We have moved!
Posted on March 29, 2014 Leave a Comment
Our website has been revamped and moved to a new platform! We are now selling GENERAL FINISHES and DIY Classes on our website. Go to RescuedFurnishings.com for more information and to see all future posts!!
Teal With Envy
Posted on March 16, 2014 3 Comments
I realize that I have a problem. My name is Nicole and I fall hopelessly in love with pieces that I do. Remember Sexy Lady? I had zero need for her and was willing to give all my furniture away just to keep her. This vanity, that I have yet to name will kill me when it goes to her new home. I set her up today for her photo shoot and have asked if we can use it as an entertainment stand. I love it.
Let me start by saying…this vanity is the single best constructed piece of furniture we have had to date.
Let me go down the list!
- Made during the Great Depression
- 8 claw foot legs (with 7 fully in tact- a miracle)
- original mirror that is hand chiseled and besides a few scratches the overall condition of the mirror itself is great…it doesn’t have the speckles all over it
- the mirror has a nice wood backing which you only see on the good old stuff
- The inside of the drawers have trim. People…I have never ever seen this.
Did the vanity go off without a hitch??
Well, NO.
When I was taking it apart one of the drawers literally fell into 5 pieces in my hand which is normal with old furniture. The glue is just too old but I have never had a drawer fall apart at every joint at once, so that was funny. And of course one of the 7 in tact claw feet BROKE in my hand as well but she has been repaired and will out last her next few homes, I’m sure.
We very gingerly sanded this piece down. The top and drawer fronts were stained with Cabot clear stain. The vanity was primed and then painted with Classic Teal. All of the accents got a light brushing of Modern Masters Warm silver and the handles were done to match. I wanted the teal to show through on the roping and I love how it turned out. The entire vanity was sealed with Modern Masters Clear coat which to date is the most durable sealer that we have used and we have used a lot and have pretty high standards…but let me put it this way: I have been hammering paint cans shut on top of the champagne dresser that is sealed with this stuff and you would never know.
Without further ado… I give you my future entertainment stand (just kidding, she will be for sale at Vintage Market Days April 4-6 but the buyer may have to console me).
Let us know what you think and don’t forget to follow us on facebook!
A Glass of Champagne
Posted on March 2, 2014 1 Comment
I love Modern Masters paint. It is amazing. Jennifer from The Magic Brush has been teasing me with warm silver finishes.
I happened to have just the dresser that could use this treatment. This dresser had tons of metal accents. Each piece of furniture tells a story and this one is no different. It was custom built and then it seems to have been sent to Chesterfield, Mo back in the day where all these custom metal accents were fixed on. It has several metal decals even metal shoes! Every girl needs a great pair of shoes!
When we went to pick this 9 drawer dresser up and the first think the people asked my husband was “How many guys did you bring?” His response: “Just my wife.” I tell you this for two reasons. 1) so you are aware of my super woman strength and 2) so you can understand how heavy this is and how much I hate moving it!
It is mahogany and is sooooo heavy!
I knew this had to be done in Warm Silver. I love opening a new can of modern masters. It is so silky and smooth.
This dresser took almost an hour to remove the hardware and combined with cleaning, sanding, priming, painting, sealing and all the steps in between this dresser took nearly 30 hours…NOT including any drying times! Crazy!
This warm silver color reminds me of a champagne color. I love it. I absolutely love how it turned out.
This warm silver, champagne MAHOGANY beauty will be for sale at St. Louis Vintage Market Days.
Who is gonna come and get her?!
Don’t forget to enter our giveaway that we have going on thru March 3.
$75 Gift Certificate Giveaway
Posted on February 26, 2014 2 Comments
As we build up toward this April’s St. Louis Vintage Market Days, we are super excited to do several giveaways! This is the second one! We hope you didn’t miss the first!
We have had a lot of exciting things happening around here lately…from having signs and t-shirts made (hey, the small things matter too!) to moving into a warehouse and it is time to celebrate! I won’t bore you with all the other things I have to do…like switch this whole website to a new server so I can properly have a giveaway widget!! Anyway….
Our next giveaway is a $75 gift certificate to Rescued Furnishings! This can be used in our booth at St. Louis Vintage Market Days, on a custom order or on existing merchandise that is for sale in our etsy shop!
