A "new" coffee table and why it's called Paris Grey

I haven't painted furniture in a few weeks. I'm in withdrawal. First we were in Paris during the first two weeks of August as you all know, then the week-end after, I was out of town visiting family. Finally, last week, I was busy getting my youngest daughter ready for  her first year of college and my older one for her 4th year (empty nester boohoo!). When all the dust (figurative and literal) settles, I'm hoping to get back to it.

This is a piece I painted before our holiday. It was a curbside "purchase". The best kind, lol! It's a nice solid wood French provincial table.

Other than the crayon marks left on it by a overzealous drawer and a few scratches (which, let's face it, are a bonus when you want a distressed look), there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

And here it is all done:

I painted the table with Paris Grey and the edge and the wood accents on either side with Old White, a little distressing, followed by clear and dark wax. A beautiful, easy transformation.

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Speaking of Paris Grey, when I was in Paris, I saw first hand why Annie Sloan was inspired to call that colour after the city of lights.

I found it on a door at the Palais de Versailles.

On this gorgeous column at the Opéra Garnier.

On the walls of this beautiful restaurant at the Musée d'Orsay.

However, the most spectacular example of this grey was in a room, also at the Musée d'Orsay, called "Salles des Fêtes" (Festivity Room). This is a source photo, as we were not allowed to take pics. You can't quite tell, but it's exactly the same as Paris Grey. This room was jaw dropping. You can book parties in there. Can you imagine?

It is so spectacular with the gold.


Linking up to:

Ivy and Elephants
2805 Potpourri Friday
Thrifty Decor Chick Miss Mustard Seed Furniture Feature Friday
Under The Table and Dreaming

Wow wow wow.

Bonjour!

Hubby and I came back from Paris on Friday afternoon. We didn't want to leave. The trip was that amazing. Even though we miss our girls and our pets, we didn't want to leave.

I fell in love with Paris. Hard. We promised ourselves we will be back. It was too glorious. Paris is so filled with treasures, we went from wonder to wonder. And in two weeks, we saw a lot, but we didn't even see it all. So many sights, sounds, smells and tastes. (Oh those croissants at breakfast! I get hungry just thinking about their amazing flaky, buttery yumminess.)

I didn't know how I was going to express how much I loved and enjoyed our trip, until we stopped for ice cream at a Häagen-Dazs ice cream restaurant (yes, ice cream restaurant) on the Champs-Élysées. There we had the most decadent  ice cream desserts of our lives. (So decadent that we decided to make it our lunch and only have a light dinner.) But that was not what made me able to sum up the amazement of our trip. No, it was a tiny girl, no more than 5 years old, dressed in a pretty pink and white striped dress, her brown curly hair up in a pony tail, who summed it up for us. We're sitting on the terrace, enjoying our ice cream delight, when she steps out of the wide open restaurant doors. Her parents are just a few steps away at the cash, paying for their ice cream. She's holding a chocolate ice cream cone sprinkled with candy. The ice cream is already melting, dripping on her hand, and she's attempting to lick up the drips and wiping her hand with a napkin with her free hand. She keeps licking away and she's clearly enjoying her treat, when she stops dead in her tracks and takes a moment to look at the cone. And there it comes. "Wow wow wow", she says from the heart, to nobody in particular. And then starts enjoying her frozen concoction again. Her parents come out shortly after and off they go.

My husband and I laughed to ourselves, the only witnesses to such a heartfelt moment.

And that's how we felt about our whole Paris experience. Wow wow wow. Not one, or two, but three wows. If you had seen that little munchkin's face staring at that ice cream, you would have know that that's saying something.

I leave you with a few pictures of Paris. I hope to regale you with stories and more pics in the days and weeks and perhaps months to come, because I took way too many pictures, thinking it would capture everything I felt and experienced while I was there. While it comes close, nothing beats being there and seeing it for oneself.

Notre-Dame Cathedral (oh those gargoyles!)

Arc de Triomphe

The star of Paris, la Tour Eiffel, or La Grande Dame, as the Parisians affectionately call her.

Statues outside of the Musée d'Orsay

Medici Fountain, in the Luxembourg Gardens, so romantic!

Flower urn with cherubs in the Luxembourg Gardens, with the Eiffel Tower peeking out in the background

Does it need any introduction? It's red. And it's a mill.

The Gardens at Versailles. Breathtaking.

The Gardens and Fountains at Versailles

The obelisk at Place de la Concorde, with, again, la Grande Dame, and another dame (sorry don't know who she is!)

The Thinker by Rodin, at the Rodin Museum

Wow wow wow indeed.

Discarded Jewel Becomes Tiffany Star (and Paris on the Brain)

I'm obsessed with chairs. Particularly when they're left at the curb. I feel it's my mission in life to save them.

So when I saw this little gem, of course, she had to come home. 

(Why do I make chairs girls? It has to be those curvy legs I think. 

If it was a big fat recliner, then it would definitely be a boy, don't you think?)

My daughter said this chair was sick. Which, in her generation's lingo, is a good thing.

Lots of appeal, that's for sure.

The seat was well upholstered, but it didn't have a trim. I'm not quite into that Restoration Hardware deconstructed look at this point, which is what it reminded me of. Plus the colour of the fabric was somewhat faded and sported some dirt marks.

 Loved the silver and although you can't tell in the picture, it was really, really badly painted. It had been spray painted, but not very well and there were drips all over which had to be sanded down.

I painted the seat (yes, I painted the fabric!) with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Duck Egg. The paint went on amazingly well. It covered perfectly with one coat, but I put two coats on anyway for durability. I then waxed it and buffed it. It looked amazing! 

I hot glued on a silver braid trim on that unfinished edge.

I then painted the frame with ASCP French Linen, but I really was not feeling it. I missed the silver.

I got a little jar of Martha Stewart liquid silver gilding and applied it. I can't believe how far that stuff goes! It's a tiny pot, maybe slightly bigger than a bottle of nail polish and I did the whole chair and still have nearly half the pot left!

I'm thrilled with the results. The silver contrasts beautifully with the Duck Egg and it definitely has a Tiffany appeal to it.

I have to say that I was greatly inspired by Amy's chair at Maison Decor, although her  blue is closer to the true Tiffany blue because it is a custom mixed colour she created.

I'm so amazed at how well the seat turned out with the ASCP! The wax gives it a beautiful sheen.

Sterling darling.

It's so elegant, I'm still debating whether or not I should keep it or sell it!

*****

This Friday, I get to realize one of my biggest dreams. You see that beautiful grand dame on the left side of my blog, Miss Eiffel? Well, I will finally get to meet her in person. Yes, my hubby and I are flying out to Paris for two glorious weeks. Two. Weeks. I'm so thrilled. Tick one off the old bucket list! I am planning on taking a gazillion pictures, I have even bought an extra SD card for the camera. I will definitely post some pictures. À bientôt!!


Linking up to:


Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday 2805 Potpourri Friday no. 35

Modern Classic

I saw her at the thrift store. She didn't stand out much, but I had a vision for her. 

 She had great lines. Great curves.

But she looked tired. She needed a facelift.

Her seat, once a pretty needlepoint, was scratched and ripped.

Here is my vision completed:

She got refreshed with a couple of coats of ASCP French Linen, clear wax and dark wax.

The dark wax really accentuates the lines and the curves.

Her needlepoint seat got recovered with a fresh, modern fabric.

The needlepoint is still there underneath, a nod to her past, perhaps to be rediscovered and recovered in another era, when she needs another facelift.

Everything old is new again.

Don't you wish it was that easy to look young once again?

Linking up to:

http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.ca/2012/07/whats-it-wednesday-35.html