modern Archives - Prodigal Pieces

In DIY / Tutorials, Family, Furniture, Giveaways, Project Gallery, Thrifted

Art Deco Buffet Revived with Paint & Stain

Time for round two! Are you ready? If you missed the first installment of our Battle of the Buffets, be sure to see the first makeover of an antique in this post. You’ll want to take a peek so you can vote at the end of today’s fun and enter to win this week’s giveaway (I love to share!). Today, the entrant is this vintage Art Deco buffet that has seen better days.

Let me tell you why…first, it has damage to the top with chemical/burn stains, it is sagging badly in the middle, veneer missing, and the doors won’t stay shut. Nothing we can’t fix, right?! Read more

Larissa

65 Comments

In DIY / Tutorials, Furniture, Home Decor, Project Gallery, Thrifted

Updated Dresser with Pulls, Paint, & Stain

Do you find stress relief in work? I’m one of those the will clean my house lickety-split when I am one hot mama. hahaha… That’s kinda how I feel about furniture and my creative projects too. There are times when I am downright frazzled and wore to the bone, then when I go get creative my woes are gone. I talk to God during that time and it feels so good. We’ve had some major setbacks in the last few weeks and I decided to take it out on this piece today. Let me show you how I turned it into an updated dresser. PLUS, I have an awesome giveaway for you!

You might be wondering what’s wrong, well we’ve found a pest in the wood we are using for our kitchen countertops. No big deal, just treat and move on, but that set us back 3 weeks finding the source, the solution, and waiting on it to arrive. Then our vehicle had issues and when they were supposed to be fixed the dude who repaired it caused more damage. We even had Read more

Larissa

135 Comments

In Furniture, Home Decor, Project Gallery, Thrifted

Modern Chic Makeover for Art Deco Nightstand

My kids are with me in my daily grind and I love to include them in my projects as well as giving them projects of their own. One day that won’t be with me and I want them to have wings to fly. I feel that learning a trade, along with a scholarly education in homeschool, is crucial. My efforts to broaden their horizons includes working alongside me as the eagerly request to learn. Today, my oldest daughter, Miss C, is getting to work on this Art Deco nightstand by giving it a modern chic makeover.

Whenever I receive a piece of furniture for free, I let one of my six kids have at it. Both of my parents have generously given various items for them to work on, and this time my father gave us this piece to revive along with a dressing table. I am working on the dressing table and my daughter gets to revive this rough-looking nightstand.

Turns out this is a piece made by Virginia House Furniture right here in the U.S. and this company is still making handmade furniture today. Isn’t that cool?

*this post includes affiliate links so you can find the products I love to use too!

Miss C isn’t a foundling when working on furniture Read more

Larissa

22 Comments

In DIY / Tutorials, Furniture, Home Decor, Project Gallery

Update Furniture with these Simple Steps

It’s been a while since I’ve worked on a larger piece of furniture, so it feels good to get back in the saddle again. Often when my husband is making a delivery to cities that are an hour or so away, I always jump on Craigslist to see if there is something in the same area that would be a candidate for a makeover. While delivering the settee I just finished, I had him pick up this Mid Century dresser. I thought this piece would be a perfect candidate to show you how to update furniture in a few easy steps.

*affiliate links are included in the post so you can find the product I love to use too! (see full disclosure)

This dresser is as solid as they come with a stout design, sturdy dove-tailed drawers, and ornate details. I like the design of this one because it appears to have nine drawers, but actually only has six. Plenty of storage and space in there. The only thing wrong with it was that the finish had been worn (that 1960’s speckled veneer-type finish), and an update would do this brown beast justice. Read more

Larissa

20 Comments

In Furniture, Home Decor, Kids, Project Gallery

Mid-Century Modern Sunburst Table

It’s a wonderful thing to have people think of you when they have some sort of item they’d like to part with. Often, in my case, those unwanted pieces are furniture related. My typical protocol is to check it over for quality and resale prowess before taking it on, then I hand it off to one of my six kids. Just like this Mid-Century modern table we were given.

My desire is to show my children how they can take something unwanted and make it new, but also how to make it in this world by earning a living and staying out of debt. You can see more of their work in this post dedicated to their work. This time around, the recipient was my second oldest daughter , Miss S.

