I caught this project just barely in time to give you a before picture. It was important because we (my sometime-painter husband and I) so rarely do projects like this and I wanted to be sure to post about it! I usually forget about the "before" until it's too late.
This venerable old piece has a warped and chipping veneer on top, so it was fair game for a paint job. I used it mostly for display in my old shop, although it was also for sale. (You can see the original finish on the bottom drawer.) Nobody wanted it as it was, so it was tucked away in storage for awhile after the shop closed up.
This is not Miss Mustard Seed or anyone else's fancy paint. It's wall paint. I can't even tell you the color. I just said to my willing partner, "I want to see brush strokes and a little of the old finish showing through." He did a great job!
We painted hardware and all.
French furniture seems more French to me with a painted finish. Voila! Anyway I needed this piece to be light for the big dark space it is going into.
I have been gathering stuff that reminds me of an old French farmhouse for a hundred year old home that we are renting as a guest house two doors down in our old historic neighborhood where we live in the quiet river valley of Albuquerque. I have long dreamed of inhabiting old rooms like these, and am in the process of completing my mini vision.
The salon is enormous, with long dark overhead beams. Part of the old structure was the original neighborhood schoolhouse. It has both brick and hardwood floors, and old adobe walls. The main room has one long wall on the west side with no windows. As both the beams and floor are dark, my job is to make the room as light-filled as possible.
There are a lot of issues to work around. This wall has a long vertical conduit to nowhere behind those shutters. There is also an enormous old wall heater to conceal when not in use. And that is just the beginning.
But I can't begin to describe the beautiful long sighs that old walls like this breathe in and out through its windows and doors. We are utterly infatuated with its aura and charm.
We have barely begun, and there is a lot to do. Next time I will give you a peek at the built-in cuboards and shelves on the other side of the room.
Enjoy the weekend!
Hope it's a fun one!
Jacqueline
