Tuesday's customer inspiration - Melissa's fantastic welcoming chair!

Melissa is a repeat Tuesday customer inspiration inspiration (see her amazing reading corner here). She's back this week with a chair she purchased from Jubilee which she transformed into a wonderful, welcoming planter by her front door.

Though the following photo isn't the exact chair Melissa purchased - hers was very similar to this one and it looked very much like this when it left the store.

Drum roll, please...

(For full details on how Melissa turned a boring chair into an amazing planter check out her blog!)

So sweet! I totally love what Melissa did! Her blog is equally inspiring.

As I was searching for Melissa's first Tuesday customer inspiration, I was scrolling through older posts and noticed I closed a May 27th weekly post with an Irish blessing ("May the road rise up to meet you...") and then I ended my June 17th weekly post with the SAME IRISH BLESSING! Three short weeks later I'm writing the same ending and I don't even realize it! How embarrassing!

And on that humiliating note, I'll wrap up this week's customer inspiration!

I hope to see you, dear reader, back here on Friday for my weekly update post which often ends with the same Irish blessing - and for me, it's fresh and original every time!

Tuesday's customer inspiration - two amazing pieces Vickie transformed!

Thanks for stopping by! Every Tuesday - if I whine and moan enough and someone gets so sick of listening to me they take photos and email me at sgalbraith@outreachcommin.org just to get me to shut up - I showcase something someone has purchased from Jubilee Furniture and either how it's been transformed or simply how lovely it looks in their home exactly as it looked leaving the store. The point is to inspire (thus the super creative and catchy name - customer inspiration!) and help others see past the dust and bad lighting at Jubilee and to the potential of our inventory.

Today I have an extra special treat - two very creative and fun pieces which were transformed by Vickie! Here's Vickie's email:

Your store has given me a place to exercise my creative ideas without going broke! I just love coming in and looking for pieces that I can repurpose and use around my house. I even have my 3 kids coming in with me from time to time looking for just that "right" piece.

Last summer I came in and found a yellow china cabinet. You might remember it because it smelled heavily of smoke and you ended up giving it to me for a pretty low price. Well, I brought it home full of optimism that I would be able to eventually get the smoke smell out (you did warn me about the futility of this).

Warning the next part is a little gross!

First of all, it wasn't really yellow. The yellow color came from all the nicotine build up on the cabinet! It took several cleanings and the summer in the garage before I felt like I could even begin to figure out what to do with it. I just loved the look of the cabinet but felt like it needed some vibrant color to really "update" the piece.

I chose this really pretty turquoise color. The cabinet now holds my grandmother's china.

I added rope lighting to help show the china off at night. I just love this piece! Only every so often do I happen to detect a very slight hint of cigarette smoke to the cabinet - but I can live with that! The chairs on either side of the cabinet are also from Jubilee. The slipcovers came with the chairs and I just added pillow cases to the backs of the chairs to give them some added color. The little pillows are from Pier 1.

I think the artwork over each chair is from Jubilee too! Am I right, Vickie?

Next up is a round occasional table that Vickie also purchase last summer. Again, here's Vickie:

The table was made of a really dark wood which really dated the piece. So I painted it a light cream color and I think it turned out great.

I love the detail in the table. The hardware on the piece is really pretty too. As a matter of fact, the legs have little gold claws on the ends and when I purchased it one of your sales ladies had the idea that I should paint the toenails. Well, I'm pretty sure she was kidding but I thought it was a great idea and as you can see I did just that.

You can't notice the nail polish unless you get right down there and look but I get a kick out of knowing it's there.

Thanks so much for all you do!

Impressive, huh! Inspiring too! Muchas gracias, Vickie (after four years of high school Spanish - that's the extent of my Spanish vocabulary - how pathetic is that!? Of course, I was in high school approximately 100 years ago...).

Most of you know I screen my donations and ask about cigarette smoke (and just to be clear - I have nothing against smokers but a non-smoker does not want to purchase a piece that smells so we normally only accept donations from non-smokers) though occasionally a piece slips pass us and then I always note on the price tag that it smells of cigarette smoke and it's usually marked at a steal of a price.

I hope you're having a good start to your week and I'll see you back here on Friday for my weekly update post, dear reader!

Tuesday's customer inspiration - Kim's silver-leaf beauty!

Good afternoon and welcome to today's installment of customer inspiration where I showcase something someone has purchased at Jubilee Furniture and either how wonderful it looks in their home - exactly as it looked when it left the store - or - how it's been enhanced and in today's case TRANSFORMED into something new and different and amazing.

