It was love at first sight.
Poor Kevin didn't stand a chance of talking me out of getting it. Fortunately, I only had to twist his arm for about 16 seconds before he, too, realized that it needed to come home with us.
The tag on it read, "Antique Linen Press- $79.99".
(which meant it would actually cost us $86.78 after tax)
So, of course, I asked if I could purchase it for a lower price than it was marked for, and the woman who owns the flea market obliged. (Bless her heart!) I'm happy to say, that it made it's way into the bed of our pickup truck for $71.99. (which was the price including tax)
Since then, I've done some searching online, and I don't think it's actually a "Linen Press" (gosh, do I love to call it that though!) and I don't think it's actually an "Antique" either. (The "Made in China" sticker on the bottom kinda gave it away) :-)
It sort of resembles a changing table, but I think it's too low to actually be one. It measures just 28" tall.
I adore the groupings of little worm holes sprinkled in various places...
...there are even some on the handles of the pull-out baskets...
Even more amazing, ALL of the baskets are in perfect condition (Pretty remarkable, considering the age of this piece. Ha ha) :-)
I sanded it down within minutes of unloading it onto the back patio...
And now it is covered in a smooth & satiny, creamy-white coat...
I made sure not to coat the piece too thickly. I put on several thin layers, so that the worm holes stayed free of paint. By the way, very old furniture sometimes has worm holes. To achieve the effect of worm holes, like they have on this piece, a nail is heated and then hammered into the wood. It creates tiny darkened holes that mimic the pattern made by worms. This is usually done around knot holes in wood to look more natural. Here's an example:
Classic Furniture PA
Here are some of mine...
Once the paint had thoroughly dried, I lightly distressed the entire piece, to give it some time-worn, cottage character...
It's now sitting underneath my Dining Room window, ready to be filled with linen napkins, extra silverware, placemats, napkin rings, tablescape props and floral foam.
I'm looking so forward to the challenge of accessorizing the top of it.
I know I want a lamp on it for sure.
Hey! Speaking of lamps, I saw this "borrowed & blue" beauty online the other day for $385...
It probably wouldn't be too difficult to re-create. You'd need a wicker-covered jug...
Photo: Vintage Weave
I see them at flea markets and on Ebay all the time. They're usually priced between $20-$30.
Then you could dry-brush it any color you like (or leave it natural), and purchase a simple lamp-making kit, available at most home improvement stores. Stick a shade on top, and a round of wood on the bottom, and voila! A whole lotta bang, for not a whole lotta bucks! Pottery Barn is selling these lovely specimens for $149.99-$199.99 right now...
I LOVE them. :-)
Well, that's all for now folks...I wish I could post the fireplace re-do, but Kevin seriously hurt his back the day before yesterday and is having trouble even walking. I really hope he gets to feeling better soon. I hate to see him suffering. :-(
He was halfway done with the fireplace before he hurt his back, and he's so anxious to finish. When he feels better, he'll "git-r-done". It's looking cottagey-delicious already!
Layla
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80 comments:
What a great find at a steal! Love it!
Ohhh... so so pretty! I loved it in the wood tone and was pleasantly surprised to see how awesome it looked in white too. Did they have a black model for me? :)
I hope Kevin feels better soon!
Donna @
Funky Junk Interiors &
Our Extreme Home Reno Experience
Love Love Love the linen press!
So jealous.
Makes me want to go to a flea market in another Town.
Your house is so adorable!
You & your hubby make an awesome team!
-Sasha K.
Sweetie this is gorgeous!!! Sitting next to your Gator Farms bucket is priceless. And your back-porch...Look at those trees. Do i see a bridge back there too? Love it :)
Antique, schmantique! Who cares, when that is one seriously awesome find!! :) (I'm just a LITTLE bit jealous! hehe!!) You did good, girl! Hope your hubby is feeling better real soon!!
Blessings,
Stacey
i DO love that piece! What a steal, too. Love what you did with it, too! Your creativity and eye are truly inspiring!
Woo hoo! Great find. I love that you made it your own too.
What a great find! (Even if it isn't any of the things it tried to sell itself as.) And functional. I love it.
I love the wicker stand. Such a great find.
helen
L,
The pace at which you guys get things accomplished around that cottage of yours constantly amazes me!
I still have the entry table I got and emailed you about with its original yellow paint and its always on my list of things to sand and paint and I just haven't done it yet! I need some of your decorating get-up-and-go! Got some to spare?
Love your find! Especially the handled baskets-so fun.
Happy Wednesday, friend!
Erin
Do you mind sharing the color paint you used?! Also --- how do you make it look more worn --- just sand the edges a little or is there another trick. I'm loving your blog!
SUCH AN AMAZING FIND!!! I love it!!!!
Layla, I just found your blog, and hope that you don't mind me as a follower. You are so inspirational when it comes to finding flea market treasures since I've been doing the samething lately. Thanks for recommending other great blogs; you're amazing.
