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Friday, July 9, 2010

Tips and Tricks

I'm often asked how to enhance the feeling of country romance and gracious living with things you may have on hand. I happen to have two different tables that I have refinished over the years.
One is a 1920's style plain kitchen table with a butterfly leaf. I acquired it early in my marriage when we had no kitchen table, but did have twenty dollars to spare. I found this solid all-wood piece at a second hand store for that amount and it lived with  growing kids and several moves before I finally got around to scraping years and years of paint from the top,  revealing a more or less regular and smooth birch top which a friend and I sanded and coated with satin varathane. We then painted the legs and apron with a williamsburg blue left from the kitchen's fireplace wall, trim and cupboards. You will see photos of it from time to time displaying various items in my listings.
Another much smaller table was found at a yard sale for $5 - that's like giving it away! It's top had been replaced years ago by very primitive barnboard or flooring which was filthy and stained by oil and paint cans - clearly it had been in a barn or garage for years. My friend and I scraped the legs and after minimal sanding just left them. The top was painted using more of the williamsburg blue. It reposes in my bathroom with fresh towels sitting on it.
Both the primitive and the smoother vintage table will suit many people's nesting instincts. Imagine the blue tabletop with a large lacy doily or sweet teacloth sitting on your terrace with a blue willow tea service - just sweet.
The larger table I described would be lovely with some Jadeite Anchor Hocking items like the mixing or serving bowl I'm listing later today, or perhaps the sweet oriental teacloth from Macao I just listed.

2 comments:

  1. I love the idea of painting part and then leaving the wood on part. Sounds lovely. That's a great BLUE that you've found. :)

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  2. Thanks Sandra: Keep watching - if I don't have to shut down due to thunderstorms today I will be listing more treasures!

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