Mid-Life Revival

This little cutie left very early yesterday (Thursday) morning to head back home to North Carolina.😔 I already miss him, but I'm very thankful that he and his mommy & daddy stayed with us for 5 weeks and we had the honor of celebrating his first birthday during their stay!🥳🎂

Yesterday, he let me take some photos of him in this highchair that I painted for his first birthday party on July 19. He was very cooperative for our photo shoot despite the lack of food or cake...But what you can't see is that his papa was tossing balloons up in the air behind me and making funny faces!🎈🤭

Let me know in the comments ⤵️ if you have grandchildren who live a long distance from you or you yourself lived a long distance from your grandparents.

In between house projects, I was able to work on this client owned end table.

This oak six legged barley twist end table once belonged to the grandparents of my client.

Abbey, a repeat client, reached out to me to see if I would update this well- worn little table for her...She wanted to do this for her sister as part of her sister's birthday gift. How sweet is that!💝

Here is the text message I received from my client's sister on Monday, July 15, 2024...

"Thank you so much for my side table, It's absolutely beautiful and just what I was looking for!"

I LOVE WHAT I GET TO DO... PRESERVING THE PAST ONE PIECE AT A TIME!❤️

Swipe to check out the before photos.

Questions about the products I used, drop them in the comments below.⤵️

***Lastly, please feel free to contact me if you have something sentimental that you would like me to preserve for you as well.😊

Have you ever had a situation when something unexpectedly good came from an unfortunate accident/mishap that was initially very upsetting to you?

This client owned table is one of those situations that I am calling "A Happy Little Accident”...You see, this new to me client experienced an unfortunate accident in which a tea light candle tipped over on her newly purchased tabletop. Naturally, she was very upset and tried to repair it herself with some paint (see 📸), but wasn't satisfied with how it looked, so she reached out to me for help.

I ended up sanding the entire top down to raw wood with my SurfPrep Sanders (see 📸). My client was so excited to see that under that factory sprayed paint, was this beautiful wood!😲 She stated to me that she originally tried to find a stained top table with painted base, but couldn't find anything that worked for her small dining space...So she asked me to stain the top rather than repaint it!

“Happy Little Accident”?
We think so!👍

Lesson learned...No more real candles on her tabletop! Fyi...These tealights are battery operated.😉




SurfPrep Sanding

After taking almost a 6 month hiatus from refinishing furniture to work on our daughter's fixer upper, I can not tell you how excited I am to be able to share with all of you my very first furniture project of 2024!

A Facebook Marketplace find, this dresser was the perfect style to be repurposed into a bathroom vanity for my daughter Abby's newly remodeled bathroom! Although there were a lot of surface scratches in the old finish and some lifting veneer on the top, this dresser was well constructed and offered a lot of storage!

Swipe to see some of the before pictures.

Have you or would you consider repurposing a piece of furniture into a bathroom vanity?🤔Comment ⤵️

After taking almost a 6 month hiatus from refinishing furniture to work on our daughter's fixer upper, I can not tell you how excited I am to be able to share with all of you my very first furniture project of 2024...A dresser that has been repurposed into a bathroom vanity!

Back in February, while I was between custom work, I decided to strip the paint off of this dresser. You see, this dresser once belonged to my maternal Grandma, and it was given to me when I was expecting my twins (which was over 33 years ago in 1990). It had already been painted at least once prior to me receiving it, and then I would go on to paint it 2 more times (the first time with cans of spray paint 🤦‍♀️ and many years later with chalk paint).

I stripped the multiple coats of paint off carefully using Klean Strip (and yes I was wearing my PPE). This process was very messy and time-consuming, but so necessary!!!

Once I unveiled the tiger oak veneer under all that paint, I wasn't really sure I liked how it looked, so I bleached it. Still not loving the look, I really felt bad, but I decided it was meant to be painted! So I painted it in a creamy white color.

Next, I really had a difficult time deciding on hardware and custom work was a priority, so the dresser just sat in the wings waiting for me to finally decide on these French Provincial style handles that I had in my hardware stash. I felt like the dresser was quite plain before, but not anymore!

