Friends, I’m taking a little break from blogging for some R&R.
I have some awesome friends filling in for me while I’m gone though so be sure to make them feel welcome! Thanks so much, and I’ll see you all soon!
I’m Holly from Storywood Designs and I am so excited to be here guest posting today for Jen while she’s on vacation. She’s a fellow furniture girl and I love her pieces and style! My home and my blog is built around the idea that every piece of furniture and every room in a house has a story. I help my clients create new chapters to a special piece of furniture’s story and I’m constantly working to create new chapters for my home and its own story. Most of the furniture pieces I feature on my blog are custom works I’ve done for clients, but occasionally I’ll come across a piece I can’t resist… a piece I buy ‘just because’. This is one of those stories.
Every now and again, when I find myself with a free moment or two, I’ll wander into Goodwill… just to see if they have any home goods or frames that I can’t resist. I always file past the furniture in places like that, but I’ll be honest – I rarely ever stop. The furniture I usually find there aren’t good candidates for a Storywood makeover and sometimes the prices are crazy high. But this day, I speed-walked past the furniture after pulling 2 bamboo trays off the shelves. I was in a hurry to get home and with a workspace full of projects, I was DEFINITELY not in the market for furniture. I perused as I walked past and was on my way to the register when something caught my eye. It was a dirty cabinet, a little sixties-ish in color and feel. I don’t know why I stopped but I did – I checked the tag and it was priced well; opened the left door and discovered why! The doors opened backwards and the inside had been gutted. I closed it shut and continued on my way, but something pulled me back there again. The lines of the piece were classic and the carvings in the wood were beautiful. I couldn’t help imagining what how I would paint it. I sighed and stared at it again, unable to walk away. I somehow knew if I walked, I would regret it. I opened the doors again, this time the left and the right one. As soon as I opened the right door, I knew the cabinet was coming home with me! Inside, on the top shelf, was the shell of an old Hoffman AM/FM radio. Immediately that cabinet went from dated and weird (with those backwards-hinged doors) to cool, unique and “I-had-to-have-it”. I quickly pulled the ticket off its top and ran to the counter to make my purchase.
The cabinet made its way into my workshop and I’d find myself thinking of what I wanted to do with it while I worked on other pieces. Finally, I could stand it no more and pushed other projects to the side so that I could finally transform that old radio console that had been stripped clean and given to Goodwill into something beautiful again.
I knew I wasn’t going to try something as crazy as restoring the radio… literally, the inside was empty except for the old radio front. That’s a job for someone with a very different skillset than mine! But I didn’t want to pull the radio front out. I wanted to leave it there as a homage to its past and incorporate it into the cabinet’s future.
I pulled an old can of Annie Sloan paint I had mixed a couple of months ago – it was a mix of Louis Blue and Paris Grey with a touch of Old White in it. I painted the cabinet the blue-grey mix and went back with Old White to highlight the carvings in the door and base of the cabinet. The whole cabinet was pretty heavily distressed and I mixed up a blend of clear and dark wax to protect it and add age. I felt strongly about leaving the top wood and stripped the old finish off in order to refinish it. The hollowed out inside was fitted with three new shelves.
In its renewed state, I think this old radio console would be an amazing piece in a foyer. It has the perfect dimensions and proportions to be a great bedside table or a great end, side or accent table in a living room.
Jen, thanks so much for letting me visit Girl in the Garage and share one of my favorite pieces! I’d love for you all to visit Storywood Designs and see some of the other projects I’ve worked on.
Cindy Swinehart says
I really like the way that turned out. It’s really nice 🙂 I have an old dresser I want to redo at some point, and have been keeping an eye out for an idea/style I’d like to do it in….still just not sure 😛