Well, it's been awhile since the last post from our travels and Leah and I are broke as a joke from Europe. To make up for the hemmorhaged bank accounts, we are embarking upon an exciting new side job. The origin of this venture began during summer vacation when I was inspired to buy and paint a vintage vanity I had found at my neighborhood thrift store/antique shop/barn full o'stuff for $20. Talk about a steal. (I actually brought my mom back to this treasure trove a few days later and she was terrified and unimpressed. I'm convinced there are many more diamonds in the rough to be found and that means more for me.) Now, I'm the type of person who is always full of grand ideas when it comes to crafts and home projects. However, I tend to fall a little short of the execution. Enter Leah, who was blessed with the art of perfectionism and superb decorating taste. I bought a can of Annie Sloan chalk paint (or two) and some wax and tackled the project of repainting that ugly beast. It turned out pretty well for a first try although I will probably do more to it now that I've had some practice.
Before:
After (but before all of the drawers were put back in):
I was hooked and wanted to paint literally every piece of wood furniture in my sight lines. But I restrained from going overboard (at least that night) and settled for an additional smaller project of a little bookshelf my mom had recently given to me.
Before:
After: bad lighting but you get the gist.
Now do understand that this chalk paint is pretty pricy but there's a good reason for it. It is simply amazing. No sanding required. No primer needed. You just slap on a coat or two and that's it. Well before adding some wax. But it goes on so thickly and dries so quickly (rap lyrics?) that the process takes no time at all.
So after blowing all of our expendable and nonexpendable income, Leah and I decided that it would be a good idea to paint old furniture finds to sell, as shabby chic furniture is the obsession of most every mid 20s - mid 40s woman who binge watches HGTV and shops at Home Goods. Obviously we fit into this category and have found our niche customer base in WASP females. To date, we have transformed two pieces which have successfully sold thanks to social media. The first was an old sofa table which could be repurposed as a cute desk.
The second was a cute Mission Style coffee table that just needed our magic touch to become fabulous. There's no before picture but trust me, it needed some TLC.
Front:
Side:
Top:
This piece sold within 30 minutes of posting and there have been requests for more pieces. Also the woman who bought it has asked if we can paint two side tables to match!! This is great news because we were actually talking today about expanding our business to painting people's existing furniture as well. So if you're interested in having a piece transformed, we are available for hire at reasonable prices!
