To market to market

Here is a peek at my little nook at the Old Bank Marketplace!  

If you're in the area, check it out! 

So many fun things to look at in this shop!

I'll take photos of the rest of the Bank on my next trip downtown.

Side Table Spa

Another side table that was living a blah life and got tossed aside.  She came to my furniture spa and received purple chalk paint treatment all over.  She looked super cute and matched my house!!! Next she was pampered with a custom copper leaf glaze and finished with a blue-aqua glaze.  

She's so happy, young and refreshing now!

photo session with my loyal lab, Chatham.  

If I kneel down to take a photo he knows it's my code for wanting to pet him... 

Clover Dresser

I painted this sweet 5 drawer dresser for the Old Bank but I coveted it for a few days in my living room just to stare at it.  Last week was so dark and rainy, but every time I gazed at this happy green, I felt happy.

The clover green was a fresh update from it's worn dark stained finish. 

 

Mahogany Desk Revival

I like cooperation.  

Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses and when you cooperate usually the strengths shine through.  

Unless it's my husband and I... 

we are both procrastinators, so it's easy for us to put things off 

and then a year goes by...   

This was not the case with this desk.  My friend new exactly what she wanted for a desk in her kitchen.  She knew the color she wanted, the finish, the size, the function, all of that- and I knew how to find the piece and refinish it.  

It came out great! And it works beautifully in her beautiful kitchen.

The desk was in good working condition but the finish on the top was tortured and needed to be taken down to it's raw mahogany beauty. The finish is a linen effect to match her dining table.  There are obvious brush lines in the dark glaze.  I used the same finish on a server for the same house.  It adds a lot of depth and interest to an otherwise flat piece.

gray side table

This side table came to me without a lot of personality.  

It is a Broyhill piece so solid wood, sturdy construction,

but neither the graceful leaf supports or the barley twist legs were showing off.

I gave it the lightest blue chalk paint finish with a dark wax seal.

It looks more grey now. 

 It's at the Old Bank

but I might snatch it back next week if it's still there 

and give it a nautical makeover.  

Wouldn't it look great with a compass on top?  

Barley twists could just as easily be boat rope as Solomon columns!  

turquoise dry sink

 You know how some of us need more cowbell?  

I feel that way about this color.  

As soon as one piece leaves after being painted this color, 

I search to find the next.

Our local paint store should keep this on paint mix speed dial for me.

I love it.

This dry sink sold quickly so I can only look at it's photos now, but it's a great example of how you can take an outdated yet functional piece of furniture in your home and turn into something you love!

check out the before's

...

and after! 

Side table sweetness

This little pair of end tables thought it was fine on it's own, 

when it was brown and boring and nobody loved it.

After a little brightening up it realized what happiness was as it hosted tea parties for dolls and stuffed animals, and held collections of bedtime books as bedside stands in my daughter's room.

and then we got bunk beds and these little sweeties really need a low profile bed to match up with or coastal/ cottage living room. 

They are heading to the Old Bank today to look for a new stage.

Come check them out!

from plaid to pleasing

I probably use this set of folding chairs twice a  month if not more.

Before I refinished them I had used them once, 

and completely regretted it when I saw them in photos at Easter Dinner.  

Then they hid in a shed for 7 years.

Poor dears.

but look at them now!

This was such a simple project! 

It required spray paint, staples and burlap.

I picked up two coffee bags from our local coffee shop and used them for the seats and backs.  I started to take the old plaid off, but realized it was easier to just upholster over it.  Burlap is forgiving that way, it's not white silk or anything!

Silver Vanity

 

I love metallics. 

To me they are a fancy neutral.  

You can work them in anywhere.

I gave this petite antique desk a silver glaze and stripped and sanded the top down to sweet mahogany.  I've used this as an entry table and a vanity but it needs a forever home now. 

So it's going to the Old Bank.

before- Years of paint and hiding

getting the top back to mahogany was a process!

And after! Ready to shine!

Setting up shop

We have an old bank in the village center of our sweet little town.

It's been renovated and re-purposed a few times and it has settled now as a marketplace and gallery.

It's very homegrown and inspiring.  

Local artists show and sell their work at the Old Bank.