I forgot to get a true before photo, but check out what this dresser looked like in the very early stages and let me know what you think. Was it worth all that messy stripping and the very long wait??


'sDresser

SNEAK PEEK...
Grandma's Dresser, the one with multiple layers of paint!!!
Yes it is finally finished and ready to head to my daughter Meagan's guest bedroom!

Check in the comments section⤵️ for a reminder of the before.😲 Does anyone remember seeing me working on this earlier this year?

My husband and I have been wanting to do another house remodel pretty much ever since we helped our daughter Meagan with her house back in 2019. However “life events” prevented us from doing that until recently when our youngest daughter Abby began searching for a house.

If anyone has been a part of the real estate market in recent years, you are fully aware of how difficult & frustrating it can be to purchase a house! If you have not experienced it, let me briefly sum it up as follows...Unless you put in an all cash offer, wave inspections, offer much more than the listing price, you might as well be prepared to have your offer rejected. This is what the three of us experienced seven times over until we finally were able to find a 1920 2-Story Farmhouse on 2 acres with an additional garage to use for my furniture refinishing business…The catch however would be that it was more house than Abby could afford or needed; and it needed a lot of work!!! So… After much discussion and prayer, Tim and I decided that we would help Abby out by purchasing the house with her. This would provide her a place to put down roots; provide a workshop for MLR; and invest in all three of our future financial goals. More on the details of this joint purchase will come in due time, but for now, I invite you to follow along on this new project journey of mine and I want to leave you with these words of encouragement…

You are created by God for a purpose! Maybe you presently do not know what that purpose is or maybe a light bulb just went off in your head and heart (an “Aha Moment”} while reading this…Either way, it all happens in GOD’S TIMING…NOT OURS! Never would I have imagined when Tim and I graduated from college, got married, and started a family; that this would be the purpose/path we would eventually go down (furniture refinishing/working on another fixer upper), but we are and we firmly believe that all the experiences we have gone through and people that we have met throughout these 36+ years of marriage have been preparing us for what God has instore for us next!

I would love to hear, what purpose do you see God preparing you for at this time? Comment Below ⤵️
~Patty❤️

I would have to say that my favorite part of this dresser transformation for Levi's bedroom is this simple black and white drawer liner I found paired with the black label hardware!!💙

I know lining drawers isn't everyone's must do, but would you agree with me that this look is so much more clean and inviting than plain brown drawers?

SO I'M CURIOUS, ARE YOU?...

➡️ 1. TEAM DRAWER LINERS!🙋‍♀️

or

➡️ 2. TEAM WHY DO YOU NEED DRAWER LINERS?🤔

Comment ⤵️ with either a 1 or a 2.

Levi came home with his mama today!🙏 We are all very thankful that we were able to spend a short time with him before heading back to Michigan.💙

We all took turns holding Levi, and I even got the chance to change his diaper for the first time on top of this sweet dresser that I refinished for his nursery.

No problem finding things in these dresser drawers, thanks to these little labels Katelyn made!

Here is a little glimpse of the dresser I was working on for my first grandchild back in April.

I'm excited to finally be able to share this dresser with all of you now that our grandson has arrived! Stay tuned for more photos coming tomorrow!💙

Once upon a time, this cabinet was the upper portion of a two-piece dining room sideboard/china cabinet.

My client considered selling it since she had no desire anymore to use it as it was originally intended and it was just taking up space in their basement storage area...But when I told her what other furniture refinishers I follow were doing with these upper cabinets, she was very intrigued and interested in repurposing it for a spot in their house besides the basement storage!😲🤔😉

After doing some research/sourcing, what legs would be best suited for this large cabinet, my client chose these, and honestly, I think it looks like they have always been a part of this piece.

What do you think? Check out the before photo...Comment Below ⤵️

Once upon a time, this cabinet was the upper portion of a two-piece dining room sideboard/china cabinet.

My client considered selling it since she had no desire anymore to use it as it was originally intended and it was just taking up space in their basement storage area...But when I told her what other furniture refinishers I follow were doing with these upper cabinets, she was very intrigued!

