Gabrielle Messina Just a Girl

French Settee Revamp

Good morning, friends! Today I'm linking up with Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Friday  I've been wanting to share with you the vintage French settee I revamped a few months ago. I picked it up for a song almost a year and a half ago. And while there are people who could have built an entire house in that time, I needed to live with it for a while and work up the guts to tackle it. I think it sat in almost every room of my house before I had a clue what I wanted to do with it.  
The very first thing I did was apply gold leaf to the entire frame. It was a very long process that left my kitchen littered with gold specks. I think the cracks in the wood floor still have some glistening gold in them....  

This seems to be the only photo I can find right now of how it came home with me in it's very raw and deconstructed state. It's a very old piece. The burlap of the seat was torn in numerous spots which meant the slightest bump sent excelsior; the grassy, straw-like stuffing used in very old furniture falling all over the floor. Someone had painted it this chalky blue; which wasn't all bad, to a large portion of the frame but the original gold leaf still remained on all the legs and back of the frame. If you're a regular reader, you may have seen bits of the settee in pictures from past posts. Here's a close up of some of the floral detail. You can still see a bit of the blue of it's past life peeking through. I found this amazing cut velvet pink damask fabric. Now, because I am not an expert on upholstery and the fact that the fabric was not wide enough to cover the seat and would need to be stitched, also, that the excelsior would need to be replaced with foam, I brought it to a upholstery shop. A girl knows when she's in over her head. It came back to me looking luxe and feminine. I rearranged some furniture in the house and the settee is now happily residing in our bedroom. 

Lovely New {{Old}} Items

I've just started to list a few things in my etsy shop. They're things from my personal collection that I'm letting go. I still love all of these items, and they're a bit hard to let go, but I can't hoard all these beauties for myself forever! Take a peek if you wish! 

Some Spring Things

 

I can't say I've done too much Easter decorating this year, but the mantle is looking spring- like in it's candy colored hues, so I thought I'd give you a little tour of the spring things going on here at our home. This large bunny I've had for a handful of years. He's from an old candy store that closed down. They used to use him in their window display each year. How I wish shops like that were still a dime a dozen.... This old iron piece I've had in the garage and decided to bring it in and  use it as sort of a fireplace screen for our "flip switch" fireplace. My husband said he would weld some small legs onto it so that it could be the proper height.

 

Andrea sent me this beautiful pink mercury glass egg! Isn't it lovely? And the wrapping too, it was a bit of Spring itself.....  From one Italian girl to another, she knew I'd love this big, beautiful tin, of which the contents have since been eaten! It was filled with biscotti....   With the exception of an Easter tree all decorated on the kitchen island and few faux chocolate bunnies scattered through the house, this little egg display in the corner in our kitchen just about sums up my minimal Easter decor for this year. Have you decorated for Easter?

I should be back very soon. I have a piece of furniture I made over and want to show you.... Happy Spring! 

 

 

Good Luck Charm

It's really the littlest things in life that prove to bring us comfort, isn't it? A warm blanket, a steamy cup of tea, a tattered toy, a reassuring phone call from a friend. It brings comfort to think at the end of the day, these things will be there to take even the slightest edge off  of our day. I wanted to make a little something for a friend to do just that; to take just the smallest trifle of stress off of her day. It's such a small token, how I wish I could do more...  A friend who's made many trips to and from doctors with her sweet child; her faith unwavering and her spirit so strong with the sweetest smile.
 I decided I wanted to make one of those moist heating pads that you can heat up in the microwave. Only I wanted a a prettier version and one that carried a message. I found a beautiful vintage postcard in my collection and printed it onto fabric and then went about creating a pillow case for the heating pad to slip into. The pad itself is filled with rice, lavender buds and lemon essential oil... it's smells divine! 

I used velvet on the back so it's soft against skin and while not in use as a heating pad and because it smells so lovely,  it can be used as an over sized sachet.I hope she will enjoy her gift and if it can provide the smallest bit of relief of a rough day, then it's doing just as it should.