Lisa's Chair

I don't talk a lot about my personal life here at Apple House Revival, but I have shared quite a bit about myself and my family in other places.  Some of you may know that my younger son was adopted.  I am an adoption advocate, and while I haven't been actively blogging about it for some time, there is a lot of information about adoption on one of my other blogs, Adoption FYI.

We enjoy an open adoption with Leo's birth family.  We love his birth mom and his birth siblings.  We call his birth mom Lisa when we talk about her in online.  It isn't her real name, we use it to protect her privacy because we are so open about our adoption experiences. 

Lisa is trudging through the last few weeks of pregnancy right now.  We are excited to meet the adorable little bundle she is carrying, but after three pregnancies in four years, Lisa's body is less than thrilled with the situation.  In addition, she has an energetic toddler to chase around, well, all you mamas out there know how hard it can be.  Lisa's doctors have told her she needs to take it easy (easy for them to say!)

I wish more than anything I could be there to help her through these last few weeks.  (She lives several states away from us.) One thing I would do if I could is bring her a nice comfy chair and tell her to SIT DOWN!

This is the chair I would bring her. 

Isn't it adorable?  I found it with the corduroy cover all ready over it.  (It was originally leather.)  It needed to be cleaned up a bit, but nothing my steam cleaner couldn't handle.  

 I painted the body a classic creamy white.    I love how it looks with the fabric!

I was heavy handed with the distressing on this one, particularly on the arms.  I wanted the dark wood to show through.  It now looks old and worn and loved.  I feel like she may have cradled many an expecting mama's tired body.

The back pillow is down and the frame supports your body while the soft cushions offer the perfect amount of softness for relaxing.

We love you, Lisa.


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Lisa's chair is for sale.  See pricing information on my Portfolio and Available Page. 

Kismet

I love it when someone sees one of my pieces and proclaims it "just exactly what I've been looking for!"

That happened twice last weekend at my last show of the year (thank goodness!)

Since I'm busy recuperating from a flu/cold double whammy, two HUGE shows, and trying to get this family in the Christmas spirit, I thought I'd show them to you together.

The first is this cute chest of basket drawers.  It actually went to live in our cute local fabric store, 3 Layer Quilts to store their scraps.  Perfect, right?

The second is this vintage office chair.  Everything about this chair was still perfect.  Its wheels still rolled smoothly, its turning mechanisms still worked, it just needed a little help in the looks department.  A nice couple knew it would go perfectly at their solid old roll top desk.

I have three other pieces ready to show you, plus pictures from the last two shows, so I'll be back sooner than later.

Eliza

Eliza is an petite antique rocker that I acquired from a lovely family in Verboort who had loved her for a long time, but needed to find her a new home.

Isn't she beautiful!

She still had remains of her original finish.  Even after I carefully sanded her down there were crackled areas of old finish.  It is just lovely.

I gave her a good coat of clear wax, which made her beautiful wood grain pop right back to life.  She was so dry I actually had to wax her twice.  I've never had to do that before.  Isn't the wood stunning?

I had some vintage upholstery fabric in my collection and knew it would be perfect for her.  She had been re-covered sometime in the 80's with a Native American inspired tapestry fabric.  It did not suite her at all.   However, the same person who had chosen the fabric had done an excellent job restoring the structure of her seat.

After digging many a staple out of her, I gave her a pretty new dover and she was once again restored to her natural beauty!

Let's have one more look at her.  I placed the Dahlia on her to give you some reference.  She is small woman's rocker.  At 5'7" I am too tall to truly enjoy rocking on her, but she is so beautiful, I would happily keep her around just to look at!

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Eliza is for sale.  Find pricing and dimensions on my Portfolio and Available Page.

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 I will be sharing at:
Primitive & Proper's: Piece of Work Wednesday

Audrey and Helen

These lovely mid-century twins are enough the same to turn heads and just different enough to not fight over one gentleman.

They are extremely well built, including springs under their seats, which makes them very comfortable.

They are red, lightly distressed, with a black glaze.  I think the color and finish give a modern pop to these vintage ladies.

The polka dots and flowers weren't really intentional, just the two black and white print fabrics I happened to have, but I just love them together.

These sophisticated ladies are for sale.  They are $70 each of $125 for the pair.  Email me at applehouserevival at gmail dot com if you are interested.

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Don't forget to enter AHR's first give away for one of my favorite household products, Charlie's Soap!

I'll be sharing at:

Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday. 
House of Grace: Twice Owned Tuesday 
Primitive and Proper's Piece of Work Wednesday

Pretty and Practical

So, just so that you all are aware, I am insane.  I decided on Tuesday to participate as an artist in an event here in our small town this Saturday, as in tomorrow.  Yes.  I have lost my mind.

So, chaos has ensued and anything that isn't moving is getting painted.

Today I finished up another chair that may or may not make it down to the event. . .

Isn't she pretty?  I love the contrast of the elegant fabric on the cushion with the distressed wood.

I painted it a fairly warm cream color, distressed, dry brushed over everything with a pure white, distressed a bit more, and then finished it off with a dark wax.

The fabric was an upholstery sample that I had in my fabric stash.  I've long thought it was pretty, but didn't know what to do with it.  

The chair itself lent itself to this juxtaposition as well.  The top has clean straight lines continuing down the back, however, the front legs are much more decorative.

This chair belongs in a sewing room, I think.  Something pretty, yet practical.  Where would you put it? 

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I'm sharing at
Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Friday
Restore Interiors' Restore It Wednesday 

Build Me Up Buttercup

I picked up this sweet little chair this weekend at a HUGE garage sale. I found a few other little treasures too, but this one was calling my name this afternoon when I looked around my workspace and realized I needed something fun and happy to get me out of one of those Monday bleary feelings.

I couple of coats of a light, airy yellow, some distressing, some dark wax and. . . thank you little Buttercup Baby Chair. You built me up and you didn't let me down at all!

A happy chippy finish.

Cute curves.

Pretty legs and don't you love the crossbar on the bottom?  I love the little things like this that make pieces of furniture special.

I could see her sitting in the corner of a kitchen where your best friend might sit and chat while you are baking.  After you pull that hot bread out of the oven this little chair is happy to hold your apron for you while you and your girl friend have a fat slice w/ honey butter.

Or maybe she would look pretty in a front entry, there to greet you, offering you a nice place to take off your shoes at the end of a long day.

I could even see her on a dreamy enclosed porch, waiting for a neighbor to drop by to share some lemonade with.

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I'm sharing at
Between Naps on the Porch's Metamorphosis Monday
Primitive and Proper's Piece of Work Wednesday