By Elaine Caskey, Struttin’ Our Stuff “Wednesday Team”
The Struttin’ Our Stuff team has been busy at work collecting items for the online auction, which begins Oct. 16. We’ve received so many wonderful donations. Some are ready for the “auction block” and others need a little love before we present them to you. That’s where our team works their magic and transforms pieces for the auction.
Every Wednesday, we make our rounds inside Mission 27 Resale shop, as well as the dock area and even the dumpster. We dig through everything trying to find pieces that speak to us. It takes imagination, elbow grease and a lot of patience.
We get our inspiration from everywhere: Etsy, HGTV, Flea Market Flip, etc. And sometimes we just have a vision of what an old piece could look like with new life.
Our American flag bench once had an early American maple finish, scratched and worn. It needed sanding, priming and painting. We made our own stencil for the stars. It looked fantastic until we realized the stars were stenciled upside down. After repainting and re-stenciling it’s now a work of art! It can be used inside or outside on a porch.
The large coffee table we came across is very rustic, with plenty of storage inside. It required a good cleaning, sanding and a finishing coat on the wood. The hardware was cleaned and reattached.
The small end table is also very rustic. It required a bit more work. It was cleaned, sanded and painted with a watered-down version of green paint. The wood received a finishing coat. The hardware was cleaned and reattached. This piece would go very nicely with the coffee table
The kitchen island was a real find! Even though it was in rough shape, it had a butcher block top. The top needed sanding and plenty of a butcher block, food-safe sealer. The body of the island and the baskets were a whole other story. The body needed a total cleaning, sanding and lots of putty, primer and paint. The baskets were old and faded and needed to be replaced, but it was impossible to find the right size. So once again we cleaned, primed and painted. It turned out better than we could have ever envisioned!
The chair planter was a vision from Judy Bourquin on our team. Mary Ann Klein donated this old chair. We removed the seat, formed a chicken wire basket, painted, stenciled and the result was a showstopper of a planter! It is sealed with outdoor polyurethane for use outside.
The wine label table was a total inspiration. We took a small outdoor metal table with no chairs and thought about what could be done with it. We decided to decoupage wine labels on the underside of the glass, enabling use of the glass top for outdoor or indoor use. Our Wednesday group volunteers saved wine labels for us. We painted the table red with what seemed like a hundred coats of paint. It was a sight to watch us get the glass table top back into the metal frame—without breakage! Now we had such a cute table, with no chairs! The search was on, and then one Wednesday it was like divine intervention. These two chairs were just sitting in the dock area, waiting for us! Elaine Caskey got out the red paint, put the original seats back on…and wow! A cute set!
The last piece was the best story of all. We found this wine cart in the dumpster. It was a mess even in our eyes. With the help of the gentlemen down in the furniture repair area, some wood supports were added. Even they could not see our vision for this piece of junk! Now to the cleaning, sanding, puttying, priming and painting. We gave it a shabby chic look which worked perfectly.
Believe it or not, we are now in search of pieces for next year. Thanks to all who helped us to make our pieces look amazing and to Mission 27 for allowing us to have fun rehabbing old stuff!
Bidding on these items and a 100+ more takes place from Oct. 16-23. And all proceeds benefits SVdP programs. Join us online to nab up these great products and support a great organization at the same time. Visit www.svdpindy.org to learn more about Struttin’ Our Stuff and how you can participate (bid, sponsor or donate!). Or register for a bidding account at svdp2020.ggo.bid by clicking on the “Start Bidding” button in the upper right hand corner of the page.
If you have any questions, contact Jenny Matthews (317.289.3324 or jmattbogey@gmail.com) or Mary Ann Klein (317.796.6325 or klein.jm@yahoo.com).
