College Apartment Furniture Rescue

I love rescuing unloved and unwanted furniture.  Sometimes I find furniture at estate sales, garage sales, flea markets, Goodwill, Craigslist or, my personal favorite, on the side of the road.  But this is an embarrassing story....I had to rescue furniture from my son 's college apartment! This set was originally our table and chairs but we didn't have room for them after we remodeled our kitchen, so we were happy to have them go off to college with our son.

However, this is what the table and chairs looked like when they came home from last summer. The paint was peeling on the table, the chairs were all banged up (fortunately, the rush seats were still in good condition) and they just looked terrible in general.

I guess in hindsight lending my kitchen table and Ethan Allen chairs to my son and his three football player roommates probably wasn't the best idea.

So I stripped the table of the old yellowing polyurethane, paint and grime. And then I sanded it to a smooth finish and primed the table with water-based primer. But, as sometimes occurs with oak and mahogany finishes, I was still experiencing some bleed-through in areas, and so I had to spot spray those areas with Zinsser clear shellac. Once the bleed-through was tackled, I painted the table in Annie Sloan Pure White in two coats (three on the top) and waxed the base and pedestal. I opted to seal the top of the table in General Finishes Satin Polyurethane because I've found that this finish holds up better on table surfaces than wax.

I painted the chairs in Annie Sloan Emperor's Red and sealed them with clear wax, replaced the rush seats and they were as good as new!

I normally don't like to separate dining room sets when I sell them because I'm afraid I'll get stuck with a table without chairs, and vice versa. Fortunately, I received two independent inquiries on the same day for the table and then just for the chairs. The table went to a lovely young couple just setting up their first home.

The chairs went to a local interior designer for her client. I loved meeting her and her client and we found that we share the same passion for incorporating vintage and antique pieces in modern decor. She was gracious enough to share the "after" picture of the chairs in the new space.

Janeane Pittman Interior Design

She is an interior designer based here in Southern California and provides interior design services as well as online design consultation. Her website is Janeane Pittman Interior Design - give her a visit and check out her portfolio, blog and her new Etsy shop!

So that's my embarrassing story of how I had to rescue furniture from my son's college apartment. I'm happy I was able to send the furniture off to two new great homes! Just not sure my son and his roommates will be getting any more of my furniture for a while, though!

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by!

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