A chubby, rustic piece of furniture found at a consignment shop gets easily transformed into a cute-as-can-be cottage style magazine rack.
Farmhouse Magazine Holder
Hello friends! If you are a fan of cottage style furniture, then I have a treat for you today. Recently we were visiting friends in Mt. Pleasant, SC, and we stopped in a consignment shop. I spotted a unique piece of furniture in the back and as soon as I saw it, I knew it was going home with me!
It was rustic with chubby legs and had wire mesh in the back. It was already painted blue with French Country flair.
I could tell by the tag that the piece had been in the shop for many months so we offered a low cash price to take it off their hands.
When we got it home, I immediately put it beside the fireplace and filled it with magazines. I'm not sure what its purpose had originally been, but it was just the right size for a magazine rack.
But the more that I looked at the piece, I thought that those chubby legs were too long!
So about 2 inches were taken off.
Next, I decided that I was going to repaint it.
There really was nothing wrong with how it was painted other than the blue did not look good with some other blue items I have in our family room.
I almost hated painting over the fleur-de-lis stencil on the sides.
But, I decided that my cottage style magazine rack needed to be green. I mixed up some chalky style paint using leftover paint that I already had. If you'd like my formula for making your own chalky paint, you'll find it in this post: A Thrifty Repurposed Vanity.
Once I got my piece painted green, I decided to highlight the features with paint instead of using dark wax.
Using burnt umber acrylic paint, water, and a small art brush, I filled in the areas that I wanted darker.
First I painted the indentations on the front.
I smeared a lot of it on this section, and then I used a damp paper towel to remove the extra, leaving the umber paint in the crevices.
Here you can see the process a little better, and you can also see how I did the same on the edges of the legs.
The good thing about using watered-down acrylic paint to highlight the features is that you can always wipe it off if you think you've added too much, or you can add more green paint on the raised areas.
Here's the final paint job. I chose not to distress this piece and I still need to add clear wax to protect it, but isn't she cute?
Her cut-off legs look better proportioned to her body, don't you think? I just love the homemade look of this cottage style magazine rack!
To style her, I added a few blooms from our Chinese viburnum bush to the top.
If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw the bush loaded with blooms. What? You're not following me yet? Click here to remedy that right now!
I hope you enjoyed seeing my painted cottage style magazine rack today!
Julie Briones
I LOVE this, Jane! I'm not sure why I'm not seeing you on my social media lately. I'm going to subscribe so I don't 'miss' you! Would love to have you join us at Homestyle Gathering! 😉
Faith
This turned out really nice. About paintint over the stencil: My mom was a decorative painter, so plain paint, however nice, never looks quite finished to me (unless it's high gloss enamel). It shouldn't be too hard to find a suitable fleur-de-lis stencil. I think an old gold stencil on the sides would look better on the green than it did on the blue. [I can also see a Graphics Fairy (thegraphicsfairy.com) decoupage on the sides.]
And I had to smile. Shortening, or cutting off, the legs was usually the first thing my mom did, before she even decided how she was going to paint a piece of furniture for herself
Julie
Can’t get any cuter!!
Pam
Amazing how different it looks in green. Guess you can't tell me the color if you mixed it up yourself .... I like it alot. Everything you create is awesome.
Deborah Sommerlot
That green color is perfect!!!!!!!!!!! And I love the antiquing. FAB
Robyn
That little rack is adorable! Love the color !!!!
Mary
That is such a sweet green color you chose for this project Jane!
Jane Boudreau
Omgoodness, Jane! This is a fantastic makeover. The color and your method to make it look old is spot on. Now---show me how to do a bookshelf this nice!! 🙂
Jane x
Meegan
Wow the green gives your piece a whole new life! I like the way you added the paint for accenting the details. Always something pretty and inspiring here on your blog, Jane. I love it.
Cindy
Aww, she is cute as can be! An adorable find and I do like her in green...she's a little more sassy 😉
Kristi Dominguez
This is such a cool piece, Jane! Fun and functional...and the color is fabulous! It's always so great linking up with you! xoxo
Courtenay @ The Creek Line House
So cute! I love painted furniture like this and it really does make a great magazine rack. So much smarter than a regular magazine rack because it can hold so much more!
Susan Homeroad Stevenson
Love the table Jane! The hardware cloth on the back is perfect and so is the color 🙂
Jean
I like this green Jane as you have heard me say. This color is in your kitchen which I love love love... This magazine rack is a very nice piece also. Great job. Jean
Patti
Jane, this is super cute. I want one!! I love the green and the way you antiqued certain areas.
Mary Beth
This is such a pretty redo, Jane, and the green is absolutely cottage perfect!
Vicki and Jenn 2 Bees in a Pod
Jane total Thrift Store Score! Love the spring green paint and that you're using it for a magazine rack!
Bliss
I love the new color, and I agree it fits magazines perfectly. Pinned!
Sandy
That is just darling. I love the green. I do wonder what its original use was though. I think it is the perfect magazine rack though.