This cute side table was painted and distressed by my 10 year old daughter. She has been watching me work with furniture and wanted to get in on the action so I gave her this piece to work with. She chose the paint colors (from my collection, hence the similar color scheme as some of my pieces) and launched right in with her usual gusto!
The knobs add a bit of whimsy to the piece (they came from my stash of old knobs). Colors used were Annie Sloan Provence for the base and Old White for the top. Anna distressed the piece with the help of a good friend by using sand paper and steel wool. Then they waxed it with Annie Sloan Clear Wax.
I’ve always been attracted to the use of light and shadow to create a dramatic mood in artwork. In 16th century art, that was called “chiaroscuro:” the arrangement and treatment of light and dark parts in a work of art (Merriam-Webster). With the bright morning light pouring through our windows, I thought I would try a bit of chiaroscuro on the table. The first picture in this post is a straight shot of the piece while the second picture uses light and shadow to create a mood. Which of the two do you like?
Lessons learned: My daughter got first hand experience in the transformation of a super ugly piece and will hopefully get a nice lesson in making a profit from the sale of an item she created (after paying her Mom for the out-of-pocket expenses of course).
This is for sale.
Here are a few process pictures starting with the side table before the whimsical knobs:
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Beth said:
This piece is wonderful! Your daughter done a great job! Congrats Anna!
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martha leone said:
Thanks! She’s going to start on another piece as soon as school lets out for the summer!
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Liz said:
Oops, I said in the post above that I’d like to see your kids’ furniture flips and here below it was. That was fast. 🙂 Wow, she has learned well. A job well done and I bet she feels so accomplished. I’m sure her friends probably love coming to your house. Looks like a fun place to be!
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martha leone said:
Hi Liz:
We’re having fun with the furniture. My other daughter is getting ready to finish up a table. That will post next week! I hope to have them do more of this throughout the summer!
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Stacey said:
I love this! I cannot believe your daughter created that! That is very cool! Cool that she watched and learned from you and then created something!
Thanks for linking up!
Stacey of Embracing Change
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Sharon @ Elizabeth & Co. said:
Way to go Anna! Great job!
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martha leone said:
Thanks! She is at school right now but would want to thank you personally if she could!
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Paige said:
Great job Anna!
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Michelle@Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust said:
I love blue & this is so pretty. I even love the driftwood on top! Great staging as usual. Thank you so much for linking up on Fabulous Friday at Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust.
Warmly, Michelle
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Ann W said:
Anna, you’re famous! You’ve been picked up by MissMustardSeed! You had better get started on more projects because there will be great demand for your pieces. Ann
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Jessica @ Dear Emmeline said:
To cute! Great job Anna!
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martha leone said:
Oh wow. I can’t wait to show Anna that you’ve featured her, Marian. How fun and super encouraging. What kind comments as well. (I would wake her up but it’s 11:45 pm and she needs to get to school tomorrow). Thanks so much!
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Nicole said:
Very pretty. Great work!
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Betsy Shea said:
i love this piece and agree your daughter did a fabulous job! kudos to her! you have inspired me to transform my own “patethic” and blah pieces of furniture into beautiful “new” pieces with paint and a bit of elbow grease (in the form of distressing). my results are not nearly as good as your’s/your daughter’s tho! i wondered if you might be willing to share a step-by-step process with us on your blog (in particular, i wasn’t aware that i should wax pieces after painting/distressing them, and i’m not sure what kind of paint i should be using. any tips would be greatly appreciated! thanks and again, great work!!
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martha leone said:
Hi Betsy: Great idea for a post. I’ll work on it and get it out soon. I’ll try to send an email to you when it’s up on my blog but if you want to, you can subscribe to my blog so that you don’t miss the post. Thanks for the comment!
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Rose said:
I Love it. Thanks for sharing this with us at The Sunday Round Up.
Rose
@ http://www.arosiesweethome.com/
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martha leone said:
My pleasure to share. Thanks for the opportunity to participate in your party!
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patti said:
what a fabulous job she did – and what a great hobby this will become! Lovely!
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Becky said:
That is wonderful–wait until i show my 10 year old! she obviously has a fantastic, talented teacher–there isn’t anything you do that I don’t like!
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martha leone said:
Hi Becky: You’re so nice to comment. I love your blog. It will always be one of the first blogs I visited when I started this furniture adventure a couple of months ago and I visit it regularly and love your work. I’ll upload The Anna Table at next Thursday’s party. I hope you enjoyed the ottoman that I uploaded yesterday.
Anna will also respond to your comment tomorrow.
Thanks, Martha
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Amy said:
Wow! This is one of my favorites. I agree with your statement– what a “pathetic” piece but now look at it! The color choice, the antique effect- it looks great. I think the knobs are great. I especially love that Anna tried a new art! Keep it coming 🙂
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Donna Leone said:
I love the side table, but love the fact that Anna did it even more! Wish I was there…I’d buy it in a second!
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Miss Mustard Seed said:
Awesome job, Anna! The colors are beautiful and you distressed that piece to perfection. Well done!
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martha leone said:
Thanks!!! I LOVED working on it! I’m hoping to do more!
Anna
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Audrey said:
Nice job Anna! I really like the colors and most of all, seeing the transformation from the original to the bright piece it is now! Keep going!
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Julia Guirguis said:
Great job Anna , I love the color you chose. You are talented like your mom.
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martha leone said:
Thank you Teta!I loved working on it!
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Miriam Hall said:
This piece is beautiful. It’s hard to believe how much better it looks after Anna’s work. Great job, Anna! With your talent and willingness to work hard, you’ll go far.
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martha leone said:
Thank you Aunt Miriam! It was a lot of fun!
Love Anna
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Dana said:
Way to teach them young! I love it. Great job. And of course I love the drifwood.
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martha leone said:
Thanks. She’s excited about her debut on my blog. By the way, the driftwood was found on the eastern shore in Maryland during spring break. Beautiful nature.
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martha leone said:
Thank you for the nice comment.I had fun working on it!
Anna
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