Thursday, June 6, 2013

Vanity in French Vanilla

Ok--here's another confession.  I hate furniture picking.  No, no, don't leave and don't adjust your screen.  You read it right.  I hate taking the time to look on CL, and I hate calling people to set something up that will work to come look, and I hate driving to pick up anything.  (I live in a fairly small town and to find anything good requires at least a 45 minute drive.)  Hmmm, I just sound lazy don't I?  I just want to wake up and find fabulous pieces of furniture stacked in my garage.  But, you can't paint if you don't pick, so picking it is.  

This past weekend my daughter had her first softball tournament (she is adorable in her uniform) and we had a little time to kill between games, so I drug my sweet hubby to a consignment store 20 minutes away and made him go picking with me! :)  I found this beautiful little vanity and the price was right, so into the truck it went.  

Well, looks are sometimes deceiving!  This cute little piece of furniture was the vanity from hell!  First, I had to peel veneer that just refused to come off and it ended up taking 1/2 a day to fix that mess. And, I won't even tell you that I spent hours painting all the details in a contrasting color only to find out that I hated it when I was done and ended up painting over all of my hard work.  Big fat ugh!  Then it took alternating coats of shellac and paint to combat all the bleed through (sorry gals, but primer doesn't always work).  Another big fat ugh!  Then a man came into my garage and tried to move it while it was wet and left fingerprints in it.  By this time I just wanted to burn it in my fire pit.

Then I went to stage it and the pot I put on it left a water ring that I had to fix.  Seriously?!  Somebody better come buy this thing before I hack it into pieces!  I actually fixed the water stain with a little Danish Oil in Dark Walnut.  Worked like a charm!  

So, without anymore bitc... complaining here it is!


 Before

I have yet to pass one of these up!!  Check out the extra set of legs! ;)



 After

She did turn out to be very pretty, even after all of that. 















 This top is so unbelievably beautiful, which is why I was mortified when I discovered the offending spot!





 She has such pretty details all over....better to just distress them a little and let them speak for themselves.



I was lucky enough to find this cute little chair at the same consignment shop as the vanity.  Score! Ania picked out the fabric.  That girl has good taste already! :)

This vanity was featured by :
Rita @ Suburbs Mama
Nita @ Mod Vintage Life
Kathryn @ The Dedicated House
Angela @ Hickory Trail
Sharon @ Elizabeth & Co.
Brooke @ Start at Home
Deborah @ Green Willow Pond

Thank you!


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37 comments:

  1. WOW!! You would never say that you went through all that looking at the after! Looks are deceiving!! I think that is why people lok at our furniture and say "that much for that? what did they do slap a coat of paint on?" In reality it took our sweat, blood and tears! lol

    You did a FABULOUS job!! Hope it sells right away!!
    ~Christina

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  2. I had the same deal with a waterfall buffet that was free...I might have said several very bad words everytime I went to work on it. Like your amazing vanity, my buffet ended up looking pretty good :) And I HATE picking too! I'd love to find a few pieces that don't need major work for a change.

    Lovely lovely. Great job, and i'm sure it will sell fast!

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  3. I've been looking at your blog for 6 months or so and this is by far my favorite piece so far. Wish I was close enough to buy it. Great job, it's beautiful. :)

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  4. It's beautiful, Lisa! I love the lighter color and that you left the top stained wood. The chair goes with it perfectly. I hate those projects when you feel like the world is conspiring against you, but your determination paid off! : )

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  5. This is absolutely beautiful!! The top looks awesome! Well worth all of your efforts.

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  6. I know how you feel. I just refinished a roll-top desk that before I was done, I hated to even look at it. But once finished I love it. Despite all your problems it turned out beautiful. I can understand why you got so upset with the watermark, that top is gorgeous. Love the distressed white with that top, and the chair goes perfectly.

    Linda

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  7. Oh My GOSH! But did she turn out a beauty!!! Her top is stunning, the detail and the distressing...I love!

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  8. You made me laugh. I am so like you in regards to picking and your story of your reworking magic cracked me up. But oh my is that a beautiful piece and it should go very quickly. Just hope they don't want to put it on layaway and ask for a discount. lol
    Hugs
    Becky

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  9. This piece is so pretty! I love the extra legs too. You did an amazing job, even if the road was a little longer than you had hoped.