So I added legs to this cabinet to elevate it, and honestly, I think it looks like they were always a part of this piece. What do you think?

I delivered this now "DISPLAY CABINET" back to my client last week before we left for North Carolina, and I am excited to see what they decide to display in it!

Our homes should tell a story about the people who live there, so I'm curious... WHAT WOULD YOU DISPLAY IF IT WAS YOUR CABINET?

When thinking back on how the dots of this repeat client relationship were connected over 3 years ago, there is no doubt in my mind WHO wrote this story as well as this mid-life furniture journey of mine!!💗🙏

It is a cool story and one I would love to share if any of you are interested in hearing more about it. If you are, give me a LIKE & COMMENT ⤵️ ...Interested.😊

A past client of mine gave me this little pine box (check out the before). After some minor modifications, repairs, and some paint, I think this pine box turned out pretty good if I do say so myself!😉

I'm curious what would you have done if someone offered you this pine box? Comment below⤵️... Accept? or Pass?🤔

Sneak Peek...
Remember the pine box I was sharing (and deconstructing) recently?🤔

If you were to visit me at my workshop these days, you would finally see that my front office space is furnished with this sweet little dropleaf table and ladder back chairs.😊

Because of my indecisiveness when it comes to my own pieces, I realize this full reveal has been a long time coming... Thank goodness I snapped these before photos to remind us all of where I started!!!

➡️Now swipe to see those before photos; as well as some close ups of that distressed black paint.🖤 Then give me a LIKE and let me know in the COMMENTS BELOW if the black paint was a good decision.🤔

It is hard to believe that I am nearing the end of month ten of my one year lease... How time flies when you're having fun!

In just a couple of short weeks, I have to make a difficult decision whether to renew my lease for another year or not.

It has been absolutely wonderful to have this workshop and I am so, so grateful that my Heavenly Father opened this door for me and has faithfully provided the clients to make it possible to pay all my expenses (rent, utilities, insurance, supplies)!🙏

But upcoming family events may cause me to back away for a little while on doing custom work, which then will force me to not renew.

I'll keep you posted on what I decide to do and where I see God leading me. Until then I will continue to...

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans."
Proverbs 16:3

When deciding to stop at a thrift store, garage sale, or estate sale, one never knows if or what they will find...Check out my thrift store find on one of those days last summer.





https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtXVmVcg37q/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==

When deciding to stop at a thrift store, garage sale, or estate sale, one never knows if or what they will find! Check out my thrift store find on one of those days last summer. . . . . . #MidlifeRevival #PreservingThePastOnePieceAtATime #VintageWickerRocker #Thriftstorefind #sharemyvintagestyle

This sweet little vintage wicker rocker, which now resides on our three season porch, has got to be one of my top thrift store finds! It may be a little rickety sounding at first, but it is very cozy looking and comfortable!

Thanks to my mom's sewing talents (thanks mom!), I purchased this fabric remnant online and asked her to make me a new seat cushion and lumbar pillow.

Swipe to see the before of this rocker!😲

I'm no expert on wicker, but this is what I did to clean it and hydrate it...And it seemed to really brighten up the old, dry wicker and remain that way.
(Last summer's project)

1. I sprayed it with a 50/50 vinegar water solution.
2. I set it out in the sun to dry.
3. Using an old lint free sock, I massaged the wicker with a wood revitalizer that contains H**p Oil.
4. After 24 hours, I took a clean microfiber cloth to wipe any excess off.

If you have any other questions or comments about this rocker, please comment below. Thank you!

If you follow my stories, you have probably already seen this wicker rocker that I scored at a local thrift store last summer.

If you don't follow my stories or missed it, here is a little peek of the before and after. Full view coming later today.

Last Saturday, I finally got around to painting the daybed on our three season porch.

I have wanted to paint this daybed pretty much ever since I purchased it 2 years ago.

(See the before picture)

Tell me, what do you think? Would you have painted it or left it as is?

Just wanted to share a few pictures of the chairs I recently refreshed for my Aunt Laurie's Cottage.

Last week Thursday, my husband and I delivered these four chairs to her cottage just in time for the summer season kickoff...Take a look at that view!🏖🌞

Paint Line Used: Benjamin Moore Advance in White Dove.

