School House Desk

I walked into a thrift store last week and almost immediately locked my eyes on this little gem of a desk.  It wasn't hard to miss since it was sitting right by the door plus that fun Kelly green color was practically flirting with me.  

When I texted a pic to Chels, her response was "Yay! Kelly green sends my heart soaring."  That settled it: he was coming home with me.  

Admittedly this photo really doesn't do the shade justice since it's reading more forest-y green here, but trust me he's a charmer!  What I didn't care for, however, was the original top: that laminate wood I can so easily remember bored classmates carving into in Freshman Geometry.  

Bueller?... Bueller?... Bueller?

The fake wood was flunking the desk's overall vintage vibe so it had to go.  I nixed it in favor of a freshly stained piece of real wood.

It's amazing how such a simple {and affordable} change-out can make all the difference.  I'm giving your update an A+ mister.

Now that old deadbeat top can no longer hold this vintage charmer back. 

And the top even pulls up for more storage!  A++ 

{Doesn't this take you back?  Who here remembers their old elementary school desk?  You know... back when we had lunch boxes and pencil boxes and everything we owned seemed to have our name written on it somewhere?}

There's even a sweet little pencil tray along the front-most inside edge.  A+++

{And I couldn't resist enlisting the help of the faux pull-down chart from my recent guest post.  It was practically begging me to be included in a vintage school house photo shoot.}

I could totally see this guy acing it in a playroom or nailing that extra credit as a quirky side table with hidden storage.

Now available for sale.
24"W x 18"D x 30"H {adjustable}
$75

  SOLD

Happy Wednesday,

~Cate

This post was published under Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.

CG, here and there

Hi guys! The last few days have been pretty thrilling for Chelsea's Garage. Two of my personal favorite sites just featured work by CG! (And I know it's not cool to show high levels of excitement and you're supposed to act like you done it before and all, but here's the thing: I'm not cool enough for that. Getting excited is pretty much the core of my being and I get my socks knocked off all the time). So let's proceed.

FRIDAY was particularly special because my secret blog-mirer, Mandi, of Vintage Revivals, featured this chair in her weekly Newsletter, (which is a really cool extension of her site featuring a lot of her friend, Jamie's, awesome work). Jamie caught it on Instagram last week and picked it for a feature! Never heard of Vintage Revivals? Please hop over to check it out; then you'll get YOUR socks knocked off! (And while you're there, you should definitely take 10 seconds to sign up for the free weekly newsletters. They're loaded with DIY projects, free printables, and feature creative ideas from people around the world! And guess what? They're featuring another  Chelsea's Garage project in their newsletter this week which I haven't even shown yet here on the blog! So if you want a little sneak peek of that, then definitely get that newsletter! Just head over to Vintage Revivals, and enter your email address under where it says Weekly Newsletter on the left hand side)

Here's the chair they featured last Friday:

Then on MONDAY, I was so delighted to see that the IKEA Jennylund chair makeover was featured here on IKEA Hackers! I absolutely love IKEA Hackers! Seriously, what's better than a store that sells awesome, affordable stuff, and then an entire site dedicated to making that stuff better and more original?! IKEA Hackers is THE place to find inspiration for all of your IKEA pieces. 

Here are the chairs they featured on Monday, (yesterday):

Thank you so much to Vintage Revivals and IKEA Hackers for the nods! More exciting things are comin' tomorrow when Cate's weekly Wednesday edition is up!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

~Chelsea

This post was published under Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.

All things thrifted {Latest finds!}

Hello dear friends! I hope it was a pleasant weekend for all of you; and to my sweet customer Emily who caught a flight out of Boston at 6:30am on Saturday morning, landed close by in Dulles at 8, picked up a rental car, drove to my house by 8:45, picked up her 4 parlor chairs that she purchased, and started the drive back home to Massachusetts by 9:15...WOW! I was praying for you throughout the day. Hope you made it back safe! (and I REALLY hope those chairs are kickin' butt in your home!!!)

Seriously, does she deserve a shout out or what!?!

Our weekend was a little different from Emily's. Here's a short recap:

Home Depot. Where everybody knows our name. (not really, but it's kind of like our Cheers)

Play.

Home Depot again. Where pretty soon they really will know our name. (the story behind these paint sticks is coming up later this week!)

And happy mail! I got my floral kimono by Kiss Me Mint at the end of last week, (a lovely company whom I had the pleasure of discovering through P.S. I Adore You). Rather than hang this pretty piece in the dark closet I decided to let it do double duty as wall art when not being worn!

And that brings us to today's topic: THRIFTING!

Thrifting has it's ups and downs, and recently I've hit a spell of luck! Through thrift store gems, a successful D.C. Flea market adventure, and Craigslist finds, I've got a handful of items to catch up on here! 

First up, this vintage mid-century modern sewing table. I NEVER thought I'd be the owner of a sewing table. In fact, my eyes light up when I see the words 'No Sew' in a tutorial. But when I saw this table on Craigslist a couple weeks ago for a steal, I loaded the kiddos up and we drove through town to pick it up. 

I'm not familiar with how sewing tables work, so I was overly delighted when I realized that not only does the top flip open, but the front is actually a door! 

Next up, we had a successful trip to the big DC Flea market at the Dulles Expo last weekend! Things got off to a great start:

Shire and I got our game faces on and met our right hand girl, Cate, and my good friend, (and treasure-hunter extraordinaire), Tobi!

Then things got interesting...

Shire pondering if four beautiful eyes are better than two.

Think this is how they took selfies back in the day?

Of course! Why wouldn't one make a toilet seat out of a summer's worth of collected seashells?!

And some things are so good to know ahead of time...

My favorite table in the entire flea market. Definitely could have taken a few stacks!

But at the end of the day, I had some pretty good prizes:

I can't wait to share where these have ended up! Stay tuned. :)

And to finish off the stash, this magnificent pair of end tables found for a client for $8 each at the thrift store! Soon to be lacquered white for her lovely living room. Can't wait to share the after!

Any thrifty finds that are rockin' your world at the moment? Please share in either a comment below, on Facebook, or use the hashtag #chelseasgarage and share on Instagram! Thank you so much for stopping by!

~Chelsea

This post was published under Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.