"Cherish" Room - Opening Day!

After a week of working almost day and night to get the walls of the room and furniture painted, vintage finds researched and priced, and making some holiday decorations, I decided it was time to open the room! After all - it is a work in progress - constantly!  Every time a piece of furniture sells, the room gets a makeover to make room for a new piece that may not fit in the old spot! AND - I have so many more holiday projects I wanted to put in the room before I opened, I realize now that I will never be 'done'! So please join me on a tour of my new space - the "Cherish" room at Fabulous Finds!

Let's begin on the east wall as you enter the room -this is my 'cabin' wall!  The desk is a vintage rancho style desk with a cabin on the front panel.   The red desk top is set off by the red of the child's rocking chair -a vintage Nichol and Stone from the late 1950's.  A hand forged iron cross is featured above a vintage mailbox stuffed with letters to Santa!

 This wall also features a bare wood framed chalkboard, a 'Merry Christmas' banner and some rustic frames.

The vintage metal shelf is a perfect display piece for a pair of vintage fawn salt and pepper shakers and the little boy Lefton Snowball Kissing Bell.

 Moving towards the right, the Christmas Tree is almost camouflaged by the printed fabric sporting a wood pile image, hanging behind it. How I snapped this one so blurry is beyond me but I'll take a new picture tomorrow and fix it!  The table sits on an old "Dancer's" table (see previous post!) and in front of it is an old ammo box. 


Ok - that's a little clearer!  A handmade "wish" banner encircles the tree loaded with glittered word ornaments, Victorian cone ornaments to fill, letters, and more!

The main focus wall of the room is next featuring a huge, beautiful vintage chalkboard and a 48" round pedestal table clad in this season's plaid!  The basket to the left on the floor is filled with two peppermint striped pillows, as does a black iron candle stand.

 On the table there are two apothecary jars filled with beribboned jingle bells,


a box of rusty metal tags with stencil letter cutouts perfect for monogramming a gift bottle for the holidays,


and a metal ornament tree with a flock of spring loaded dove ornaments!

Moving right again, we scan past a wall of vintage frames, a wire mesh shelf hung with stockings and a 'joy' banner, some letters, a small bird hook and other wall decor, to come to the ethereal section of the room!

Topped by a massive baroque style frame, this vintage dresser supports a trio of pastel holiday trees, and two mirrored stocking holders with pewter toned stockings. Look closely and you'll see a trio of little cherubs gracing the negative space!

The pastel tones in this corner offer a completely different holiday decorating choice.  A vintage french provincial dining table is the perfect piece to set the tone.  The white feather tree and vintage aqua tinsel tree add a bit of sparkle and softness, while the white lights add a bit of twinkle to the holiday magic!

 Under the padded 'dream' letters, two small magnetic chalkboards hang from the seven bird iron hook, and a rose cross stitch adds a touch of pink to the wall and ties in the vintage tablecloth.

Zoom in further and a vintage pair of playful fawns welcome you to the fantasy.  The 'cut crystal' platter is really a vintage acrylic piece!

Two more vintage fawns play in front of an old lidded jar with snowflake motif.  The ram ornament wishes you 'Noel".

Finding a home in the feather tree are some glittered owl ornaments, dove wreath ornaments and snow glittered jingle bells. (See that patch of green in the top right corner?  Check back to 'Cherish' Room - Day One to see how the whole room used to be that color!)

We now have arrived at the last wall - and where we walked in!  Another sea blue edged chalkboard hangs between the two room windows.  A spinning card rack is filled with Victorian die cut holiday cards, thank you cards, and other French themed blank cards - all offered for less than $2!  A set of old mattress springs serves as a back drop for the 'info desk' and also is great for displaying the variety of greeting cards, clipped on with clothespins.

The feathered angel wings fly above a photo album filled with pictures of 'special order' projects I've done. To the left -  a basket of raffle tickets wait to be filled out for some lucky person to win the newest Taylor Swift CD and a t-shirt, a special incentive for visiting my new space! Stop by and maybe you'll get an early Christmas gift to give someone, or keep for yourself! 

 Thanks for taking the tour with me - the "Cherish" room will continue to evolve with each new piece of refinished furniture, vintage treasure or handmade item I bring in - you never know what you'll find so stop by often! Let me know if there is something special you'd like for me to find or make for you - giving you things to 'Cherish' is what I love!

"Cherish" Room - Day 4

Today I was going 'off my rocker'!  Since children's rockers are always in demand for the holidays, I thought I better have a painting day at home getting the rockers I've found ready for my space.

This is a classic hardwood rocker and has simple styling for a child's room.  It is a collectible rocker from Nichol and Stone Co. Gardner, Massachusetts. I've had it in my space but it hasn't sold - it seems people just want some color these days.  Making the decision to paint a collectible piece of furniture is always a hard thing to do, but the goal is to provide a product that people want so it's getting painted!  Then the next hard decision - what color?!

I decided to go with Emperor's Silk red from the Annie Sloan chalk paint line - perfect for a little "Emperor" or "Empress"!  Red is a popular choice for children's rooms being able to accent cowboy or cowgirl, aviation, farm, sports, circus, primary colors or other themes.

Next, I added a clear wax, and then a layer of dark wax.

After buffing it out, the dark wax gives the rocker a richer finish, adding to the classic styling and preserves the heirloom quality of this rocker - perhaps this will be received by some cute toddler as a Christmas gift and then become an heirloom when it's passed down to future heirs!

Next, this oak rocker will be beautiful painted old white and then shabbied.

 

 The detailing on the back gives it the necessary frill for a little princess!

 Here is is after I coated it in Annie Sloan's Old White.

Next, I sanded it to bring out all the detail - but I wasn't happy with it - I used a sander and I didn't like the way it was sanding everything instead of just the little details so I repainted the fancy part of the chair and distressed it again.

 This time I did it by hand using small pieces of folded sandpaper to get in the little crevices - I like it a lot better now because it shows off more of the intricate, frilly details!  I finished it off with some clear wax.

Now it's just precious and would also make an heirloom quality Christmas gift for any little princess!  I can't wait to see both of them under the tree in my space!

My third little rocker is a delicate antique wicker rocker with an extra side pocket for reading material! Don't worry - I'm not doing anything to this one! This would make a great prop for a children's portrait photographer.  I think I'll make a little pillow for it's seat  - but choosing fabric is always hard to do because the fabric choice could either make or break a sale!  So I thought I'd ask my readers -what kind of fabric do you see on this?

 I need help with this one too!  What color would you paint this little rocker?  I think it needs a cushion too so think about color and fabric choice! I'm open to any suggestions! Leave me a comment below this post and we'll see what others think! Tomorrow is a big day - moving lots of furniture in!