~VINTAGE JAMES REILLY CHAIRS - Shabby Cottage Chic Reveal~

OLDER THAN I THOUGHT

I'm a die-hard junkin' fan! You should ALL know that by now! Whoot!  Whoot!  Tag Sale Shopping in my blood... I tell you IT JUST IS!!!!  And...I've decided that except for my Mr. AGPMan (he's got the mullah and the brawn) there is no one I'd rather go a slummin' with more than my sister, Linda!  She knows the BEST places to shop in her neck of the woods just like I know the best places to junk in Oklahoma.  Together we are a tad bit lethal...boy did we have tons of fun!

 

SIMPLY TO-DIE-FOR

A couple of days ago I showed you the photo of three chairs I hauled back home from Tennessee!  I promised to show you pictures of the two I finished and here they are!  Now...let me share with you what I found out about them...

As I was priming the first chair my guy asked me if I'd found a Maker's Mark.  I shook my head no just as he pointed one out under the front band of the first chair!  He grabbed a magnifying glass so we could read the hard to make out name!  Between the two of us were able to determine the first word was the name "JAMES" and part of the second world was the name of "REILLY".  Underneath that we could read  only the letters "M-A-N".  I immediately Googled what I had and discovered the chairs were from approximately 1877 and were made by James Reilly, Manchester, England.

What I wouldn't give to know just HOW they made it to America...and even more so how they landed in a junkie little antique shoppe outside of Nashville...

LAURA ASHELY PINK ROSES

Now...I'm quite sure the purest of antique dealers would faint over me painting the chairs.  If they had been in pristine (or even premium) condition I probably wouldn't have.  But...you know me...I just LOVE painted furniture!  So, I tossed caution to the wind and kept painting.  Shabby Chic Rules! 

I absolutely LOVE the final result!  I used a long retired Laura Ashley soft pink and creamy white toile fabric for the cushion covers (which were completely replaced) and that was pretty much it!  I actually wanted to place a tiny ruffle around the bottom edge but it would have made the cushions an even tighter fit so I opted to leave them plain!

Hope you love the transformation as much as I do!

Now...just want until you see the pink chair!  It's fabulous, too!  All three will be on my website AND offered for sale in my Oklahoma City Antique Booth Space! 

Thanks for stopping in...more transformations coming up soon...

Blessings for a beautiful week!