Recently, my husband and I were strolling through the antique stores in Gladewater Texas, when I chanced upon this interesting book. I thought it might be helpful for giving me some new ideas for items I might typically overlook. We love flea markets and antique stores. And I love projects that allow me to flex some creative muscle in my home. I detest the overfrilly fu-fu French look, the disgustingly overdone Architectural Digest look, and the country-bumpkin stuff. My style is a strange amalgam of Pottery Barn, redone antiques, and just basic comfort. I like blonde furniture and rooms flooded with sunlight.
But above all else, I love being creative, and turning a piece of furniture that I find into something completely unique. Then I know that no one has one just like it. My couch is proof. I found this monstrosity in Austin antique store around 10 years ago. And although it was covered in stained pale aqua corduroy, the curved back and modern design screamed art deco. I recovered it in a white and sky-blue paint spattered print upholstery, and still get compliments on it.
Flea Market Makeovers was written by BJ Berti (a flea market veteran, she says). She was born in Newark, attended the Philadelphia College of Art, and works at Crafter’s Choice, a part of the Book-of-the-Month. She and her husband divide their time between Tribeca and Bloomington, New York.
The book is brimming with full color photographs (by George Ross), which detail the entire process of re-creation.
It is divided into six chapters-- Introduction, Lamps and Shades, Chairs, Tables and Beds, Storing and Organizing, and Odds and Ends. Plus, there are several supplemental sections in the back of crafting techniques, resources, and the index. Each chapter has its own short introduction—for instance the Lamps chapter explains how important a decorating element lighting is. It also gives some quick tips for wiring help.
The introduction fully backs up its initial assertion that “Even the most humble castoff, with some imagination, loving care and elbow grease, can be transformed into a practical and stylish piece for your home.”
Here are the author’s rules for flea marketing:
If it’s cheap enough and I can imagine how it might look once I’ve painted it or recovered it, I buy it, even if I don’t have a specific place or need for it at the time. Sometimes I have a piece for years before I can figure out the perfect use for it.
Pay attention to the object’s overall shape and design; I won’t buy something unless its shape is pleasing to me.
Ignore the current color or fabric; if it has good bones it can usually be made to look good again.
After you think you are finished looking, look again—some of the best things I’ve acquired were things I’d overlooked first.
Don’t buy something that’s really falling apart- unless it’s a real bargain. In that case, take a chance. You can always throw it out or send it back to a thrift store.
Some of her recommendations of items that are always good bargains assuming the prices aren’t too high include: glass or ceramic lamp bases, wooden picture frames, stools and benches, and wooden chairs with interesting shapes.
The projects she conquers in the first chapter are:
Distressed Column Lamps
She finds some miniature Corinthian columns with old peeling paint, and has someone help her cut holes through them for wiring, then adds typical fabric shades. Presto chango!
Green Lamp
Can’t say I was real taken with this lamp. The base was interestingly-shaped, but the color turned me off- sort of this funky chartreuse. She did however, construct a cool woven shade for it. Which leads us to the next project…
Woven Paper Drum Shade
The shade for the green lamp. Simply using heat-resistant heavy card stock, a couple of rulers, clothespins, a mat knife, and a few other minor household supplies, she manages to construct a new shade by weaving wide pieces of card stock through each other. In note boxes through out the chapters, she also provides hints on other materials to use (like the bindings for the lamp shades).
Pressed Glass Lamps
She explains how to redo old glass or milk glass lamps by cleaning out the insides, scrubbing with vinegar, wiping them down completely, and adding a new fresh shade. I guess my lamps just aren’t that important to me. I usually find all the cool lamps I need at Target. And they work right when I plug them in.
Fabric Lamp Shade
She takes old-fashioned lampshades and uses them as patterns for their replacements in newer, fresher color schemes. At this point, I’m getting a little bored with lamps. I thought the book was going to have more FURNITURE.
Glass and Metal Chandelier
She takes an old 1950s lighting fixture hung with clear glass pieces shaped to look like flowers, and paints some of it in brighter colors to resemble that of Venetian colored glass she loves. This one is actually kind of cool.
Chairs are featured in the next chapter, and there are more interesting ideas offered up here. The ideas in this chapter are:
Metal Office Chair
The metal office chair she redoes is a cool idea. Picture your basic mid-60s sort of office chair with sculpted arms, and hideous vinyl upholstery. She takes the vinyl off and uses nontoxic paint remover to remove the ugly brown paint finish. Then she places a wire brush attachment on a drill and gives the metal a brushed finish. When it looks finished and cool with the subtlety of brushed metal, she applies a clear lacquer finish.