The window light is incredible.

They use the old vaults as display space for smaller arts and crafters.

It's great for this little town of mine.

My father has sold his work there for a year now and at the last gallery night I thought... maybe I should try that!

So here I go! 

I've put a few pieces in and need to bring down more and also fluff up my space, but it's exciting and so far very fun.

I'll post pics from the space when I get them.

East Hampton Bank and Trust Co.

OLD BANK Flowers, Art and Marketplace

https://www.facebook.com/pages/OLD-BANK-Flowers-Art-and-Marketplace/234456620049289

Ombre dining chairs

                                  

The chairs for my dining set were a lot of fun.  I picked a nice tropical blue and lightened it with every chair so no two are the same and they have an ombre effect if you line them up in order, which hasn't happened since I painted them, but anyway, you get the idea.  The two arm chairs were painted Ben Moore Coral Spice.  I've used this color in a few spots in my house and I love it. Very warm and fun. 

The caning on the chair backs was all intact which makes things a lot easier.  The upholstery however was pretty bad.  It was tattered and green and goldish. I think it was original in the 70's.  I reupholstered with a vibrant floral patterned fabric and learned how to make and sew piping into the cushions. It really adds a nice finished look.

Inspired dining

             

This is a Thomasville table with 8 chairs and three leaves.  I picked up on craigslist.  It was in solid sturdy working condition, but it was ugly.  Layers of dark sticky wax and urethane, plus it had the backing of a felt table cloth sort of melted into it.  It took a lot of sanding and stripping to reveal the gorgeous surface it was meant to have.  A beautiful pattern emerged, I sealed it with 3 coats of lacquer and it still looks great.  I painted the base the lightest gray and went to work on the 8 chairs. With all three leaves in place this set is nearly 9 feet long and 44 inches wide.

  

 Inspiration for this color pallet came from a painting of my daughter, painted by my father.  

I love looking at.  

I could look at it all day.

He just completed a painting of my son and it's already inspiring some color ideas for my office area.

In the studio with Klara by Whitney Fielding

Yes, I painted my piano!

After a few years of deconstruction and reconstruction on our little home, 

and as my children became old enough to not ruin EVERYTHING in our little home, ahem, 

I started to collect the furniture I wanted for the long haul.  

Like a piano, which is an instrument, but also a piece of furniture.  

And a substantial piece of furniture at that. 

I am a self-diagnosed chronic furniture-rearranger. 

A piano is a major commitment because once you put it in place, it really needs to stay there.

This is a real challenge for those of us who share my diagnoses.

The piano did move around this room a little bit while walls and ceilings were being insulated, sheet rocked, mudded, taped, sanded, primed and painted.  

In fact it served as a spot for our contractors to rest their coffee cups and tools.

I probably should have covered it sooner, it took some abuse, but it survived. When it was moved back to it's final resting spot (for now) it looked like a big black hole in a fresh new bright room.  

So I painted it.  

I had wanted a chartreuse piano for a long time and now I have one!

It's hard to tell the actual color from these photos, but it is Behr Celery Sprig. 

The paint actually shows off how old and wrinkly the original finish was.

My friend, Kate, from Heir and Space, knows what that's called, as "old and wrinkly" are not antique speak per se. 

Welcome!

I've been hiding from blogging for a year.  

A friend gave me a tutorial an entire year ago! 

She set my blog up for me and it just sat there waiting for me to start posting.  

I was way too intimidated though.  

I just don't have a blog mind, figuring out how the whole thing works has taken me a year! 

And so, I'm just getting started.  

Better late than never? 

If you never try you'll never know?

So here I go!

WELCOME!

to The Aubergine Cottage!

I'm Leslie.

I live in a purple house with a green door.

I paint furniture and share it with friends and family or sell it.

My partner would prefer I do more of the latter, ahem.

I remind him that when I distress a piece a furniture, I de-stress my life.

It's wonderful therapy.

I love taking something old, forgotten or unused and giving it a second chance with a coat of paint and wax.

I hope you enjoy the blog.

I hope that some of my projects inspire others to give it a try sometime.

Certainly, I have been inspired so much by my favorite blogs and when I figure out how to share them on here, I absolutely will!