Refinishing a Mid-Century Coffee Table

I had refinished a small Lane table before, but sanding down this new coffee table was quite a lot of work. Those spots I had mentioned earlier were very deep stains, so it's taken a good couple hours to sand it down (me and Ely together). It looks like it is almost ready for the first stain, and we have never stained furniture before, unless you count Restore-A-Finish. So here it is now:

Basically, we used that Zip Strip paint remover there and then sanded it down 'til it looks like this. Tomorrow we will finish it up, and pretty soon hopefully I'll have some successful "after" photos to share!

Meanwhile, I do have some other successful "after" photos. It is Ely's compact stereo! We used the dark walnut Restore a Finish and some  Feed 'n Wax. 

Beautiful! 

We also did some thrift store shopping today, and came out with some really good deals.

A great little ashtray I will use to put my keys in.

Pillows! Ely will try these on his new sofa. Such amazing vintage fabrics on these.

Fransiscan ware 'Madiera' glasses. Ely has a collection of Madiera at his house but has never found the glasses 'til today at Value Village. 

And finally, a large C. Jere wall hanging from 1971. Not bad for $7. We were leaving as I saw a store worker outside throw this into a sorting bin. I would have prefered a C. Jere from '61 but this is cool!

 TTFN

A Weekend of Finds!

Ely found a couple beauties for his apartment last weekend- A mini stereo and a coffee table.

Both needed a little love, but they were too good to pass up.

That is the coffee table outside of the Goodwill thrift store we bought it at for $7!

Ely informed me that he tried to restore-a-finish it, which unfortunately caused the worn parts to become too dark....  We will have to go at it with some sand paper this weekend and start over. Still, it will be amazing when its all finished.

The stereo is tiny! Only a few feet tall and perfect for Ely's apartment. We will post photos later on when we finish cleaning them up.

TTFN!

You Win Some, You Lose Some

 After the Brasilia defeat we were (clearly) very discouraged. And unsure as to whether or not we could obtain the pieces we desire.  On Saturday, Justin went to the local Goodwill and missed out on another amazing dresser that was rolled out right past him... it was $30!! 




Then, today at St. Vincent de Paul  as we were checking out with some great vintage fabric, I looked down to see this (HUGE) amazing painting that was signed by Lee Reynolds! On canvas and framed. I grabbed it, but the checker said that it was sold. I wish we had the iphone with us, it was left at home so we weren't able to take a picture.

Today we even spotted a very worn out Broyhill Sculptra Modular bookcase for $50.  It was not in good shape at all, and would have taken too much work to get looking good!  But all was not lost this week.

I found some amazing items and Justin did too-  We know that the road to great finds is filled with many potholes and we just need to drive over them to get to the good stuff.




An AMAZING Conant Ball Russell Wright nightstand. I found this at Value Village for a mere $20! This will go beautifully in my bedroom- I just need to find the perfect lamp for it...



We did find this lamp, which is a beauty but too large for the nightstand. It looks great on Justin's Lane Acclaim side table. Mid Century kitty agrees.

more finds:



A cute Westclox clock that lights up, Syroco Inc. wall art, a mid century matador painting print,  and a  copper sailboat sculpture.




Isn't he dreamy?



TTFN

P.S.   Does anyone know anything about mid century, white, made in Japan kitty sculpture?

Brasilia Defeat

Today was upsetting! The Brasilia gentleman's dresser on craigslist I talked about yesterday is not ours. As we were on our way to go pick it up this morning, I called the seller to tell her we were on our way and would be there soon. She said she was sorry, but she had many, many calls, and one of the callers informed her that it was worth MORE than $100, and subsequently offered her more for the dresser. I was bothered to say the least...

It seems like there's not really much of any code of ethics when it comes to Brasilia.

Anyway, instead of spending all day hauling around a dresser, we went thrift shopping again. And we found some really great things.... not as great as a Brasilia dresser... but some great things nonetheless.

1) a working percolator
2) Lane end table
3) super cool "London Lamps" lamp
4) mid century looking vase, unmarked

"London Lamps '59"

TTFN!