, in high temperatures, with an obnoxious smelling stripper, but she was determined to bring a masterpiece into their new home. 
PAINTED SMOKING STAND before 2

After stripping the piece, she applied two coats of obnoxious smelling green paint (with 24 hours drying time between coats).  The third coat (a brown color) was then rubbed on with a soft rag. She wasn't sure it looked like the pictures in the brochure, but she proudly placed it beside the sofa anyway. In the years since that hot Summer, this little table has seen a lot of use (talk about distressed - this table needed sedatives!).


PAINTED SMOKING STAND 3

Currently, it is in the back entry of our house - the one we (and our guests) walk through every day (more than once). Recently, I realized how bad it was looking. So, I got out my Annie Sloan Graphite chalk paint, and with no prep work, comfortably stayed inside the air conditioned house to paint it with no-smell paint.  (Graphite looks blue in my pictures, but it's really a dark gray.)


PAINTED SMOKING STAND 4

I haven't applied the second coat or the wax yet, and I have to find a latch to replace the missing latch, but she's already looking better.


PAINTED SMOKING STAND 5

On top, I used an Arkansas serving plate and a Ball jar with a couple of Peonies from the yard.
PAINTED SMOKING STAND before 1-vert

My Avocado Green appliances died long ago, but this little table lived on. Maybe, after almost being affixated from the fumes, I couldn't stand the thought of painting over that "gorgeous" paint job. I think I had just stopped looking at it. You can only imagine my shock when I did finally look at it! I couldn't get that paint brush out fast enough.  I wonder if, some day, my children will look at this piece and say, "Mom did that back when chalk paint was popular." Then, they'll probably paint it with some new kind of paint, or put it in the dumpster. It has served us well for a lot of years, and it's going to continue to serve us a while longer.

Thanks for coming to see my partially finished smoking stand. She's feeling a little more liked today than she did yesterday.
 



5 comments:

Ginger said...

Your comments make me laugh, love your sense of humor. I remember having the harvest gold. Your little table looks good

Lynne (lynnesgiftsfromtheheart) said...

I think your table looks great, love the way you can tell a story, wish I had that gift. fondly ~lynne~

Celestina Marie said...

You are an amazing story teller Laurie. Love this transformation with the new color. This treasure turned out beautiful
Hugs, CM

Glenda/MidSouth said...

Oh yes - I remember the antiquing paint kits. Used one on a sewing machine cabinet in the very early 70's. :)Don't remember what I did with the cabinet when moved.
Enjoy the weekend!

One More Time Events said...

Love the new color of your table ... very nice!