Classic

Good Monday everyone!  Hope your weekend was blessed with wonderful people, pleasant weather, and fun activities. 

I have a fun finish from the weekend to share today.  This piece served as a desk for us for a time, and just never really fit in after we moved.  I finally decided it was time to freshen it up and let it move away...well at least I can hope it will find a new home. 

The Harlequin pattern isn't something new.  You can find it all over blog land and Pinterest.  While this desk has a lot going for it already, this large top needed something special.

I love the effect this pattern gives on the desk top.  It just says classic to me.  I will say it is not exactly simple, but I found several really good tutorials and tools out there to help you figure out your measurements.  I did look them over and knew they were there, and then just threw caution to the wind and winged it.  Wonder where I got that from?  (Mom!)

Lucky for me it mostly turned out!  The desk is painted in Annie Sloan French Linen.  The harlequin design was painted on with a metallic silver leaf paint.  I did pretty heavily distress it because I didn't want it to be in your face silver.  I wanted almost a tone on tone appearance, but with a bit of shimmer.

The desk had pretty details like these corner rosettes.

Gratuitous leg shot!

While I love the color of French Linen I thought it needed a little pop of color somewhere.  I had these turquoise knobs on hand and decided they would be a perfect addition.  What do you think?  I also was really drooling to run to Anthropologie and pick up the Mercury glass knobs.  Hmmm.  I'll ponder this for a bit I think.  For now, I'm happy.

Here she is ready for that laptop or iPad.  The perfect size for a living room office or sofa table.  She'd also be perfect in an entry hall with a gorgeous piece of art or mirror behind her and place to set the mail and drop the keys.

Boy do I love pieces that are so versatile!  The sun is shining so that's a bonus and we're off to a great start to the week!  Have a good one!

Deb
Linking to:
http://elizabethandco.blogspot.com/2012/02/be-inspired-features-and-link-party-8.html
http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/2012/02/piece-of-work-wednesday-furniture-link_28.html
http://chattychics.com/2012/02/28/need-inspiration-wild-wednesday-5/
http://missmustardseed.com/2012/03/furniture-feature-friday-a-link-party-2/

Checkmate

Now if I were really clever, or well rested...whatever, I would have had the Queen up here when I did the photos for this post.  But I hadn't thought of the title at that point, and I didn't drag up all the pieces, and, and, and.  Gads I'm tired today!

Anyway, I bought this table at a thrift store after having been on the lookout for a small coffee table that might make a cute chess table.  This one really fit the bill.  Square, quality made, good condition, recessed top, perfectly square 24x24 recessed top.  Which makes all that math so nice and easy when you need to create a chess/checkerboard top!  Whew, what a break.  It took me forever, mostly because I hemmed and hawed about color.

I ended up using Annie Sloan's French Linen as a top coat and based it in Annie Sloan's Arles.  I knew that I wanted to distress it back and really let an unddercoat show through.  I am loving these two colors together I tell you.

They play nice.  So, lots of tape, a smidge of math, bits of sanding, and both clear and dark wax made it all come together. 

This cute fabric is lining the drawer waiting on it's chess and checker pieces.  Isn't that fun fabric?

I did bling up the wooden handle with some gold Rub n Buff to make it stand out a bit.  This piece had such clean, classic lines I think it worked perfectly for my chess table plans.  I see many a game night in it's future! 

Thanks for stopping by, more coffee table and side table finishes to come!
Have a super weekend!
Deb
Linked to:
http://missmustardseed.com/2012/02/furniture-feature-friday-a-link-party/
http://elizabethandco.blogspot.com/2012/02/features-and-be-inspired-link-party-6.html
http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/2012/02/piece-of-work-wednesday-furniture-link_14.html