Winner will be selected and announced on March 4th
To be eligible to enter you just have to do 2 things.
1) Like our facebook page
2) “Follow” our blog
To submit your entry go to this link:
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/NWJhZTY2ZGNiODc3ZjY4NGM0OWUwMmJmNzc2NGYxOjM=/
To follow the blog from a computer, simply put in your email address on the right side of the home page and hit “follow.”
To follow from your phone, scroll all the way down and right after you come to “older posts” you will be able to enter your email address and hit follow.
Good Luck!
Bed to Bench And All the Steps Inbetween
Posted on February 16, 2014 5 Comments
If you saw us at St. Louis Vintage Market Days in September, then you probably remember this yellow bench….
We got an amazing French bedroom set in a few months ago and it came with a claw foot bed. Sadly, the claw feet were not salvageable and it almost killed us. It did have a few other great features. 
My hubby got to work turning it into a bench! The footboard became the front, the headboard became the back, and he used scrap wood for the sides.
To reuse as much as possible he used the slats for the bedframe as a bottom for a storage section.
Finally, it was ready for sanding!
After a lot of cleaning, we covered the storage section so we could paint and got to work…sorry, it is kinda blurry!
To make the seat, he used barn wood that we got from Reclaim Renew! And he secured it with old hinges that have previously come off furniture. Our original plan was to distress and glaze all the details but we decided the color just went so well with the barn wood and left it. This color is really hard to capture for some reason…so I’m starting with a picture of the leg that best represents the color, which is called Ocean Soul.
What do you think?? So glad the hubby added storage and got to reuse so much of the bed!
I know…no matter what mode I shot in it comes out so blue…it really is a great color though.
What do you think about turning beds into benches???
Mid Century is HOT!
Posted on February 12, 2014 3 Comments
As we build up toward this April’s St. Louis Vintage Market Days, we are super excited to do several giveaways! This post has one!!
I don’t know if you have heard but mid century is back. If you have seen any magazine lately…mid century in bold colors that are lacquered are especially HOT. I wanted to do this…bad. I researched and researched and found that Stiltskin Studios in Florida had been using a High Performance Furniture Lacquer spray from Amy Howard at Home.
I needed it.
We found a great mid century set and I settled on Brisson Red for my first attempt at lacquer. We lightly sanded the piece, cleaned it, dried it, and used the primer. You don’t have to use a primer but I always recommend doing any “extra” steps. Anyway, the primer was AMAZING. It was so smooth and silky…it was very obvious that it was preparing the piece for lacquer.
So here is what I learned during my priming steps: I needed to be a little closer to the piece, I needed to overlap more, and I needed to make sure I was holding the nozzle down all the way. Mine came out kind of splotchy but after watching one of Amy Howards online videos I finished my piece and felt good.
Next came the red! From priming, I learned all my lessons so the red went on much better. I have read online that some people didn’t get the lacquer shine. I didn’t either. Not until the 3rd coat. And boy did it start to shine. I was so excited!
This piece turned out exactly how I envisioned it and before I was even done, I had ordered more lacquer. I am so excited to keep using this product. This dresser took 4 cans of lacquer and 2 cans of primer.
You can’t get this look with any other paint.
Here is the best part…Amy Howard gave us an extra can to give to YOU! I have a can of Brisson Red for a lucky winner!! We will also be including a $25 gift card to Home Depot. This will be enough for a small project or a large frame. Don’t forget to spray in a well ventilated area and wear a mask! Winner will be selected and announced on February 20th. Winner will be notified by email and has 48 hours to claim the prize.
To be eligible to enter you just have to do 2 things.
1) Like our facebook page
2) “Follow” our blog
To submit your entry go to this link:
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/NWJhZTY2ZGNiODc3ZjY4NGM0OWUwMmJmNzc2NGYxOjI=/
To follow the blog from a computer, simply put in your email address on the right side of the home page and hit “follow.”
To follow from your phone, scroll all the way down and right after you come to “older posts” you will be able to enter your email address and hit follow.
Good Luck!
