Trash to Treasure Extravaganza & a Little Trip to De'Ja'Vu

It has been quite the past 3 days. My mom, sister, and my two nieces arrived Wednesday afternoon. After that, a tornado of junk, fabric, paint, and a little elbow grease has ensued. Over the next few days I will blog all of our adventures but I want to start with my favorite one.

 

This is my "brand new" vanity. How did this little treasure come to be you ask? Well let me tell you. 

First thing Thursday morning my crew and I went over to Lafayette in search of junk. We found a great store over there called... wait for it... De'ja'vu. Here is a picture of my vanity still waiting for me to purchase it. 

 

Still looking a little rough eh?

We also found this beauty:

Don't ask what I'm going to do with it. I have no idea. My sister insisted I have it because of my new profession a.k.a. teaching freshman public speaking. I have to admit it is quite clever and might make an awesome shelf! 

Next we had to get our treasures home. Easier said than done.

Ok, so more of the good stuff... the trash to treasure transformation.

My mom and sister brought this chair down with them. It actually used to sit at my desk when I was in middle school. My mom bought it years ago and recovered/painted it back then. 

  

Here is my sister Kate hard at work on the chair. She also did all the sanding for me (in 102 degree heat)! So very nice of her.

 

The pink/gray/black is leftover fabric from my recent graduation dress which can be viewed in this post here.

I had a hard time deciding whether to keep the original hardware and just paint it or buy new. I am glad I decided to keep it. The three lines on it mimic the lines on the drawers and keeping original pieces together just makes them that much more interesting. They were a hideous gold (as you can see in the picture of it still at the store). My mom just took them outside and gave them a couple coats of metallic silver spray paint. Viola! Beautiful!

 

I also lined the drawers with scrapbook paper for some added color and fun. I won't be keeping anything wet in these drawers so the paper should hold up. For drawers with more wear and tear wallpaper or oil cloth fabric would work well. I also found some really cute embroidery paper at Hobby Lobby that would have held up. 

Such an amazing transformation. My sister and mom thought the vanity may be from the 1940's. We had fun imagining who may have sat at it before. 

More treasure to come... stay tuned!