I Almost Got Rid of This Piece! What WAS I Thinking?

 What the heck?  Here it is almost 3:00 in the morning and I am still up...AND I have to go back to school in just a few hours. Yep, my school starts today (for teachers). I should have put myself on a back-to-school-sleep-schedule like I use to do my children. But since I am up, I thought I would share with you one of the projects I did this summer....when I was skipping out on blogging! 

 I got this wardrobe, or chifforobe, for my very first Mother's Day. It was an antique then, and that has been 30 1/2 years ago! (gulp!!) My husband (and 5 month old son of course!) bought it at an auction in a tiny, tiny, town called Ralston, Oklahoma. When I say tiny, I mean t-i-n-y! So I have hauled this piece for years. It has been in many different rooms. It has even sat in the garage for a while. If it had not been such a special present, I probably would have gotten ride of it years ago.

 I apologize, but this is the only "before" picture I could find of it. I neglected to snap one before I commenced painting. If you look beyond the very white and very tan tootsies, you will see the chifforobe, or wardrobe. (Is it just the English teacher in me, or does calling it a "chifforobe" make anyone else think of "To Kill A Mockingbird"? Did I lose you there? OK, we will go on. 

 I painted the entire (outside) of the wardrobe first in Annie Sloan's newest color, Florence. Be still my heart. I loooove Florence. Then I painted over that in my favorite AS color, Duck Egg. I used Minwax in natural on top, after I distressed the piece in the places I wanted the worn look. Don't you just love that very silvered mirror? It is even beveled? Want to see what is behind this little door? 

 A speaker to our sound system. By the way, I did not paint the inside of this wardrobe on purpose. It still looked fine, and I like when it is open, seeing the original finish. Are you wondering what I did to hide the ugly speaker (and the ugly stain)?

 I just set a little tin bucket of baby's breath right in front of the speaker. That way when the little door is open, at least it still looks nice. And the sound is still able to be heard, believe me!

 The other side of the chifforobe, where the hang up clothes would be, holds our TV, and our (get this.....) record player. Yes, you read that correctly...it is a modern-day record player. We found it in a store in Nebraska one day. My Hubby has quite an extensive 70's rock and roll record collection. He was so excited to find this piece. Of course it plays CD's too, but it still plays the old vinyl as well. This is a perfect place to house the big ugly record player/CD player/radio and another speaker!

(If you look closely, you can see the hang-up rod

above the TV. It is still in mint condition and slides out so one could "find" their clothes.)

 Did I mention that this wardrobe/chifforobe is in our bedroom?  Our bedroom is upstairs at this house. When my two youngest sons hauled it up the stairway, they informed me that the piece was staying in our bedroom forever...unless we wanted them to throw it off our balcony! (Hmmm....do you think they are tired of moving it around?) 

 The piece still has all its original hardware, although when I repainted it, I did replace the knobs on the drawers. I did though keep the original knobs just in case I ever wanted to put them back on. They were just little wood knobs. And yes, I do love the Florence peeping out from under Duck's Egg. 

(Sorry for the blur, let's chalk it up to "old eyes".)

 When we are not watching TV..........or listening to old rock 'n roll, the piece closes up and no one is the wiser. 

 I left the very top of it natural. I actually need to strip the top down and then keep it natural. I probably will. Someday.

 I had an old piece of (VERY HEAVY) marble that is almost the same size as the top of the wardrobe/chifforobe. I had the boys put that on top for me too. Yes, they had plenty of "warnings" about that as well. (One more reason why I will refinish the top of this "someday"!)

 Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.........SOOOO worth it! I knocked this whole piece out from start to finish in half a day. 

 Then of course getting my two youngest sons both here at one time, AND talked in to moving this piece to a different wall took weeks. I mean that, WEEKS!!! (By the way, I did not even plan for the AS paint to match the wallpaper perfectly. That was pure coincidence. That is why I thought the piece REALLY needed to be on that wall. The boys did not see the importance! ha!) They were glad to know that Hubs ran the cable wire for the TV to this one spot. They think that means that the 'ole wardrobe/chifforobe is set.............for at least a while.

It looks like I can get a quick cat-nap in before I have to get ready for school. In the meantime, I am linking with: 

Wow Us Wednesday

Open House Thursday

Thrifty Treasures

Metamorphosis Monday
Furniture Feature Friday