This is a Maaaaan’s Dresser
Posted on February 7, 2014 1 Comment
So…This baby is my husbands pride and joy and he says “This is a Maaaaan’s dresser.” After you finish rolling your eyes or giggling…take a look at the pictures. You will see he was right! It turned out beautiful. This would look great in several places in your home but it would be especially nice as a dresser for your man 🙂
Check out the before!
The top on this was completely destroyed. We recently started sharing a space with Reclaim Renew so my husband was dying to use some barn wood. He immediately got to work making his new top.
His beautiful top got 4 coats of polyurethane and a sealer on top of that to polish it all off. 
The handles were replaced with rusty handles that look great against the black.
The top was attached with 4 giant bolts that we rusted too.
There are pictures of the curvy legs, original wheels, and all the details on our facebook page! Be sure to check them out!
What do you think of the final transformation??
Red Hot Bar
Posted on February 1, 2014 Leave a Comment
I saw this furniture with these cool swirls on etsy FOREVER ago. I searched and searched for it. I was SO excited. Anyway…you may or may not be aware that we are saving the world one armoire at a time by either refreshing them or converting them into bars. This one was no different.
This was going to be amazing painted. I knew it. What I didn’t know….was all those swirls….they are PLASTIC. There is no way to tell. Feels like wood, looks like wood. PLASTIC. CRAZY 1970’s. Anyway, that was not going to stop us.
Behind those doors were 3 more drawers. The entire armoire was gutted by my awesome husband. The bottom 2 drawers were converted into one big drawer to hold liquor bottles. A small drawer was added inside the now gutted top for extra storage. My husband built wine bottle storage and a shelf and added a glass rack. It came together so well.
The red we used may be the most perfect red…especially with glaze on top of it.
See how good those swirls look painted and glazed?!
The shelf, small drawer, and wine rack are all metallic paint from Modern Masters. We used 3 coats of varathane on this bad boy and it feels and looks so good!
I hope it will be very happy in its new home!! To see more pictures of this bar…check out our facebook page!
Sexy Lady’s Debut
Posted on January 23, 2014 10 Comments
You have all had to deal with me teasing you for a few weeks. It started with her gold curves. “Sexy Lady” caught on and kind of stuck. You all haven’t even known what she is. Well my friends here is her story….
My neighbor’s mom sold us her old china cabinet. I wasn’t super sure what I was going to do with it and my husband didn’t really want to do a china cabinet. She quickly became MY project. I thought maybe we could turn her into a bar. I measured her shelves and found out she didn’t need modifications. She could hold glasses and liquor bottles as she stands. So whoever ends up with her will have to tell me if she is a bar or a china cabinet.
When she came home with us I knew she had to lose her top hat. She needed just that slight update. My husband removed her “hat” and then I had to wait for inspiration to strike so she sat in our basement for a few months….and sat….and sat.
Finally, I knew I wanted to go GLAM. A china cabinet isn’t for everyone nowadays so I decided I would make her for NOW! Out came the gold paint….and that is where it all started. Grey & Gold are in right now and it was going to be perfect on this Broyhill Premier Collection piece. She was sanded, cleaned, prepped, primed and taped off. I started with her legs….
The gold and grey were working beautifully together. Her handles and hinges got the glam treatment. Her metal mesh was painted. She was well on her way….
I wanted to do something unique so I found handmade Lokta paper that she couldn’t live without. I mod podged the paper and my husband added trim work around it which frames it perfectly.
Her BIG DEBUT!!
She is brilliant!
Yes, she was a TON of work but so worth it. I don’t think of her as a china cabinet anymore. She is a statement piece. She is a WOW piece. She is just brilliant! Did I say that already?
She has inspired me to start adding some glam to other pieces. Who ever ends up with “sexy lady” will forever have a piece of my heart. Let me know what you think of her!!
Don’t forget to add your email address on our home page to “follow” our blog.
You can find us on facebook for sneak peeks on future projects!
We Are TV Stars!!
Posted on January 22, 2014 1 Comment
Ok, so TV stars might be a stretch…but we were on KSDK today.
Coreen Savitski from Show Me St. Louis came to the warehouse we share with Reclaim Renew and did a piece on us!
Make sure to follow us on facebook and go watch the KSDK piece! Tell us what you think below!
Rescued Furnishings 