This table is really awesome and had to have been a statement piece in its day. I found the label and looked up the company. Seems they had some pretty cool stuff!

Funky design AND the top swivels – how cool is that? The legs had been damaged and would need repaired, but other than that this is a solid piece that would shine once again.

To say my daughter was stoked, was an understatement. Read more

Larissa

24 Comments

In DIY / Tutorials, Furniture, Home Decor, Project Gallery

Mid Century Modern Furniture Color Fun

Last week, I showed you this Mid Century Modern chest of drawers I found on Craigslist. It just needed a little TLC and a pop of color to bring it up-to-date.

Much better, right? The makeover stays true to the era while adding a bit of fun.

I also mentioned that it wasn’t until after we got the chest home that I saw the owner had just listed the matching credenza. Umm…duh. (sorry. I hate when my kids use that word, but this situation perfectly fits it)Why he didn’t tell us he would be selling it too, I’ll never know, but we went back on the road again to pick up this classic Mid Century Bassett piece.

This top was the worst part…damage where the mirror had sat, chemical stains that I hoped could be hidden, and oodles of dents and dings. Someone had even made screw holes in the top ends! Read more

Larissa

14 Comments

In Furniture, Project Gallery

Modern Style to a Mid Century Piece

Recently, I have finally achieved my goal of getting rid of every piece of furniture in my stash except the one I would be working on. Wahoo!! It’s been a long journey to get them done, especially when good friend find you pieces curbside or bring them to you with wonderful intentions. Stay tuned to see my renovated shop. eep! I couldn’t wait until I could get back onto the search for a new project, and here is the first one that spoke to me. Time to give it some modern style.

A classic Mid Century Modern chest of drawers. The clean lines of this style draw me in every time. Check out those inlaid star pieces on the top drawer. Cool…This particular piece wasn’t in bad shape at all.

It just has some wear with deep gouges to the top surface, and missing veneer on the cabinet. Read more

Larissa

22 Comments

In Furniture, Project Gallery, upholstery

Vanity Makeovers ~ 16 Different Sets Redone

I’m taking a walk down memory lane today. Won’t you join me? I have always wanted to do a round-up of all the different vanity makeovers that I have worked on over the last three years (time flies when you’re having fun!). Now I can share them with you all in one place.

So let’s step back in time to see all the different sets that have come through my possession and into my shop to new owners.

My very first project EVER, was this little Art Deco waterfall vanity I found at Goodwill for $5. This was before they’ve started to jack up their prices ridiculously for damaged goods. tsk.

Not having really started furniture for sale yet, it sat for a few months before I could tackle it because I was already painting the exterior and interior of our home all by myself. But boy, what a job this little thing was! The veneer was in horrible shape and the entire piece needed sanded down and repaired. It had no mirror, but I found one through Etsy. It arrived busted and FedEx replaced it with a new one. Whew!

This was when I fell in love with my favorite seconds paint aqua color I have used again, and again.

The rest of these won’t be in chronological order, but pretty close, and I’ve tried to find all the various ones I’ve worked on. Crazy to see how my photography and staging have changed.

This next Art Deco beauty I named, My Painted Lady. What a glamorous piece that convinced me paint can do amazing things.

Scored this for $50 and learned so much in repair and detailing. Read more

Larissa

12 Comments

In Furniture, Home Decor, Project Gallery

Mid Century Modern to Modern Day

It’s been crazy around here lately, with our boys’ bedroom being redone and I’ve been blessed to have a couple of custom orders to work on. So in total, I’ve done about 7 large pieces of furniture in less than 2 weeks. whew! I’m tuckered, but am happy that I am able.

One of the custom items we are selling regularly now in my shop, is our farmhouse style storage trunk. (aka Pottery Barn Knock-Off) We actually just received another order and are working on it this week. God is good.

The other custom order came about when a mom was looking to purchase this chest of drawers for her daughter. You can read all about that fun makeover here.

She had another daughter that needed some furniture, but had a completely different taste, more along the lines of Mid Century Modern. Talk about night and day, eh?

So off I went to shop and because things were so crazy busy, I really said a silent prayer that I would find something local so that I didn’t have to search too much. I went to thrift store 5 minutes from my house and here is what I saw…

There it sat as snug as a bug in a rug, and my heart went pitter-pat. Read more

Larissa

14 Comments

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