A before & after look at our new dining chairs

I couldn't decide what color to paint these dining chairs. I thought that I was going to paint them black and I may at some point, but I decided to go with French Linen and antiquing wax in all the floral swirl carvings. We spend a lot of time in our dining room. We eat in here, play in here, and have school in here. I love how much light it gets during the day, but at night, without an overhead light or many lamps, it gets nearly too dark to enjoy. So...black chairs just felt like the wrong way to go. What do you think? They're a coat heavier than the china cabinet.

before

after



 

So that's them. These are the chairs our family will sit at every day. The ones they will spill things in...where they will learn...where stories will be told...where my children will complain about what I feed them...Sweet memories for my soul.

 

 

Linking up to No Minimalist Here for the Open House Party!

China Cabinet before & after

This has to be one of my most favorite projects so far. Thank you so much, Geimer family for giving us this beautiful piece of furniture. I am so pleased with the china cabinet's new look, that I just can't picture our home without it. Like honey says, nearly every piece of furniture in our house is for sale. He's probably right :) But I really do love this piece. Being able to display some of our treasured heirlooms makes me so happy.

 

Here are some pictures of how this china cabinet was transformed from simple oak to French country.

 

It started out in two pieces, like this. No worries, though. We have it attached securely now.

 

bottom

 

top

 

After~  

 

I painted the cabinet ASCP French Linen. I only ended up doing one coat. I liked how it looked more like a wash and screamed "French" to me. I lightly distressed it and did I mix of clear and antiquing wax.

 

 

linens

 

Instead of putting my crystal out for show, I decided to put it in the bottom cabinet and keep the cabinet shelves more casual.

 

The china was a wedding gift and the chintz is on permanent loan to me from my mom. The wine on the bottom shelf is a dessert wine that we'll be opening on our 10th wedding anniversary. Gotta keep it safe!

 

 

I included corks from the special events in our life in this teacup and a small chintz pitcher.

 

 

Now, the only question is...What do I do about the hardware? I just can't decide. So, for now, it'll be like this :)

 

 

Happy Monday!