O.k. maybe that's a poor typing rendition of that song they always play at sports events,
but it's what came to mind:)
but it's what came to mind:)
I just need to say....I needed a day yesterday to process things. I was planning to post and was so emotionally & physically drained I just hit the hay instead. It was the most awesome day. Wanna know why?
Well, hold your horses. I'm gonna make you wait a minute (and look at some pictures!).
See this?
See how rough it looks? (Diamond in the rough, that is!)
REALLY rough ...even jelly or some nastiness was on it. See that red glob on the left of the skirt?
See these chairs with their ugly old orange stain and seriously dated seats
(which had just a tiny bit of batting on them...that's it! Hard as rocks.)?
(which had just a tiny bit of batting on them...that's it! Hard as rocks.)?
And lastly, see these broken coffee table legs that I forgot to get a picture of before priming and gluing?
(Like my sophisticated way of "clamping" while gluing? That's what those white strips of fabric are!)
After lucking out being blessed and finding the BERNHART solid wood table and coffee table legs for hardly anything at my favorite thirft store, I got busy hunting for some chairs to match. A sweet man up the road here has a little antique refinishing business he's set up in an old building he owns (no overhead...how nice - albeit, almost literally!). I drove past one day and saw the chairs sitting out front, stopped and took them home when he offered a good price.
After having EVERYTHING that could possibly go wrong happen while redoing them, I ended up with a pretty little French Provencial/French Country set I was tempted to keep if I didn't have boys:) I could just picture what it would look like in a matter of days with them sitting on the chairs!
I'm not joking when I say everything went wrong. I began hand sanding (because I didn't have an electric yet) and did it until I got rid of the deep gouges (so I thought). I stained the top only to find out one of my little helpers had apparently taken the low grit paper and "helped" making deep scratches that showed up AFTER staining. This was after priming with the wrong primer (like an idiot I listened to the guy at the paint counter who told me the latex primer would stick...I knew better but was too flustered with kids to think straight or question).
I think each chair has about 6 layers of paint now all put on with a tiny little fan brush! If I wasn't so stubborn and hard headed, they'd have been in the trash because that was only the tip of the iceburg with all that went wrong! But for some reason (thank you, Jesus) I hung in and came out with this:
The top just glows!
Like my fabrics? I'm in love. I got them in the remnants of my favorite fabric warehouse...
my cheap burlap supplier:)
I also loved distressing. I had a hard time bringing myself to "ruin" such a painstaking paint job, but it turned out wonderful, if I do say so myself.
The seats are now quite fluffy and SOFT!
If only my back looked this good!
O.k. Wanna know why I was so happy? Two things happened yesterday.
First, I opened a booth at my favorite upscale consignment/antique store here in town called Remnants! Yippee! This is a HUGE step for me and scarey beyond words because being the thrifty gal I am, I worried sick about spending money on rent. What if I didn't have any sales? But, after talking to Barb at Knack and Marian at Miss Mustard Seed, I was reassured (awesome ladys - check out their blogs). As I was walking out after taking my above table set in and sticking it in a corner until I could get back to stage my booth, I was praying something like this:
"Dear Lord Jesus, you know how nerve wracking this is for me. I am literally shaking from the stress and fear of failure. But, I am certain this is what you want me to do. You gave me a talent that I don't want to neglect and I'm now at a point I can do something with it. It brings me such joy (which I know brings you joy) to have a creative outlet like this. I've seen you open my eyes to opportunities, doors to put my work out there, and windows of wonderfully helpful people pointing me in this direction. Even though I'm shaking in my boots because I'm stepping out on faith that I've heard you right - not playing it safe - I pray that you'll give me and my husband some kind of confirmation that I am doing the right thing. Amen"
Now comes the second thing that happened: I got a call less than an hour later before I could even get back to my booth, from the guy who runs it saying,
"Are you sitting down?"
My heart started pounding...
"You're KIDDING!"
"Nope. Right after you walked out a couple walked in and bought the set!"
Imagine me passing out.
"Just had to call and tell you!"
I was so excited I jumped up and down. Thank you Jesus, Thank you! Talk about not only answering a prayer, but doing so with a bang!
Have you seen him work in your life lately? Notice I didn't ask if He did, I ask if you saw it.
Miss Bee
I'm linking up to:
I saw some gorgeous and creative stuff over there. Go look!
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