A Genuine Treasure!

Well I hope everyone had a wonderful and healthy Christmas!  The flu bug has been lingering around our household now since my husband brought it home the day before Christmas Eve, yuck!  So far 3 out of us 7 have been knocked down with it.  Hoping I can hold out till New Years before I get it. As many of you mothers know, there is not enough time for us to be sick!!
Any way, things have been crazy busy around the house and the shop.  Today I'd like to share with you one of the treasures I was lucky enough to fall upon, a 100 year old 8 foot long harvest table.  Yes, it's true!  I usually get most of my furniture through Craigslist or by word of mouth, but one night as I was searching for furniture on the net, I came across a local auction site that you could bid on things and then pick it up at a warehouse that wasn't far from me.  As I scanned the items, nothing really caught my eye until I came to a picture of this massive table, complete with drawers!  My heart began to race as I bid on it hoping no one else would catch on to this beauty and outbid me.
I waited impatiently for that week to go by and YES, no one else wanted this hidden jewel, so at last it was mine!  When I picked it up, I was a little disappointed to see that the top was veneer and was peeling up a bit, but the solid brass feet and knobs made up for that.  I could hardly wait to get this "beast" as we called it around here,  home to start its restoration.
Has anyone ever tried to remove veneer?  Yeah, not so fun.  It took 4 of us with heat guns and putty knives to do it, but after 6 back breaking hours, the solid oak wood beneath was finally exposed! It was wonderfully distressed with all kinds of awesome knicks and bashes from many years of use!  I sanded it down a bit and stained it with a dark walnut stain which I thought looked perfect for a rustic aged look, and applied 2 coats of polyurethane for protection and easy cleaning.  The legs and sides were in great condition, so besides just reinforcing the legs a bit and the drawers, the bottom half of the table just got a lemon oil treatment, revealing its former beauty of what I think may have been quarter sawn oak!
After the work was finished on the table, I was in search for chairs to complete the set.  At first I thought maybe a mix match set would look good, but then at my very first live auction, I came upon six 4 feet tall antique rush bottom chairs in perfect condition, and my search was over.  After my husband reinforced them, I cleaned them with lemon oil and voila, a complete SET!
So now it was time to haul the beast and chairs to the shop.  When I picked the table up at the holding warehouse, the legs were not attached for easy moving, but being the "yes I can" kind of woman, haha, I said let do it!  And so, with my very strong husband, we carried this 250 + pound table in the shop and I set it up just so!  I made a burlap runner to put down the middle and on that stood 5 old milk jars holding fresh white daisies,  ahh, it was simple yet beautiful:)

Well I didn't think it would be around long, and I was right. The Harvest table sold after only 2 days on the shop floor! Some lucky family enjoyed their Christmas feast on that wonderful "beast" of a table! They however didn't need the chairs, but I'm sure they too will find home soon enough:)

Size doesn't matter!

Now a days it seems like everything is just so big! I'm talking about things from houses to cars and of course furniture.  I've seen china cabinets take up an entire wall, but that wall of course was huge as well so it had to have a piece that big to make it look smaller, make sense?
As I was looking for a set to refurbish on craigslist, I came across this 1920's set made up of a dining table, 4 chairs, china cabinet and buffet.  It was cute in the pictures, but I could tell it needed some lovin!  So, I called the number and arranged a time to pick up.  When I arrived at the seller's home and saw that set, I was in love with it's petite size and cuteness!  I have never seen furniture of this style and size.  In the old days, homes were not so big, so furniture of course wasn't either.  Although it's not huge by today's standards, this adorable set is going to look fabulous in some one's home where space is perhaps limited or maybe in a kitchen breakfast nook!

With its dark wood color and hideous puke green(sorry but true) paint that was painted as star burst on the tops of the table, buffet and china cabinet and even on the chairs, I thought a pretty light color would make it appear bigger, yet still look as if it belongs in a cute cottage in the woods or in a beach house.  So I chose Annie Sloan's Old Ochre, but decided to refinished the wood tops of each piece in a dark walnut.  After stripping that old finish off and sanding it down, I could already see the beauty of the wood grain and was totally excited to put on the stain and poly!  I then distressed the whole set to make it appear like it's been loved for ages, very cottage chic.
It took some time to finish, but this set turned out just as I imagined, completely adorable!

So see, just because it not huge by today's standards, when it come to the cuteness meter, this set is off the charts in my book:)
This set is now sits pretty in the shop awaiting its new home!

Here are some before and after pictures!
********************************************************************************
BEFORE:

AND NOW!!

Knott So Shabby's Ribbon Cutting

There has been times in my life when I was over joyed with pride and emotion.  As a child, it was receiving MVP for volleyball or being selected for State Vocal Contest.  As a young women, it was the moment my husband proposed and walking down that church aisle. And of course each and every time my husband and I looked down at one of our children's faces as they arrived into this world.
Well, last night was another one of  those moments.  With my family and bestie Jen, we cut that red ribbon to my new shop in town, and it felt wonderful.  I've always been a hard worker and I try not to  let anything stand  in the way when achieving something.
What started out as a hobby kind of thing to bring in a few dollars a month out of our home, has turned into something I have secretly wanted for some time, my own place to showcase my furniture!  When I sold my work out of my home, it was great, but because there was a lot of traffic coming and going and with our young children being there with that, we decided it was best to get a place that could be a holding area or  "showroom" if you will,  of my furniture and home decor.  So it's official, hard work has paid off and my new shop
"Knott So Shabby" is now on the map in historic Columbia Illinois!

My wonderful husband 5 kiddos help me celebrate!
I will post the actual ribbon cutting soon!

"Knott So Shabby" for day 1!

After a month or so of preparing for my first day open, it finally arrived!  Some think the hardest part of this business is the painting...wrong.  For me the painting is like sweet therapy.  Between being a parent of 5 children, keeping house and paying the bills, I truly LOVE to get away in my shop and just chill and let my creative juices flow into my furniture.  Finding the furniture to paint on the other hand, is a whole other beast!  I hand pick every piece I paint and when doing so, I look for character and good quality the most (and reasonably priced of course!).  Sometimes that means I have to drive here and there to pick these pieces up.  So, when I decided to open a shop to "display" my work, I was like a mad woman driving all over God's creation looking and bargaining and begging!  I finally thought I could relax for a while when I had my entire inventory painted and beautifully displayed in my sparkly new shop...not so much.
Today, I went in thinking, it will be o.k. if I don't sell anything, I always have next week.  Well, my first customers came in around 10 a.m. and by 1 p.m., I had sold 7 pieces, yikes!  Now, I'm not complaining a bit, it's a good "yikes", but just when I thought I could take a breather after working so hard on setting up shop, I left my store today feeling happy, proud and quite honestly a little freaked out!  After every piece that was taken out today, I felt panic kicking in. I need more furniture, I need more furniture is all I was thinking. But, as always, I work best under pressure, so all will be well soon enough!  I am thankful for my wonderful husband who stayed home with the children for a whole day and soon found what it's like a day in my shoes, my very helpful teenage daughters for helping around the house with daily chores, and of course, for God who gives me strength, patience and guidance every day.