This mantel guys….This one stole my heart. There is a funny story behind this treasure because I basically stalked it for months and months at a local antique store. When I first saw it, I fell in love with the scallop detail on the front and just the overall shape of it. For months it had the dreaded “NFS” tag which for all of you non-antiquers means, not for sale. The worst! I never asked the shop owner if she would consider selling it but on one of my regular stops into the shop a few months ago, I saw that the price tag had been updated from “NFS” to $120. I basically broke out into song and dance in the back of the little antique shop and knew that this cutie was all mine.
She was a little beaten up over the years and I could tell that there was fire damage to the front as well as being a little too dark of a color for my liking (chocolate brown). I used about 5 layers of Citristrip which is my go-to for furniture that I want to strip down to it’s bare wood. After stripping it multiple times, I realized that there had been about 6 layers of paint applied to it that were pretty well absorbed into the wood. Since this paint had been caked on for years and years, there was no way I was getting to the bottom of this piece. I took off quite a bit and decided to use some milk paint that I had laying around to update it while keeping the antique charm.
I used Miss Mustard Seed’s milk paint in the color “Grain Sack” which is a beautiful neutral that looks cream, white, or grey depending on the lighting. It is one of my all time favorites! I applied it with a regular paint brush and did two coats (as directed) and then lightly sanded the edges. I decided to leave the top mantel piece un-painted since I was able to strip all of the paint off of that portion. I think this gives it a lot of character. We mounted it to the wall directly in front of our bed in our master bedroom and I love the charm it brings to the room! After months of stalking and a little elbow grease, this piece is here to stay for years to come.
xo,
sarah jane
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