It Was A Cold And Wintry Day...

...I sit down to write my blog post, trying to block out the fact that with the windchill the temperature outside is -34 degrees.  The telephone rings and breaks my concentration.  When I am interrupted it takes me a while to catch my train of thought.  I turn to my little 5 year old friend Emily, who I am entertaining today because they have canceled school, and I whine about my lack of concentration.  (It really is more about me and my nonstop wandering brain than it is about any outside interruptions.  I.  Can't.  Focus.)  Emily approaches my desk and I show her the before picture of today's furniture flip.  (Emily helped me choose it today.)  Emily says, "Just say that I like it, I love it and it's cute, pretty and fancy."  

Emily is right.  She has excellent taste.  So, here we are.  We are going to travel to Rutland, England today.  There it feels 84 degrees warmer and we'll find a talented duo who wears paint jeans that look like this...
 

Meet Laura and Jack from Reloved Vintage.  Laura and Jack wrote, "Our lovely client, Hannah-Marie, had followed our Facebook page for a while, and came to us in search of a bureau for her snug. As it happened, we had two unpainted bureaus in stock, a smaller one and then this piece, which had extra shelving on top.  Hannah-Marie decided this option would provide her with more storage, and opted to have an inventive colour-scheme of cream on the outside with vibrant raspberry pink inside - and what an inspired choice it proved to be!"  




Jack and Laura stripped the old finish, and removed the broken trim on the glass section, before priming the piece inside and out.  Then they applied three thin coats of paint and two coats of protective matte varnish.  They lightly distressed the finish to highlight the beautiful character of the desk, and lined its drawers with an elegant Laura Ashley coordinating paper.

Now, I have no idea what a "snug*" is and we usually refer to this piece as a Secretary Desk in the U.S., but there is one thing that is not lost in translation.  This is GORGEOUS.  Take a look at it now...

As Emily said, "I like it, I love it and it's cute, pretty and fancy."   Job well done!  

You can find more examples of the beautiful work Laura and Jack do on their Reloved Vintage website.  You can also follow along on their adventures (they are a fun couple) on their Reloved Vintage Blog or their Reloved Vintage Facebook page.  Let them know you saw them on Furniture Flippin'.  

*I Googled "snug" but didn't want to act like I knew what it meant in case I still used the word wrong.  So, I'm telling you - I'm not completely sure.  It could be a very small private room in a pub.  Or not.  

Thanks so much Laura and Jack for sharing your spectacular Secretary Desk aka Bureau.  I like it, I love it and it's cute, pretty and fancy.

Dear readers, I want you to email me some pictures of furniture that you don't know how you want to re-do.  Here's the deal:  you send me the picture to furnitureflippin@yahoo.com and admit you have a problem.  Admitting it is the first step in furniture recovery.  Then, I'll show it to my Furniture Flippin' Facebook friends.  They'll all pony up their ideas.  You consider their ideas and either use one of them, or venture out and do your own thang.  Finally, you email me the after pics and share what you did.  Pretty simple.  Get on that, okay? 

See you tomorrow from the soon to be thawing frozen tundra that is the Midwest...

~ Stephanie