My love for refinishing furniture really came out of a need for a new dining room table and a small budget. At the time, I had no idea how to re-do a piece of furniture or even where to find pieces that had potential. Enter Craigslist! I found a beautiful French Country table that cost all of $20! I decided to paint the table, so I did some research and found “Miss Mustard Seed“. Her blog showed how to refinish furniture using a great product called Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. The process ended up being easier than I thought and the results were beautiful. I also took a page out of her book and refinished the top of the table with stain. I could not have been happier with the way it came out. A shoutout goes to “The Purple Painted Lady” who is an Annie Sloane stockist here in the Rochester N.Y area. I have purchased my paints there for over 10 years and they are terrific to work with!
Some of the pieces have a link to my blog post
Decoupage Dresser
Using Sandrina decoupage paper from Decoupage Queen I took a dresser that had seen better days and turned it into a show piece!



I found this antique secretary desk on Facebook Marketplace. It had great bones, and I knew I could bring it back to life!



French Writing desk transformation!

It was nice but a little outdated and not the color I wanted.





This is the table that started it all and it only cost twenty dollars. It was water stained and had a dated blonde finish.

The deeper stain really highlighted the wood design and graining of the piece.

This piece is a lesson on not to judge something before really looking it over. This buffet was found at a garage sale. Everyone was passing it by because of some damage to the front drawer. With closer inspection, I realized the front could be filled in with wood putty and painted over. I got the buffet at a great price, and it remains one of my favorite pieces!

The finished product!

I found this really sad looking table in an old barn. It had been used to store tools and as a result was covered with rust stains and the top was all marked up. Don’t laugh, but furniture sometimes speaks to me. This one was saying take a chance on me and bring me back to life!


I could not believe this was the same table! To think of the beauty that was hidden underneath all those old tools and years of neglect. It made me want to find more pieces and bring them back to life too!
I found this old dresser on Craig’s List. I really liked the lines and especially the unique legs. The “medallion” trim on the front was missing in quite a few spots. I realized that I could take it all off and sand it down to a smooth finish giving it a more contemporary look. I stained the beautiful wood drawers, replaced the handles and painted the body black. Loved the way it turned out!