I think when the price it so good it doesn't matter if it's an antique. It turned out beautiful. I have been passing around Kevin's fantastic post on your kitchen and can't wait to see the fireplace.
Can you disclose what type of white paint you use on furniture? I just repainted my great grandmother's dressing table for my daughter and used the wrong type of paint. HELP! Thank you, thank you!
Looks great! I like the idea of using it in the dining room, but the first thought that crossed my mind was - changing table.
That blue wicker jug/lamp is super swoony. It's amazing that someone out there must be willing to pay $395 for it, though! Great job on your new piece. It looks great!
That is an awesome piece of furniture. You did a great job with it.
What a steal! I love it and think it looks beautiful painted. You're lucky your hubby doesn't need much convincing :)
Fun find. And the outcome is great.
Linen press? Ha! Changing table? More likely. But beautiful and useful just the same! And it still was a great price!
That is a fabulous piece. How beautiful it is white the white paint. What a great look you gave to it!
Hey Abbie!
I think it's too low to be a changing table...it's only 28 inches tall. But I don't have kids, so maybe you're right! :-)
Layla
Love it! Glad to know I am not the only person who sees something and want's to paint it! lol. It is so pretty! Sorry to hear your husband hurt his back, hope he is feeling better and on the mend. Thanks for always sharing such creative inspirations!!
Hugs,
~Victoria~
You did SUCH a gorgeous job on that piece of furniture!
May I ask: how do you distress your stuff, and also, do you have a favorite glossy, creamy-white paint?
Thanks!
Lamps: Do you get the Ballard Catalog? I swore I saw lamp kits for these. Or maybe I'm mixing this up with PB? I also saw a tut somewhere on how to make your own jute covered vase. It wouldn't be woven, but you'd take rope and glue it around a glass vase. I'm confident you could do the WHOLE thing very afordably.
Linen Press: Love what you did with it. Question - how do you sand furniture? By hand, with an eletric sander, liquid sandpaper? Our kitchen table has been through the wringer with our kids. I love it but it needs replacing. Unless I can revive it by re-finishing it. I'd also like to take off the green accents and redo them with a black stain. I'm too nervous to even begin.
What a great find! The home you found for it storing your table linens and accessories is perfect! It was made for that job.
Poor Kevin!
He did a fabulous job on your kitchen cabinets.
I love your Chinese antique - my brother had the same thing happen with a dining room set.
I like it much better painted. I wish I had somewhere to put one at my house.
So cute! Kevin, sweet Kevin. You are one lucky girl. My husband can't ever figure out why anything ever needs to be changed around our house! lol
xx
Kara
I'm the 'anonymous' who asked about the distressing and the paint, and I just want to add: you are one of the best designers I've seen in such a long time. What an eye you have! I love your taste.
Great find girl, you know it would be an amzing piece in a baby's room (I just helped my friend refinish a piece for her baby.. it's on the brain).
Ah... now I see that someone else already had that idea!
Old or not it is great and useful too. I shake my head sometimes when I see what people are trying to sell as antiques. I am antique enough myself to know better most times.
Just thought I'd let you know that if you were thinking about switching out your countertops but can't right now for whatever reason, I'm about to paint my baby blue laminate ones in a faux granite!! I found a great thread about how to do it over here:
http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf999197.tip.html
Some of the 'after' pictures are just amazing!!
Great piece, and it looks great paint out white. You will get a lot of use out of that piece.
Ok girl! I just looked up my Ballard catalog and they do have these lamp kits, of course they fit the "demijohns" they sell. Anyway the "demijohns" (look like jugs to me) they have are covered with either iron mesh, burlap, knotted jute or cane. This could be a place to use that burlap! Just an idea. Hope it's not too weird that I'm so excited about this.
That storage unit is so awesome! I've never seen anything like that.
All the best,
Allison
It is wonderful! Love the white finish.
I love what you did with this piece. I think it is a changing table too! My changing table is only 31 inches high. ;)
what a great piece. I just love more storage. especially charming storage!
WOW it love love love that linen press!!!!
Awwww - this is the best! I wish there were good flea markets here -- or maybe there are and I just dont know where to look!
Beautiful piece though!
Lucky girl. I want one. You did a great job.
Love that cabinet. The contrast between the paint and the baskets- oh so perfect! Poor Kevin, but poor you too! My husband just hurt his back moving our "antique-door-made-headboard" bed and I don't know what to do! Feeling helpless when your honey is hurt makes me hurt too. Love your blog. Get better Kevin!!
I LOVE your find! It's amazing what a spark of imagination and some inspiration can do!
Thank you for sharing.
Wow! What a great find! Looks beautiful! I hope Kevin is better soon! Tell him we are looking forward to another post! Cant wait to see the fireplace!
