Pretty. Quirky. » This ain't your mama's vintage

SO here’s the story of the chunky little table and chairs combo we bought in Wisconsin years and years ago.

It was already cheap, and, on top of that, marked down 30%, so I think I paid around $24 for the set. I had my antique booth at the time and the intention was always to refinish it and resell it at the booth. I never got around to it, then got pregnant, then gave up the booth, but through it all, the little table and chairs set was sitting out in the garage. Because I am a hoarder.

But I knew it would come in handy before long.

With the twins’ recent love of sitting in chairs, I decided it was time to whip this sucker into shape. I started it at the same time I started all the other projects, so I was trying to use only the paint and supplies I had on hand. Luckily, I had primer and a good shade of blue that would match the nursery, where the set would reside. I didn’t sand it or anything — welcome to the era of “Good Enough Projects,” bastard son of “Good Enough Parenting.” I can see the flaws, but I bet the babies won’t.

I did buy some chalkboard paint, because of course I had to do the top in chalkboard paint, duh, because, you know, ALL the cool kids are doing it.

The hardest thing to find was the fabric for the seats. Since I was painting it blue, I wanted something feminine for the seats. I looked everywhere for something appropriate but came up empty handed. Enter Fabricworm (discovered via PaperMama), where I spent a happy hour looking through every option they offered. I ordered a yard of the Walk in the Woods Whisper and love it — but it was just too much pink. So decided on the Forest Life pattern and am thrilled with it.

The little deer kills me a little bit.

I think I have some happy customers, judging from the fight over one of the chairs.

Um, babies? There are two chairs. 

The giddy dance stamp of approval from the Little Miss.

Blurry picture but not so blurry that you can’t see the smile!

Of course, they can’t have chalk, yet, considering that today they tried to eat a candle. But soon, babies! Soon!

(Want more pictures of the little cherubs along with stories of inept parenting? Check out Zero to Twins, our Mom and Pop Blog!)

Oh, I’m jonesing so bad for SOME kind of estate sale or rummage sale or garage sale. I don’t remember estate sales being so sparse this time last year — I know they get a little less plentiful but I didn’t think they practically stopped all together.  I mean, pardon my crassness, but it’s not as if people stop dying over the winter. I did go to a Candace (remember me writing about her? She’s my FAVORITE) estate sale yesterday but it was the first sale of hers at which I didn’t find a single thing. The person (a woman, I’m assuming) whose house it was was clearly addicted to the Home Shopping Network. To the point where it was quite depressing. And there wasn’t anything there that dated before 1985. Wouldn’t it be awesome if there had been a Home Shopping Network in 1955? And you found the house of someone who was addicted to it then? NOT SO DEPRESSING.

I’ve been working on quite a few projects around the house, several of which have a distinctly vintage vibe. Like this one, for example.

Remember my hating on the Restoration Hardware faux-vintage nursery prints? Those gave me a mean competitive drive. And since I found that awesome nursery rhyme book (at a Candace sale, in fact) I had the tools to compete. I painted four frames that I had just taken down and went to town.

The prints were just a touch shy of fitting perfectly in the frames and I was trying to do this without spending extra money, so I didn’t want to buy mats — so I found some craft paper that had the general color theme and used that as background.

I even have them hung in the nursery. I’m telling you, I’m pretty proud of myself. I’m so used to giving up on projects halfway through these days — this was a small project, but I’m proud of myself for finishing.

Next up to show you: remember this chair and table I bought, oh, two or so years ago?

I bought that sucker before these two babies were even a twinkle in our eyes. And isn’t it just coming in handy after all? Hope to show you the after within the week.

Hope your weekend was marvelous!