You aren’t going to believe what I found! The cutest little authentically chippy antique blue table. I will share some photos with you. The table was found stashed waaay in the back of someone’s barn.

When you are an antiques dealer, people call you and say “Hey, I have some stuff you should look at”. Truth be told – a lot of the time when you go look at their stuff – it just isn’t a good fit. There is a lot of stuff from the 1970s and 1980s. However, in this case, the woman who contacted me encouraged me to go look in her barn. There were old green painted shutters, wooden chairs piled high, an old cupboard with the door half ajar and waaaay back in the corner I saw something. It looked like the cutest little table and knew it had to come home with me. The table is an “antique”, meaning it is at least 100 years old. Because of its age, the top has a crack – but still I think its perfect.

Are you ready to see it?

Well? What do you think?

I count 5 different colors of paint that have been applied over the years. It was painted blue twice.

If you look closely you can see that the top – which is made out of one solid piece of wood – has “checked” with the passage of time. Large solid pieces of wood tend to get splits in them as time passes since wood shrinks along the grain. Checking is one way to know that you have an authentically old piece of furniture. Here is an entire post that talks about identifying old furniture. Single pieces of wood that are wide, thick and long are another telltale sign of old furniture.

It’s a very solid little table too. The drawer still works. The legs are sturdy. I think it would make a charming night stand.

It is more and more difficult for me to come across furniture pieces like this. Have you noticed this too? Furniture that is a little “country” and has patina yet also has a certain grace and sense of style.

Actually, I have noticed that some vintage furniture that I grew up with has started making appearances in antique shops. Yikes! How did that happen? Suddenly, I am vintage.

When I got this little piece home, I lightly sanded the top and wiped her down with some Mr. Clean and Krud Kutter. That’s it! I don’t plan on painting her. See? I don’t paint everything! I may also apply some hemp oil because the wood is dry.

Sometimes, if you take the time to appreciate the finer details of an antique, blue, authentically chippy, small table – time slows down. This is especially true if you decided to count all the different colors the table has been painted over the course of the last 100 + years.

Most people don’t realize that it takes 5 paint jobs and 100 years, plus time in a barn, for a table to look like this. It’s no easy task.

Also, I have another surprise for you.

Do you see the vintage florist bucket on top of this table holding the pink flowers? Excellent. Here is a secret – those flowers aren’t real. More precisely, I made those flowers because we are in the middle of winter with 8 inches of snow on our lawn and I just decided I needed some flowers. The best part is – you can make them too! They are super easy to make!

If you stop by next Tuesday – I will have a post with a full tutorial that shows you how you can make these flowers.

The table and its patina? Well, you can’t make that. It takes 5 coats of paint, 100 years and time in a barn to create a table like this. Those flowers though – you can make those in about 30 minutes.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to check out this corner of the internet. More importantly, thank you for appreciating small, antique, blue, tables. It’s not easy to find people like you in this world and I appreciate you.