The Story of a Maid and her Milking Stool

A few months ago I attended my first real antiques fair-type-thingy held in a convention building with my mother, my future mother-in-law and her sister. It was such an enjoyable experience! Of course I knew I'd love it - hello, it's ANTIQUES! There was a certain thrill in browsing the wares, comparing one stall/seller to another, learning whether the prices were better at this table as opposed to that, getting into a bit of "haggling"... Love love LOVED it and came away with a few precious treasures. One thing I didn't come away with was a particular milking stool that I fell a little in love with while there. It was tiny; narrow and short and wonderfully wracked up with chippy white paint and cracked wood... it was beautiful... it was also mucho expensivo! I mean come on! It was wracked up! With chippy white paint! And cracked wood! It was awful! *ooooh but it was boooootiful!* And the seller knew how much I loved it, so he wouldn't budge on his price...

Luckily my mother-in-law-to-be came to my rescue right as I felt my hand involuntarily sliding into my purse for my wallet. She took one look at the stool and said "My husband could make you one of those easy! Forget about this one, he'll make you one even nicer." So I reluctantly turned away from the chippy stool and the seller with a chippy chip on his shoulder (I'm not bitter at ALL!) and thought about all the other goodies I had come away with... and the custom-made stool that would soon be mine thanks to my future father-in-law.

Now when I say "custom-made" I really mean "custom"! I sketched out the stool for my father-in law, determined the size and even had a say in the design! Rather than go with the very basic straight design the original stool had, I opted for scalloped stretchers beneath the top and carved inset hearts on the sides! *Who can resist hearts and scallops?! It's just impossible!

Soon my little stool arrived all fresh and cleanly primed for me....

...ready for me to ATTACK IT WITH EXTREME SHABBYLICIOUS PREJUDICE!!!!

Now, if you've read my blog post from a few weeks ago (if you haven't you can read it here) , you'll know that I just started a new job at the most wonderful boutique called Piorra Maison and that we sell and distribute Chalk Paint (decorative paint by Annie Sloan) to DIY divas and divos across the land! It has been so inspiring to learn about and work with this paint and see the projects that have come out of its use. The more I saw, the more voracious I became for more! I bought Annie's books, looked at all the 'How-To' videos online and started buying brushes and sample pots of Chalk Paint in my favourite colours. All this with the intent that my very first painted piece would be my darling milking stool.

The tricks of my new-found trade.

I fell in love with a powder pink colour called 'Antoinette' (yep, as in Marie, how awesome is that?!) This colour is so incredibly soft, like a whisper of dusk cloud and I knew I had to incorporate it into my project somehow. I also fell in love with Annie's 'two-tone' technique; where you paint your surface thickly in one colour, let dry and then paint it over in another colour, apply clear wax and then sand off the second layer colour in certain choice areas to reveal the first coat beneath. I was originally going to put 'Old White' (a fabulous antiquey white) over top of the Antoinette... but my heart wouldn't let me cover the pink! I loved it too much! So, my little stool was destined to be pink!

First fresh (still glossy) coat of 'Antoinette' pink.

But it needed a little something more, after all, this pretty, posh little stool was nothing like that tattered ratted-up stool I had originally loved at the antiques fair. This stool was looking too sweet and innocent. I was steering too close to 'practically perfect' instead of aiming for 'perfectly imperfect'. My darling little stool needed some roughing up, it was time she learned the ways of the world...

So I waxed her...

...and splashed her with 'Old White'...

...and sanded her...

...and best of all...

...I rubbed her with Dark wax!

I absolutely LOVE how the dark wax turned her into a bit of a dirty little miss! I imagine a story behind this piece now; this stool looks as though it could very easily have been in a child's nursery at one time, clean and presentable, perhaps in the 1930s, but the onslaught of WWII took its toll on the home (in England of course) in which it rested and the little stool did not escape unscathed. Despite being stored in a shed for many years, its once bright pink luster now dulled by time and the elements, she still stands proudly, strongly, ready to accommodate one more little girl, one more dolly or teddy to sit at the tea party table.

Ok, so I have a vivid imagination!

My little battered beauty

She loves me, can't you tell?

Now, I've always loved the charm of anything 'pre-loved' - it's part of the reason I adore antiques so much but there's something to be said for the new, especially when it comes from the hearts of loved ones, created through their skill and ingenuity, with a little of my own flavour thrown in for kicks. However, I believe I have achieved the best of both worlds (and so can you) by turning the new into the seemingly old through artistry, a little paint, a little imagination and a lotta fun!

Take that chippy antiques seller!

And Vice Versa!

Hearts and scallops my friends... hearts and scallops!

Love from,

Me

xox