I’m on the look out for great pieces to redo all of the time. I can’t let a weekend go by that I don’t estate sale. Nor does a trash day go by without me trolling local neighborhoods for great piece that people toss out. Almost every weekend Rusty By Design Auction has a sale going on. I’m a regular at the auction. Their items are quality and the team of people working at the auction is amazing. In between all of these avenues to shop I hit my local thrift stores, garage sales and Facebook market place. It’s a full time job finding those good pieces to restore and give new life to.
A few weeks back at one of Rusty’s auction I got my hands on this great side table. The stain was a deep color and the style was a bit modern. In general the piece was sturdy without any issues. It still needed a bit of an update to pull it into the farmhouse look that Blue Happy Living is known for. I’ve said it many times that you can make almost any piece farmhouse style with a bucket of paint, sand paper and hardware. I got lucky on the hardware it really didn’t need to be changed out.
I started by cleaning the piece really well and letting it sit to dry. First I painted out the base with 2 coats of Crisp Collar from Chalk Country Paint. At this point I had to put it a side an let it dry until I could work on it again. Life does have to evolve around this little Blue Happy business of mine. A few days later I was back at this cute little piece. Then I realized that Greg had moved things around where I was working. He knows that it drives me crazy when he does that, but this time it was a good thing. He had put the drawers back in the base so they weren’t in the way. I stood there looking at the piece and thinking WOW I kinda like this. The drawers hadn’t been painted yet but the dark stain and Crisp Collar paint looked so good together. It gave it a dressed up look. With the drawers the original stain and the base painted out somehow the base demanded less attention letting the original stain shine once again. So I decided to leave this piece somewhat restored. What was always there was given restored life without taking away it’s originality.
Most of the time that is what life has to offer. Just when we think that we are knee deep in problems or drowning in pain change happens to give us life. We all stack up our day with worry and stress. Most of us start our day with letting the what if’s beat us down. In reality at the end of each day most of those what if’s, worry and stresses don’t even happen. I did that to myself this morning. I got up went to the gym but didn’t make it through my workout. I was so stressed, tired and worried about the next couple of weeks that I crashed my day before I got started. Amazing how a sweet high school class brought it all back into prospective. It only took a few minutes for me to realize what I’m worried about might not happen. What I was stressed about was nothing more than letting my head get ahead of my days. In the end I’m focused now with a good night of sleep ahead of me. I’m early to rise at 3:50am with plans to have a great Tuesday. How will you start your day? Will you let your stress over take your day or your worry get the best of you? How about a deep breath and a prayer to clear your heart and head.
