"Strip It.....Strip It GOOD!"

Okay, okay, I can't help myself I just HAVE to tell you something.....

First of all, NO BABY YET.

I DID have a sonogram a week ago, at which point the tech estimated the baby's weight at 8 1/2 pounds (last week).  She followed it up (quickly) with "But we're always off; sometimes as much as 10%."  I'm sure this was to try to help me feel better.  And it WOULD have made me feel better if they were always off on the high side.  Unfortunately, they can also be 10% off the other direction; in which case my baby was already 9 pounds last week.

This is the point where I panicked and decided I needed to start a project in order to keep my sanity....I needed a distraction.

*Cue Project Story:

My sister, Barb, went to an Estate Sale in the late 70's or early 80's (soon after I was born) and found an interesting (but rough) antique vanity.  "I'm not sure how old it is," she always said, "but I just KNOW it has to be an antique!"  (You know, a real one...not just a junkie cheap piece that happens to be old.)  The intricate details interested her so she bought it.

I fell in LOVE with that vanity when I was about 5 years old.  I, and my niece (who is two years younger than me) used to sit at it every time we were together.  We spent hours putting on Barbara's make-up and playing dress-up.  It was the perfect place for the creative pretend play of little girls.

When I was 15 years old, I started wearing my own REAL make-up.  My mom bought the vanity from Barb and gave it to me as a birthday present.  Oh, how I loved sitting at it while I got ready for school!  It was even more ragged by then:  The varnish continued to wear, the legs became loose and the spots of past nail polish remover spills became lighter and lighter.  "Someday I'm going to refinish you," I always promised.

Well, that didn't happen for quite a while.

After my mom died in 2000, my dad sold our house of 20 years and it was time to move.  I have lugged that (very heavy) piece of sentimental furniture around ever since.  Limited on space and always promising I would "get-around" to giving it some attention, I am embarrassed to say that during the past 3 years it has sat in storage.  In the last year, it has sat in a (very dirty and leaky) farm shop.  The pack rats moved in and almost destroyed the inside.

What was my problem?

I know: I've never refinished a piece of antique furniture; much less one with such sentimental value.  Also, I was haunted and scared by other people's opinions:

"Don't sand it!  It's an antique!"

"Don't paint it!  You'll cover the natural wood!"

"Don't replace the hardware!  Cup pulls will be way too heavy!"

"It's an antique...don't ruin it!"

I'm sure that if I took it to the Antiques Road Show NOW, they would form a mob and try to hang me from the nearest tree.  Oh Well!

After being stripped and sanded down to bare wood.

The drawers were repaired and primed first.

Finally, I decided to just do what I wanted.  After all, am I just going to let it get destroyed by elements and rodents in a dirty old farm shop?

I am sharing this story, so that (maybe) it can help someone else not be afraid to just GO FOR IT when it comes to a project of their own.  Of course do your homework, think about it and come up with a plan, BUT, don't be afraid to create.  That's my point.

This beautiful "diamond in the rough" will now have a NEW purpose as a reward for patiently being ignored all those years:  I am going to use it as a changing table in the Baby's nursery.  After the diapers are gone and she is a few years older, it will be a place where SHE can sit in her room, look in the mirror and play dress-up with HER little friends.

Oh, and by the way:

As I was taking it apart to strip and sand I wondered (just like my sister has all these years) where it came from and how old it was.  We have tried to figure that out for 20 years as we commented on different styles and eras.  As I removed the back of the mirror part, however I uncovered a stamp:  Jamestown, New York 1947.  I immediately called my sister and told her.  "I knew it!  I knew it!  I just KNEW it was something special!"  she roared out on the other end.

The mirror will go back into the frame and the frame will be attached to the stand.  The stand is then connected to the vanity base.

Beautiful details of the top of the mirror frame.

(I think the painted swirly top looks like a Dairy Queen vanilla ice cream cone!)

Intricate details of the mirror stand (that the mirror connects to).

This was before big fancy-pants computer-programmed machines; somebody carved this!

I still have to put the mirror back on and put it together before it goes into the nursery.  I still have a leg to fix (which I have the piece for) and a few small repairs (just to make sure it is fixed correctly), but here are a few pictures I took while refinishing it.  I also have a "before" picture, but it's on the computer that is in storage....you'll have to wait for that picture, too.  After it is in the nursery, I will post more pictures.

*NOTE*:

I set-up shop in the Guest House at the Ranch Headquarters.  This 60-year-old, two bedroom one bath house is soon going to be refurbished and renovated into a place where guests can stay when they visit the Ranch.  It's a little rough itself right now (as you can see in the pictures), but I think it has the potential of being a very sweet retreat.

Restoring the vanity at 9 3/4 months pregnant!

(Feeling quite "large and in-charge!")

Do you like my surgical gown?  It makes a great painting smock!

Measuring and drilling holes for the drawer hardware.

I found the knobs and pulls on ebay (about 4 years ago).

Notice the details of the corners!  I liked this picture because the vanity almost looks like it's glowing!

(I don't think the hardware is too over-powering at ALL!)

"Take THAT, antique connoisseurs!"

*A Special thanks to Shanda: for helping me strip this down to bare wood again.  I wouldn't have been able to get through THAT critical part without you.