I have so many great memories about taking off on weekend trips with Greg. We have been many places over the past year and a half with Blue Happy. One of my favorite trips was to the hill country in Texas. One of the towns we visited was Comfort Texas. We got ahead of David and Janice on the road and we arrived a bit early so we had time to shop a junk store at the edge of town. I don’t remember the name but its at the far end of town as you leave. How is that for directions in the south. Works for me!
This place had been there for many years because they were stocked to the brim inside. Piles upon piles of stuff, junk and more stuff. Under a pile of stuff in the back corner Greg found what is called a double stacked end table. We ask the price and when $10 rolled off her tongue we grabbed it up. As we were checking out she casually said “you didn’t want the other one”. WHAT OTHER ONE? It’s over there and pointed to a bigger pile than the one we dug in. I looked at Greg with a tiny smile he started the dig. Finally after about 20 minutes later under a table that had mounds of clothing and a sofa on top of it there it was, my little double stack. Now I had 2 and I was happy. I’m honest enough to say any junk store makes me happy!!
I wanted to do something special to them but also keep them shabby chic. I did my usual paint job on the bottom with Annie Sloan paint, 2 coats, let it dry and sanded the edges. Now the top was a very different story. I sanded them back to the raw wood. That was had to do because the stain was deep and the tables had many stains on top of them. Once sanded I added the first coat of walnut stain and let it dry. I then added this amazing stencil using the same paint from the lower body. I turned the stencil on its side so that the edges dropped off the sides. I used this stencil because the geographic pattern is in contrast with the shabby chic vintage table. After the stencil dryer I lightly sanded making sure I didn’t take too much off. On top of that I added another layer of walnut stain to darken the wood and the paint in the stencil work. It gives it an aged look and calms the stencils down. Two coats of matte Valspar clear finish and they are ready for your home.
I love, love, love these babies. I’m putting them in my booth and hoping I get them there before my daughter see’s them or they are as good as gone. I love this method of stenciling it gives it an entirely new look then just using 2 tone stenciling. I hope you are getting some great idea’s for things around your home you can change with stencils and paint. Make it a Blue Happy hump day, I’m going to because it’s a choice.