I love your "linen press" redo. It's gorgeous!
Love it. I got one of those "antique" pieces from my husband's grandma a few years back. Yep, the made in China stamp was on the back, along with the year it was manufactured. LOL
I think your find would work great as a changing table too. Just saying. :op
Antique or not, that storage piece is AWESOME. I'm totally drooling.
What a find! I love the contrast of the wicker against the white paint job you've done...way to go!
Is it wrong for me to be totally jealous? Especially after the post I put on my blog today about a piece of furniture sitting outside that someone won't sell me, but the elements are ruining it. I am happy for you... really I am. And still jealous!
PS Worm holes rock!! We use ice picks.
Love your linen press! It's so fun to have a major find at the flea market! Can't wait to see how you accessorize it.
I'm so in love with that "linen press", I wanna marry it!! It's gorgeous! Great find.
What a deal. Old or new I love it all the same. I cant wait to see all the pretties you will find to put on top. I bet you laughed all the home with your new piece. I know I would have~
I would love to add your button to my blog but I dont see the code. Would you send it to me please. Thanks !
I love your find, even if it's not old! Great makeover.
Great find-it's gorgeous! And I had no idea about wormholes-what a dummy I am.
I love that piece. It looks perfect where you placed it.
I love your "antique" find. Really like what you did with it. I am really enjoying the look of painted furniture lately, and this piece looks very lovely....and practical!
Oh. My. Gosh. I have seriously been scouring the web the last two days for something exactly like this. I want to keep it at the bottom of the stairs and designate one drawer to each child for their stuff left downstairs. The idea being they carry it up and put it away. Lucky you!
Wow, you are so good at what you do! That piece of furniture looks great!
I'm working on what you might call a "shoe string budget" as well, and I am always so excited when you show a money saving project that looks like it's straight from the pages of a mag!
You rock, girl!
I am so jealous. That is a beautiful "linen press" (call it what you want, it's yours). You did a great job with it.
Wow...truly great find! It looks gorgeous...wish I had one!
Love your new piece! I want one!!! xo
Can you please share the paint brand/color you selected? We are about to paint a bookcase, and I didn't want anything to yellow or stark white, so this looks perfect! Thank you.
what a gorgeous find! It's perfect for your sweet home!
I just moved to Fort Worth from Calera, Alabama and am sad that I discovered you after we moved! We could have fleamarketed together!
Hey Layla, Now I measured my changing table (I have three kiddos so that means I've changed about a billion diapers...) and it's 31 inches high and I got my husband to raise it another three, and I'm not that tall! So 28 wouldn't be great, unless you've got someone around 4 feet tall to change the baby!
And it does look great - I've just never seen that edging on the sides and back of anything besides a changing table. But I probably think about diapers too much! :)
Love all your ideas and can't wait to see your finished kitchen.
Oh my dear goodness...I just want to jump through my computer and play with your new piece of furniture. I think I could sit and stare at that and play with it for hours. That is such an incredible find! And the price...wow...all I can say...
oh my goodness that buffett, side table is beautiful - you are so crafty and lucky to have found that with all the baskets in great shape!
I love your "linen press". It is a great piece.
I really like that lamp. I have one of the bottles that goes inside the wicker cover that I turned into a lamp with a lamp kit, but I'd LOVE to find the bottle/cover combo!
What an incredible find! Loved it at first, loved your updated version even more. Thanks for sharing and congrats! = )
Who knew that you could get antiques with Made in China stickers! Vendors really need to pay attention to that! :D
Hope Kevin's back is better soon. My hubby has back trouble too...poor guys..
Girl that piece is a keeper, unless you don't want to keep it all and want to sell it to me. It would be just perfect in my study redo!
Beautiful piece! Love the baskets...
I love the white with the baskets. They use a lot of that combination in the Scandanavian countries....have you checked out those blogs? Sooooo pretty. Great idea on the dropcloths. Nice, heavy fabric and inexpensive too!
Blessings,
Spencer
I love love LOVE your linen press! Oh my word- it is so perfect! Where can I get one? It is so going at the top my 'to buy' list! Beautiful!
Layla--Sometimes I think you are just an angel sent to our blog world. You have done my family room--and it is coming together so beautifully. I have done your drop cloth curtains in my dining room, and I can't stop smiling when I see them. You are such a blessing in my life. You really are. I think some people just feel happy they know the cool Layla...but, I am thrilled I at least found my way to you. So, this is just a little "Thank you..." and a deep appreciation for your hard work.
Greetings from Germany! Your blog is great! This is my first comment ever to any blog, but I wanted to let you, and your european readers, know that I found a very similar "linen press" sold by a french shop Maisons du Monde. You can find it in their internet page, it´s called Sherwood. Yours looks so good painted white!
May I ask where your favorite flea market is located? I'm a flea market junky!
This piece is gorgeous!
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