1970's French Provincial Makeover and an Epiphany

So I am still learning this whole buying and selling business, which means, I still get caught up in the "I have to buy some more stuff to pile up and makeover."  Did you notice that I didn't say "I have to carefully choose pieces that I have looked over carefully and buy them at a super cheap price?"  Yeah, that wasn't a mistake.  I have gotten my hands on some incredible deals and a few clunkers.  Recently The Nana and I went junkin to hopefully find some more incredible deals.

Apparently, it is very easy to get caught up in the whole bulk buying thing as well as to forget you are not an expert and not pay attention to detail or worse pay too much.  I managed to do all of the above on this particular buying trip. 

There is a small town near me that was having a community wide yard sale and I was hot to get to it.  My blood was pumping before I even left home! lol The first couple of neighborhoods were a bust.  The third one was a charm.  I found lots of goodies at great prices and then got overly confident ambitious and thought I was a pro not a newbie.

We were at a yard sale that had some very nice pieces and they were priced accordingly.  Due to this I was really just glancing and planning to walk away when I realized their garage was packed with stuff...good stuff.  They had set up the sale in the driveway and had the garage taped off but I glanced in and saw a bedside table piled on top of other stuff.  When the lady hosting the sale asked if I needed anything I told her I was interested in something but it was in the blocked off area.  She kindly invited me beyond the tape (boy, I was feeling special, I must have looked like a pro) and I pointed out the table.  What do you know...there were two of them as well as a matching headboard and footboard.  Woo hoo...I had been looking for a couple of these very tables to makeover....it looked like I had hit the jackpot.

Let me just say, looks can be deceiving and being on a buying high is not always a good thing.  The headboard and footboard were buried and I bought them sight unseen and I could only see one table.  I talked the lady down $20 off her asking price and prepared to return later to pick up since I had been so successful already my 4runner was full.  But, I was so giddy I ran out and unpacked the 4runner and somehow magically made room to go ahead and cram my finds in.  I drove home counting the money I would make on these babies.

That euphoria lasted until I unloaded.  First let me apologize for the pictures.  I shot them willy nilly, even the final ones but you will get the idea of the transformation.

 It was while unloading that The Nana discovered one of the legs on the headboard was split.  She quickly decided it was not a problem since Wonder Hubby is quite handy and could make another.



 

She was right and he crafted a wonderful new leg, which I failed to photograph. Sorry, honey you did a great job!  Now, let's take a close look at the photo below.  One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just isn't the same......since I purchased the bed without even a peek at it I wasn't surprised that I didn't see it at the sale....but after 2 hours of looking at the split leg and discussing paint schemes you would think  I would have caught it.

 

 

Yup....major problem.  What to do now?  Wonder Hubby is good but I didn't think he was going to be happy to hear he would need to repair this.   I considered trashing the headboard and footboard and just selling the bedside tables but then I had an idea.  I kept feeling the paint for this should be Paris Grey with darker grey accents and for whatever reason I instantly knew a Vera Bradley type fabric would look great with the greys.  So the idea for a padded headboard was hatched.  Possible solution?  We shall see.

Before I could celebrate my genius, I discovered a split/bust in the top of one of the tables.  Naturally, it was the one I couldn't see at the sale!  It was easy not to have spotted flaws with these pieces since (a) they were buried and (b) they were super dirty and covered in stickers...lots and lots of stickers.  The zero's were dropping off my profit quickly.

 

Well, like the pig at a barbecue I was committed, so I rolled up my sleeves and got started.  After spending an hour and a half cleaning and applying lots of Goo Gone on stickers, it was time to start the real work.  First task was to remove all the decorative pieces in the headboard to prepare for a padded headboard.

 

Oh boy, I really hope I can make this hair brained scheme work.

 

 

After a little wood putty here and there (grrrr..like in the split)

I got to work painting.  The body of the headboard, footboard and tables were painted ASCP Paris Grey and I ended up with 3 different greys that I turned into chalk paint with Websters Chalk Powder to trim with. 

 

The Paris grey went on perfectly and I was able to roll most of the pieces. In fact, it went on so quickly and easily I was done in half an hour.  I was feeling pretty good and decided I was such a genius that despite the unexpected surprises I would have this complete in a day!

 

Uh huh....not so much.  Although there isn't a lot of trim painting it took WAY LONGER than expected.  I tried taping off the trim to make for quicker painting but unfortunately when I removed it, I also removed the paint underneath.  So....then I had to lightly sand and repaint those areas and trim again by hand.  It took forever a great deal more time than I could have imagined.  Finally, I had managed to finish all the trim on all the pieces (did I mention days elapsed before this was completed?).  I was standing back admiring my work when I thought something didn't look right. Do you see it?

 

 

Look again

 

 

Guess I need to pay a bit more attention to the can in my hand when I paint.  The sad part is one grey paint was in a round container....the other in an oval! Seriously how do you not notice that!  So........I ended up painting all the trim again (and in some cases, again and again).  Actually that isn't true, Mini felt sorry for me and spent a couple of hours painting for me.  Sweet girl.

 

Weeks later Eventually, all the painting was done and we were ready to cover the headboard.  The Nana has done upholstery professionally so I trusted we could handle this.  She even managed to find the perfect fabric on sale!  Wonder Hubby cut a board to fit, The Nana and I figured out a bed eggshell worked perfectly as our padding so we fired up the compressor and nail guns and got busy.

 

I don't see straight so I definitely don't cut straight, thankfully The Nana handled that part.

 

We covered 3 large buttons (love those) and she taught me what a bodkin was, how to make one and to use it.  Pretty handy knowledge.

 

 

Ah....finally it was all done.   I had truly grown to hate this set and was sooooo glad to have it finished that I threw it against my car snapped a few pictures and sold it in hours.  I priced it to move cause I wanted it GONE.

 

 

 

It turned out better than I had hoped considering all the flaws that had to be repaired or worked around.  I blogged here about having a relationship with an object.  Well I thought the relationship I had with this set was a hate/hate relationship...I just wanted it out of my garage and my life.  So, I was quite surprise by my reaction to what happened when my buyer picked it up.

 

The lady that purchased the set came in a pickup...okay no problem there.  While I stepped inside to get her change she began to load.  When I came out, I grabbed the metal bed rails and rushed to put them in so they would be on the bottom under the painted pieces.  I was stunned when I saw the bed of her truck will full of leaky bottles, bags of trash and several busted pumpkins! 

 

 She had just put the headboard of top of all this!  I tried not to freak out but helped her better place the fabric covered headboard on top of a broken baby gate and out of the way of wayward pumpkin guts...whew.  She managed to get one bedside table in the cab of the truck and I placed the other in the back and crazy as it sounds......tried to pad around it with trash.  I asked if she had anything to put over it to keep the rails from scratching it or to keep it from slamming into the tailgate or side of the truck bed. Thankfully she had a baby blanket (which made me wonder if that would be washed before use again) that I was able to partially cover the table with. 

 

I suggested that she drive VERY SLOWLY to keep things from shifting.  She agreed and then proceeded to gun it down my drive and turn onto the street on two wheels.

 

I realized as I stood there in shock that I didn't hate this set after all.....in fact, despite the hours I had spent working on it and all the frustrating flaws....I felt sorry for it!  I wonder just what type of forever home it went to? 

 

 So that is the story of panic buying, a French provincial adventure and a twisted relationship.  Thanks for stopping in and joining my adventure!

 

 

I am joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday

and Marty @ A Stroll Thur Life for Inspire Me Tuesday, join me there!