Here's Kim's email: Okay! I have my little "make-over" furniture that I purchased at Jubilee Furniture about a month ago...it just takes a little time to do a beautiful transformation!

I bought this little cabinet for $10 dollars at your store. What a deal! I wanted to modernize it so my twin boys would think it's cool! It's going to be used for storage under a desk. Turned out it was a little too tall to fit under the desk, so I cut it down.

It started out brown with a brass handle. I lightly sanded it and washed it down with TSP a cleaner that was commonly used on paneling in the 70's before painting it. I glazed it with a silver oil based paint and then silver-leafed the door for a contemporary look. Lastly, I changed the hardware to chrome to match with the legs on the desk chairs!

It was a lot of fun doing this project and it's always fun finding good deals at Jubilee Furniture!

Doesn't even look like the same furniture. If anyone has any questions on refinishing or has some tips to share, they can email me at kimberlyann711@aol.com

I asked Kim how she did the silver-leafing and here are her directions:

Silver leafing or gold leafing isn't too hard and there are a few short "you tubes" that even show it. It's a matter of buying a glue called "size." This glue gets tacky and allows you to put on the silver leaf. The silver or gold leafing comes in sheets about the size of 3 x 5 and you can buy all this at Hobby Lobby, Joann Fabrics or Michael's. The trickiest part of leafing, is that, the leafing sheets are a little delicate to work with. Since I was going for the crackled look, it didn't matter. A tip I can offer, make sure the glue is a little dry - in a tacky state - before starting to place the sheets down.

Wow - what a difference in the before and after shots! It really DOESN'T look like the same piece of furniture! Well done, Kim and many thanks for sharing! Do your boys think it's "cool"?

Have you purchased something from Jubilee Furniture and are willing to share? If so, please email me at sgalbraith@outreachcommin.org with a couple of photos and help inspire others as we make the world a little more beautiful!

See you, dear reader, back here on Friday with my weekly update! Be there or be square! :-)

Tuesday's customer inspiration - Holly's sweet bed and Lisa's fantastic buffet!

I'm probably going to regret this, but I've had such a wonderful response to my plea for photos of things you've purchased from Jubilee Furniture - either how they look in your home exactly as they left the store - or - how you've made them even better - so am sharing two different photos again this week (I shared two last week too).

First up is a twin-size bed Holly purchased!

Holly wrote: About a year ago we purchased a bed for Katelyn from your store. We were going to buy a bed from IKEA for about $450 and got this one for $20, what a steal! I painted it white to match her room.

What a sweet, yet bold - due to the green bedding - room! I love it! When you think about the $430 Holly saved by shopping at Jubilee Furniture it makes you wonder what she used that extra money for ('cause that's a lot of moola!)!

Next is an antique buffet that we've had in the store for a long time and which many people have looked at and considered buying - but no one, until Lisa, pulled the trigger. I love her story and will let her tell it via her email:

Okay, so upon seeing your plea for photos, I grabbed my phone and snapped a quick shot of my most recent Jubilee purchase {gotta love repeat customers and we got a lot of 'em!}. Sorry it's not the best, but hopefully it displays a bit of how the buffet appears in our family room. If you saw other furniture in our home, you'd quickly understand how this piece fits so well. We have a 15 foot wall behind our sofa that's had only that gigantic "mall art" picture on it - driving me nuts for 3 years-and when I saw this piece in the store, I told Craig {Lisa's husband}: "Happy Mother's Day to me!" HE was thrilled not to have to go out and hunt for a mom's day gift, and I was thrilled to finally have a great little addition to our room-a 2-for-1 deal for sure. So needless to say, I love Jubilee Furniture and will absolutely be back for more...Thanks for all YOU do for the community in this regard {ah shucks, it's nothing}.

I really like Lisa's mall poppy artwork though poppies always remind me of...

And now, my beauties, something with poison in it. Poppies...Poppies. Poppies will put them to sleep. Sleep. (evil laugh)

And that, dear reader, is this week's installment of customer inspiration! Many thanks to both Holly and Lisa for allowing us a glimpse into their lovely homes. Remember not only to you find great furniture at good prices at Jubilee Furniture, but your purchased helps restore hope and provide opportunities to those most in need in DuPage County through the programs and services offered through Outreach Community Ministries. Doesn't get any better than that!

Oh, and there are absolutely no flying monkeys in the store - ever.

Hope to see you here again on Friday for my weekly update!