The only quibble I have with this one is the fact that she puts toile wallpaper on it. To me, brushed steel is a more industrial finish that should go in a more modern room, and toile is reserved for overdone French Provincial or Louis the Something-or-other rooms. I did study Interior Design for a year and a half. I would have used different fabric, that’s all.
Wooden Kitchen Chair
In keeping with her buying philosophy, she buys a dining chair with an interesting shape and re-does the paint and pad. An interesting new piece.
Lawn Chairs
She buys old folding lawn chairs (the wooden kind, not the aluminum and webbing kind) and gives them cool new distressed finishes and director’s chair types of fabric.
Carved Wooden Armchair
A dark wooden Jacobean armchair covered in a dark blue velvet is redone as a wonderful piece—a white chair with pale blue and white striped upholstery. This I was much more impressed with! This section also shows how to repair chair springs that are shot. This was extremely useful.
The Tables and Beds chapter was probably the one I enjoyed the most. A few of these pieces I could actually get excited about doing.
Console Table
A great idea, and one I wish I’d had sooner. She finds two interestingly-carved tall wood brackets. She fastens them to a wall in her dining room, then places a piece of plywood on top, which she adorns with carved molding. The table looks like a full-fledged antique piece. NOW we’re getting to the good part, I thought.
Carved Mirror Panel
Another great idea. She receives an old carved wood panel, and uses it as a headboard on a bed. It would depend on the size of the beds in your house whether you could do this, but she had good luck. She paints the panel white, places a mirror in the center section, and it makes an eye-catching and very original headboard.
Combed Table
Kind of an okay idea, but I just do not see myself having the patience to sit down and paint an entire piece of furniture with alternating squares of combed paint. If you are nervous, have any kind of trembling in your hands, or just overdid your Starbucks quota today, I would avoid this project. While her illustrations make it look really easy, I don’t think it would turn out quite the way it looks. Even with tape blocking areas.
Padded Headboard My favorite project!
“We had been using this Eastlake Style headboard when it developed a large crack,” she says. Yeah, even an Eastlake headboard would set you back…what a couple grand? I’m sure everyone has these just laying around.
Anyway. When her Eastlake headboard develops this crack that she doesn’t want anyone to see, she decides to add an upholstered section to the main front square area. It looks beautiful. The old distressed blue headboard goes from ragged and cracked to elegant, white and padded. The instructions could include a bit more picture detail though.
Wooden Bench
Although it looks like an old church pew , she says it’s an old 50s kitchen item. And it goes from old, distressed dark wood to white wonder in no time. She places it at the end of her Eastlake headboarded bed for the perfect effect.
Metal Leg Table
The poor metal table had spent way too much time outdoors, and was pretty worse for the wear. She sands the metal, puts on a new top, and places small gilded squares on the top using aluminum leaf gilding. It would make a handy little patio table.
Folding Card Table
She takes an old card table with a painted floral design on the top, and gives it new life with a fabric covered top and painted stripes. Much more tailored, and very new-looking.
End Table With Drawer
Basically? Painting an old table with a drawer. I have done this before, and didn’t learn anything new.
In the Storing and Organizing chapter, the projects are:
Wooden Letter Box
She recovers it with silk twill fabric.
Narrow Bookcase
Also a neat idea. She takes a regular old bookcase she found somewhere, removes the really ugly contact paper that was lining the shelves, and paints it a creamy beige. Then she finds some cool mouldings from the hardware store and dresses it up. All for $35 (the bookcase) and the price of some mouldings and paint.
Mission Style Coatrack
A cool old-fashioned coatrack that she paints a blinding bright yellow. Easy enough. Next?
Metal Storage Bin
She changes an old rusted metal storage bin to a more modern new silver metal storage bin.
The Odds and Ends chapter shows you how to adapt old picture frames, paint an old wicker bed tray, repad and repaint an upholstered folding screen, and change an old dark wood oval bench to a newer reupholstered white with pale blue velvet padded bench.
This book did give me a few ideas, but not half as many as I’d hoped it would. Many of these ideas are simply: sand and paint. Or, paint and reupholster. I already knew that. The Eastlake bed idea was something I enjoyed, and some of the other ideas were interesting, but all in all I’m glad I only paid $10 instead of full-price (whatever that is—I would guess somewhere in the neighborhood of $20.)
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