Meet "Mia" and "Amelia"

The end table is finally finished and she looks absolutely adorable.  

Her journey went from an outdated cherry wood end table with an 80's fabulous brass Chippendale handle...

to this...

I think that's a big improvement, don't you?  

General Finishes' Milk Paint in Persian Blue covered this piece very well.  It's protected with their Water Based High Performance Top Coat in a flat finish.  (I didn't want it to have a very shiny finish.)  Seeing as how it's an end table, it needed to have a durable top coat that could hold up to books, cups of coffee, and remote controllers.  (If you're anything like me, you have at least 3 remotes.)    

I always chuckle when I see the drop leaves extended like this.  It looks like she's getting ready to take off and fly away.  I wanted to give this piece a pop of something special, so my Martha Stewart lace stencil did just the trick!  (I picked mine up at my local Joann's Fabrics.)  When thinking of a name for this piece, I wanted something playful, short and sweet...like Mia.  (I also can't help think of Mia from The Princess Diaries.  Kind of dorky at first but she polishes up pretty well!)

Remember the old school brass Chippendale-style handle?  Gone baby gone!  It's been replaced with a sleek nickel cup handle.  

Nice legs!

As for the lamp, she's all done as well.  If you remember, it started out just as brassy and outdated as Mia. 

In the words of Sara from Jimmy Fallon..."Ew!"  

The original shade was a regular drab cream pleated, brass armed, traditional accessory that I quickly donated to Goodwill.  It looked similar to this:

 

  

A couple of coats of spray paint, a new lampshade, and stencil pattern later, here she is!  Say "hello" to Amelia!  

Do you see a trend here with the stencil pattern and color choice?  What can I say?  I was in a Robin's Egg Blue mood.

When I first finished this piece, I really liked the contrast between the blue of the lamp body and the brown of the shade, but the shade was a little boring by itself.  It needed a pop of something special, just like Mia, so I broke out Martha Stewart's stencil again and went to town.  

"Mia" and "Amelia" will be up for sale soon!  They have a scheduled photo shoot with Frames of Joy coming up in a few days. 

In other furniture news, I scored a solid wooden chair with a red leather seat and back.  It's in the makeover process right now.  Here's a sneak peek of what's in the works: