Leave a CommentShare: |
Subscribe
This little green table belonged to my grandmother on my mother’s side. I don’t know how or why it ended up green. Growing up, visiting older relatives, I saw many tables in this style and they were always stained, not painted. My mother gave me this table about eight years ago and I thought for a long time that I would strip it and stain it. I wanted to use it as my nightstand. This never seemed to come about, and eventually the table ended up on the porch at Stringtown Rising.
I decided it was finally going to become my nightstand when I moved to Sassafras Farm, but I had a change of heart about stripping and staining it.
Working with what was there–the green–seemed like a more intriguing idea.
First, I sanded the table thoroughly,
There were some places where the paint was peeling or chipping. I just knocked the bits off and sanded it down. I wasn’t going for perfect here, so I didn’t worry about it other than smoothing it down.
After sanding, I cleaned off the sanding dust then wiped on some white paint in a deliberately uneven application.
Then I sanded it again, cleaned it again, and applied a light coat of polyurethane.
And put it in my bedroom.
The idea I was going for here was as if the table had been painted white at one time, and green at another time, and the paint had worn through to where you couldn’t even tell which layer was first. The table was already naturally distressed, so I just went with it.
I promise to show you more inside soon. I’m working on paint in the living room and dining room now. I’m having so much fun nesting in my cute little house.
Posted by Suzanne McMinn on December 3, 2011
2:04
am
2:05
am
3:19
am
5:40
am
I like what you did with it. I recently re-introduced a tall blue painted sideboard type of thing into our living room and I just sanded it off…didn’t do anything else but should. I am using mine as a plant stand.
5:42
am
9:05
am
9:32
am
9:37
am
Nice job of reclaiming it for practical use!
10:28
am
I really enjoy seeing what you are doing with the things at Sassafras. Lovely place God has BLESSED you with.
Looking forward to seeing more.
10:29
am
10:46
am
The little green table is from the Victorian era and it is called a “fern stand”. Victorians were really big on nature and so they brought ferns into the house. This was the perfect table to display them on in their livingrooms. They also had those little terrariums for plants, too. Victorians would go on nature walks and collect butterflies and fern specimens or they vacationed at the seashore and collected shells. The Victorian period was from 1837-1901.
My grandmother kept a big bowl of sea shells on her fern stand. As far as I know, she never left Indiana so who knows where she got them. One shell was a large spiral conch shell and we loved to hold it up to our ears so we could hear the ocean.
I found this cool website for Victorian Nature Walks in Connecticut. It is too late for this paarticular walk but there might be future walks. If you are interested in checking them out go to The Victorian Naturalist: A 19th Century Nature Walk
Where: James L Goodwin Forest Conservation Education Center
When: Sunday, October 16, 2011 – 10:00am – 12:00pm
Event Info: This is the second in a a series of Nature Walks that revisit the “Country outings” which were so popular during Victorian times. We may even bring along and refer to Nature guide books from the 19th century. It was a time when ladies and gentlemen studied orchids, birds and wild flowers (which were often collected and pressed). Participants may wish to wear their tweeds, skirts and hobnail boots (optional of course).
Enjoy the age of innocents-Bring a picnic lunch and a walking stick. Each session will end with a short picnic lunch—if you remember to pack one. And don’t forget to bring a parasol, if you can find one!
Pre-registration is required by October 13; call 860-455-9534 or e-mail juan.sanchezjr@ct.gov
My grandmother kept a big bowl of sea shells on her fern stand. As far as I know she never left Indiana so who knows where she got them. One shell was a large spiral conch shell and we loved to hold it up to our ears so we could hear the ocean.
11:43
am
12:17
pm
1:10
pm
I’m happy to hear that you are nesting and enjoying your new home
Suzanne.
I’m LOVING following along and getting to see all the interesting and pretty things you are doing to make your new home so cozy and welcoming.
Are BP and Glory Bee, Clover, and all the rest of your family snuggling in as well as you are?
Can’t wait to see the color of that bedroom. I’m thinking maybe a very soft mauve ?????
1:47
pm
Dee
2:45
pm
3:20
pm
4:58
pm
8:54
pm
12:13
am
1:30
pm