My sweet "blue chippy" table!

So one Saturday morning a couple of months ago, I dragged my poor husband to an early morning "Barn" sale in Columbia, TN- which is a quaint town outside of Nashville.

The barn, where the sale was being held, was adjacent to a cute old country store, which had been turned into an antique store with multiple vendors. The antique store, called Carters Creek Station Antiques(http://www.carterscreekstationantiques.com/), was full of "old finds" that were both shabby chic and primitive- with wonderful prices!

The barn next door was full of the same kind of furniture and I immediately saw an old blue "chippy" table sitting out in the yard. The paint was coming off, which gave it a great "patina"...and I just had to have it! I went to find the seller, who was an older lady and her husband and I bought the table.

This lady also said that she refurbishes old furniture and she asked if we wanted to see what she does since her house was right down the road. For some reason, we said "sure"....and followed her down the dirt road to her beautifully restored farmhouse and barn. Inside her barn, which was so perfectly clean and organized, she had beautiful pieces of furniture (armoires, dressers & side tables) that they had restored to their original look (she did not paint them like I do)...I was just amazed to see her barn and all that she does! She sells many of her pieces to some antique stores in Louisiana and many had "sold" tags on them, which were just waiting to be shipped out.

After seeing her place, I now keep thinking how wonderful it would be to have such a workplace one day!! But I had my little sweet "blue chippy" table from that trip and I was very happy with my purchase. After a month or two of looking at the table and trying to find the time to do something with it, I decided to sand it a bit (actually my husband did the sanding) and I painted it a "dove white" color since there were some places that needed to be painted and I felt it could not be sold as is.

Even though, I really liked the "blue chippy" look...the new white color took to it well and it still has quite a shabby chic look. My sweet "blue chippy" table is now sitting in my booth at Gas Lamp Antiques...but I guess I need to call it my sweet white table now!

My Inspiration

My inspiration for starting Caroline's Lost and Found came from my mother.

When I was in college she found the chairs in the picture above, but they were painted a horrible color and the seats were dirty white leather. She loved the shape of the chairs, so she sanded & painted the chairs. We then went and searched for the perfect fabric and she reupholstered the seats.

My mother also had the wonderful idea to find a black iron base from an old sewing machine and paint it white. She then found a decorative panel to place on top and then over that she placed a heavy piece of beveled glass to make a great tabletop. Since college, I have continued to use my kitchen table and chairs and it is currently in my breakfast room today!

Growing up, I also went with my mother to estate sales. She taught me the art of finding a good deal and I have put all of this together to create Caroline's Lost and Found. I enjoy shopping, finding great bargains and "freshening" them up for a delightfully new purpose!