Confortable élégance française...Hint of grey

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Up date on guestroom and still working on its rustic elegance...Pretty and Old soothes our soul. This vintage over sized chest of drawers that measures 72" in length x 31” in height works grandly in this small space it adds the right kind of rightness that soothes our soul in creating an intimate space that embraces honest history with beauty…”Beauty that can be found on any budget.”
This French chest was another thrift shop find. Loving the mix of rustic with the refined elegance adds interest to a French brocante home with “objects not quite valuable yet not quite worthless." If a piece of flea market rustic or a thrift shop elegant bargain has potential then all it needs is a coat of paint as I have created here.

When coming across a piece like this you wonder why you would ever buy retail or from a design event. With a shocking tag price for this 6 drawer chest at $71.24 I could not purchase this chest fast enough. That very day I stated to get to work on it intending on taking the piece to my shop space, as the sanding down took place bringing it to a nude enough finish and the paint treatment progressed with painting the past out of it I stood back to admire its evenness taking in its beauty telling myself in an excited whisper this is a chest of drawers to love, and it is my new crush.



My goal was to paint a barely there patina of grey to my white. I painted the heavily carved faces and the chest of drawers with a lime washed technique, a romantic old-world with Parisian elegance giving it a finish that stands out rather than a piece that blends in. I did not want this piece to be cute, but rustic and relaxed with a finish that added gracious results to personal spaces.




An aged patina preserves its history fitting for many uses; a chest of drawers should not be over looked for its use in a bedroom, but a piece like this could be used comfortably as a dining room buffet server with plenty of linen and silver storage. Perhaps used in a formal living space as a sofa table of grandeur grouped with family photos and lamps.




Inspiring a desire to design around old cast offs where the past completes a French rustic home.

The Love Of Age...L'amour de l'âge

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This piece is crafted by the furniture company (Baker Milling Road) High Point North Carolina. A charming two drawer chest with a pull out serving table family acquired model home townhouse piece over forty years ago. I inherited the piece when my mother decided to make a major design style change and fortunate for me it has hung around in my life for the last 28 years. With a minor repair to a drawer rung and taking it from a dark stain finish to then add a lightness to its darkness this French empire chest has become a new piece for me to love all over again turning this piece like any other into a piece like no other.



I wanted this piece and paint finish white with a paler hint of gray to reflect a worn-out look as if someone loved this piece a little too much, well used and over looked to its value.

My design goal is to create a collected and salvaged well-worn peacefulness to every piece that touches my hands. Taking an old vintage piece beautifully built to last gives your home a sense of history grounding it to the present with a new old paint finish. Each piece painted so they can be a good influence on each other yet letting each piece inspire exclusively. I want each piece I paint to feel as if it had been this way forever putting soul into each creative piece gracefully adding second chances…Layering old with new for perfect compliments.

Creating European Rustic

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My latest thrift shop find, I have been painting and building this past week.

“The richness I achieve comes from recycling, the source of my inspiration.” A distinctive characteristic of my home embraces pieces that have been created from salvaged scraps of wood or collected pieces that have evolved over time creatively. A key to decorating a room with recycled or salvaged pieces is to keep them from competing with one another letting each piece speak for itself with a language the room understands. When picking the right recycled piece for a room I let the lines of the piece, it’s age, and rustic European feel tell me how it wants to be painted adding a paint treatment it deserves giving each piece no reason to argue with one another.

It's European rustic rooms like these that inspire creating rustic country.

I like to think when I make a purchase in a piece for my home that’s old and rustic that there are no other options in creating perfect imperfections unique and necessary.

With a little resourcefulness I can share another great find in my home with a piece that adds to creating an idyllic French flea market style home that touches the edges of my heart soulfully. This sideboard (5 foot long 31" inches in height) was a piece that called out to me at my local thrift last week; it was covered in scratches and dated itself with an old dark stain finish. The sideboard chest tag read $22.00 dollars having to then take a double take questioning did I read this right, was it $22.00 dollars or $122.00 dollars? Placing my hands on the piece to assure my claim that clearly read $22.00 dollars I then took notice of the name inside the sideboard chest marked Century from the Century Furniture Company. As an interior designer and familiar with the Century name where the best is produce in Hickory North Carolina that Century name spoke volumes, and with a gasp I knew I had a piece to love. I stripped off its old scratched up dark stained finish and gave it a French paint treatment adding a European flea market appeal to it, a perfect patina for my home. After researching the piece by sending off photo's and logo name with serial numbers I was able to find out what a beautiful rustic find this piece added to my home.



This sideboard chest came from the Coventry group (Spring 1967 - Fall 1969) 17th and 18th Century English reproductions. African Mahogany solids an exotic wood and very expensive mixed with Cherry and Pecan. If replaced now I would be looking at a price tag in the upward amount of $2,800 - $3,000. Century Furniture Company offers beautiful stain grade and paint finishes on their pieces. I feel with my paint treatment of a dusky whitish grey and the up-styling of its hardware I did this piece justice in keeping with my European country home. Blending this English piece was easy with the era of 17th and 18th century French style throughout my homes collective designs making this piece a perfect blend to a rustic European cottage.

It's European rustic rooms like these that inspire creating rustic country.

This is proof that creating rustic country can be built from salvage wood scraps that I have salvaged from a wood pile of discarded pieces that allowed me to build a side table that would charm any French farmhouse. This side table cost me nothing to build due to the fact I was able to build it from scraped out pieces of building materials. I never over look the charm and age of pieces with nail holes and pieces that has weathered in outside climates.

A little pale paint and distressing of the piece adds rustic romance to a side table French country in style. I love the conversation it makes with my guests when good things are built, not bought.



Inspiring European rustic in my home. source 2 and 7 internet inspired.