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  10. Your process sounds like mine! Things never go quite as smoothly as I think they will.
    This piece looks wonderful.

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  11. OMG it's just gorgeous. I just painted a similar vanity and now that I see yours, I want to go scrape off some of the paint and let the gorgeous details come through. What an amazing piece and what great work you've done. What kind of paint did you use??

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  12. Oh My Lisa, gorgeous make-over! You know I am pinning this for inspiration!! Hope you have a wonderful weekend, Gail

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  13. It turned out beautifully, worth all your hard work and I'm sure it will sell quickly.

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  14. Absolutely gorgeous. I have no other words, except I want one! You really do amazing work!

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  15. The piece looks just beautiful! What a great job and I love the two toned look!

    Best
    Chernee

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  16. You are very talented at your craft. Love the dresser! You have many furniture pieces for inspiration, I notice. Thanks for sharing. :-)
    His blessings,
    Kim @ Curtain Queen

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  17. That vanity is stunning. I'm just starting to redo furniture (I've only done 3 things so far). I hope I can someday come close to having the skills to do the gorgeous job you did!! What an inspiration!
    Nancy @ Daffodils at Home

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  18. Gorgeous. The "vanilla" and the wood are perfect together. Thanks so much for sharing on Project Inspire{d} :) Pinning

    Nancy

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  19. That turned out beautiful! If you don't like picking, you should try auctions. You could get a bunch of pieces all at one time. I usually go to auctionzip.com to find auctions near me. Plus, most of them will post pictures of what will be at the auction so you can see if they are going to have furniture. And, it's fun! Either way, keep up what you are doing...you're good at it!

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  20. Lisa, Congrats! You'll be featured this week at Simple & Sweet Fridays! Don't forget to grab a button if you'd like. Have a wonderful weekend!

    Take Care,
    Jody

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  21. Hey I just found this and LOVE it! I would love you to come link up to my Paint Party this week Complete with giveaway!

    http://startathome.blogspot.com/2013/06/paint-party-and-giveaway.html

    Hope to see you soon!
    Brooke

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  22. ohh che meraviglia, è bellissimo, come si trasformano i mobili con lo shabby, bellissimo lavoro!!

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  23. Still turned out pretty! Thank you for sharing at Give Me The Goods!

    Dimples & Pig Tales

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  24. Beautiful. Love it.
    I`m your new follower

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  25. Wow Lisa! I think she was definitely worth all the aggravation! And I'm totally with you on the picking part - it's annoying! It takes way too much time and I often come home empty-handed. I say yes to garage magically filled with furniture!

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  26. I featured your pretty vanity today at Mod Mix Monday at ModVintageLife!

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  27. Just Gorgeous!! Thank you for sharing. You are one of the features today at the Make it Pretty Monday party at The Dedicated House. The party will be live as soon as I finish writing the post! lol. Hope to see you again at the bash! Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

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  28. Good Afternoon Lisa, I notice I am at the bottom of a very long list of wonderful comments.
    As I read your story about the dressing table, I thought oh dear, this is a piece which would have been better to leave alone, as it was causing you so many problems, but I am so glad you carried on, because the end result is marvellous. I have to say, if I lived close by, I would be offering to buy it, as I really love it. Sadly I don't live close by, I live in England, so I will just have to admire this dressing table from afar.
    Lisa, I have enjoyed my visit and I have become a new follower.
    I would like to invite you to visit me at Ivy, Phyllis and Me! when you have the time as it will be lovely seeing you there.
    Best wishes to you,
    Daphne

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  29. Drop dead gorgeous! I have my mother's art deco dresser and vanity (somewhat similar to this) and I am now inspired by you to take the plunge and paint them. Thanks for the inspiration! P.S. Saw your feature at Create Inspire, great job!

    Mary

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  30. It's gorgeous! Hopefully worth all you put into it, in retrospect!

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  31. Just perfect! I have one I need to do but it is not nearly as nice as yours. Mine is falling apart a bit. Thanks for linking up with me!

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  32. I featured your amazing buffet on my Paint Party! Thank you for linking up!

    Brooke
    startathome.blogspot.com

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  33. It's beautiful! What color/paint did you use?

    Christine

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  34. Love this! I just did a sideboard in a similar way. I love leaving the tops wood ~ the contrast is beautiful!

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  35. Gorgeous! Do you remember what color you used for the white paint? Also, did you use shellac over your wood stained top?

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