You never know whether a quick thrift store pitstop will be worthwhile or not, but on this particular day back in April it was!

My daughter Meagan had wanted a mirror for her bedroom and had been looking in stores like Home Goods, Target, etc.; but just couldn't find exactly what she wanted. When I came across this vintage mirror at Gateway Mission in Holland, I wasn't sure if she would like it (since it wasn't the style she had been searching for), but she did.👍😊

With a little bit of paint, I think it fits in perfectly with her other vintage pieces!

Check out the before and comment below ⤵️...Was it a worthwhile stop?🤔

US 36 YEARS AGO TODAY!!💞🥂

Has it always been easy, NO... But it has definitely been a wonderful journey to do together!! We've had many ups and downs along the way just as any married couple does; but through it all we have stayed committed and persevered together I believe because of the fact that we have kept God as the anchor of our of our relationship through it all!!🙏

Thank you, Tim, for continuing to love, support, and encourage me on this mid-life furniture journey and I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us in the years to come!💝

Check Out This Before And After...

Don't let the size of this client owned empire-style secretary desk fool you into thinking this was an easy refresh.

I was able to date this desk to be approximately 110 years old (Made between 1899-1910). The veneer was very brittle and flaking off so I had no choice but to remove a good portion of it!

Besides removing veneer, there were many other repairs and cleanup to do along the way, which if you haven't already seen it, go check out my previous post/reel of all that went into making this desk ready for another 100 years!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CshriBagjCo/

Uncovering some of the history of this little antique secretary desk made this a fun project to work on!

It isn’t very often that I find clues that help me narrow down where and when a piece is actually made, but thanks to the maker’s mark in the drawer and the little ticket from a mercantile business I found under the insert inside the desk, I was able to narrow down the approximate age of this desk to 1899-1910, making this desk at least 110 years old!😲

This desk was made by the Herzog Art Furniture Company of Saginaw, Michigan, which started operations on March 1, 1899, with two men, one boy, and a capital of $ 3,000. The little ticket (expired March 1, 1914) was from the J.H. Steinberg Mercantile Store, located in Traverse City, Michigan, which leads me to believe is where the desk called home for many years.

If you have any questions about this transformation...the products, tools, or steps; please do not hesitate to ask by commenting below ⤵️.





https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsUa-7NgPJE/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==

Uncovering some of the history of this little antique secretary desk made this a fun project to work on! It isn’t very often that I find clues that help me narrow down where and when a piece is actually made, but thanks to the maker’s mark in the drawer and the little ticket from a mercantile business I found under the insert inside the desk, I was able to narrow down the approximate age of this desk to 1899-1910, making this desk at least 110 years old!😲 This desk was made by the Herzog Art Furniture Company of Saginaw, Michigan, which started operations on March 1, 1899, with two men, one boy, and a capital of $ 3,000. The little ticket (expired March 1, 1914) was from the J.H. Steinberg Mercantile Store, located in Traverse City, Michigan, which leads me to believe is where the desk called home for many years. If you have any questions about this transformation...the products, tools, or steps; please do not hesitate to ask by commenting below ⤵️. . . . . . #MidlifeRevival #Preservingthepastonepieceatatime #AntiqueSecretaryDesk #Blackpaintedfurniture #ZibraDrama

One of my top favorite reasons why I love doing what I do is this...THE BEFORE &AFTER!

Take a look and let me know ⤵️ your thoughts.

Secretary desks can be a lot of work and, although this one was small, she was no exception! The tiger oak veneer was in rough shape and so I had no choice but to remove a good portion of it!

Stay tuned...I have so much more to share about this transformation and the history I uncovered about this little antique desk!!

Here is a little glimpse of the tiger oak veneer desk I recently completed for a new to me client. Can you make out the color my client chose?

The Spectacles (eye glasses)are my thrift store find from last week. I'm not sure how old they really are, but I thought they fit with the era in which this desk was made and would have been first used(1899-1912).

Stay tuned, I cannot wait to share the full reveal later tomorrow...She definitely looks different!