Before and After: Vintage Vanity and Mirror - Together at Last!

 An incredible stroke of luck brought me to this piece that I had been searching for since last March! My husband and I were on a summer road trip through Oregon and he was kind enough to let me go pickin' along the way! 

Our trip started in St. Helena and we then traveled north to hit the Oregon Coast. With absolutely no reservations or plans we were free spirits - we both love 'winging it'! We've been pretty successful thus far with this modus operandi, finding hotel gems such as Ireland's Rustic Lodges (next blog post!)

After stopping at numerous thrifts and antique stores, I received a recommendation from a shop employee to visit another Antique store just up the road - but I had to hurry since they closed at 5!  We arrived at 4:45pm and the owner was kind enough to let me take a 'quick look'.

It is REALLY hard to take a 'quick look' at a beautiful antique store full of treasures and this one even had an upstairs! I was going to have to go fast!  I whisked along, my eyes darting to and fro, taking in as much as possible without causing sensory overload!

That turquoise blue always catches my eye and this beautiful milk glass piece jumped out and stopped me in my tracks!  I set it on the counter and then I almost took the stairs by two. When I got to the top I turned left - and then I saw it! The bottom half I needed to complete my vanity!

You see, I bought this mirror (shown here without the glass!) at a consignment store in 
St. Helena nearly two years ago.  I thought for certain I'd be able to match it up with a bottom half fairly quickly and then refinish it for resale.  But it wasn't as easy as I thought, since the mirror was huge and had a part that dropped down with no frame - I was going to need a special cabinet to complete the set.

  

 My husband said, "How do you know its going to match up with the mirror?"  I told him it was karma and I had been looking for a long time so I just knew it would match up! I quickly paid the lady and loaded it into our car.  I had no idea how well it would fit until I got home and took the mirror out of storage - it was the exact same width! The cabinet had two piers, which accommodated the mirror, since the mirror extended below it's frame.

I took the mirror out of its frame and sanded it down. 
Then I did a quick sanding of the bottom cabinet part of the vanity as well.

After a few coats of Annie Sloans' Old White, the pieces looked refreshed!

 I then distressed each piece to bring out the beautiful carvings and details . . 
.

 (Monet likes to give me advice!)

 . . . and added a coat of clear wax for protection. 
After almost two years, it was time to finally see the finished pieces together!

I carefully replaced the massive mirror and secured it with the holds. . .


and replaced the glass knobs on the drawers. Now for the  big marriage,
I heaved the mirror up to place on top of the vanity cabinet.

I absolutely love it!  My long lost vanity is now complete 
and I can't even think about selling it!

This is one piece I will hold on to - a piece to cherish 
and hand down to the next generation.

I guess it's true - good things come to those that wait!

 

I've joined these link parties! 

 Wow Us Wednesdays!

Chic on a Shoe String's Flaunt It Friday!

Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday

Truckers Road Trip!

Yesterday we started our "truckers road trip"! My husband and I decided to take a road trip from Sacramento, California to Springfield, Illinois to pick up some rubber tracks he bought for our rice harvester from a fellow rice farmer. The trip is 4,000 miles total! We are driving a Ford 250 and are towing a trailer. Crazy right?!

When he told me he found some tracks in Illinois and he was going to hire a trucker to bring them back to California my mind started racing! I love to treasure hunt so I started thinking that if we went to pick up the tracks, I could shop along the way AND we would have to bring the tracks back on a large trailer so if I uncovered a large find, I could load it on the trailer! So I made my proposal, "Mike, what if we went back to pick them up? We haven't had a vacation yet this summer and I have never seen the midwest."  Well, I think Mike knew where I was heading because he responded, ". . . and you could shop along the way!". He was so thinking like I was! I love when that happens.

As we planned the trip, we tried to think of every scenario we may come across, including weather. Farmers are always thinking about weather - which is a good thing in this case because Mike thought about what may happen to my found treasures on the trailer if it started raining. After checking into storage pods and seeing the rental price, Mike decided to build me a "treasure box" to go on the trailer.

Here it is! It is 4 feet x 4 feet x 8 feet - he must have thought I would find some big pieces so I am crossing my fingers! 

 The box should protect my finds from weather and secure them wherever we end up spending the night.

We plan on heading south down CA Interstate 5 and the heading over to Highway 58 and then hook up with the old "Route 66" Interstate 40 the next few days, going through Kingman, Arizona and then heading towards Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

 So follow along as we travel cross country and if you live along our route, be sure to leave a comment and maybe we can meet up!   Or, if any of you know a great treasure hunting spot, great restaurant since we are foodies, or shabby chic shop I can visit along the way let me know!  So what do you think the chances are of me filling my "treasure box" up?! I'll keep you posted!!