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Repurposing Craigslist Cast-offs To French Country Treasures

Nashville’s Southern Living Showcase Home, opening in Dorset Park this October, is all about green innovation and nothing is more innovative than successful furniture repurposing.

Have you tried to find a great furniture piece via an on-line sales site lately?  It’s not that easy unless you are a treasure-seeking expert like Dana Tucker, whose company Bella Tucker Decorative Finishes, is a featured Southern Living Showcase artisan.  Tucker has long been the purveyor of excellent finds and has taken this skill to a new level as she culls about for incredible buys on Craigslist for her artist husband, Brooks, to transform.

“We are so thrilled to have found a great buffet we will be featuring in the outdoor living room of the showcase home,” Dana said. “Slightly damaged, Brooks is repairing and transforming the piece, with good bones, into an old French Chateau inspired buffet,” Tucker said.  “Brooks is applying a Parisian Grey color to it, then distressing and finishing it off with a yummy patina. It will be the perfect piece for designer Kristen Finney, who is responsible for producing this inviting showcase home space.”

Tucker says she has a criteria she uses for the furniture pieces she selects.

1. Craftsmanship. Does the piece have the good bones? While Brooks is able to repair and re-purpose the most challenging piece, in the end, the furniture has to be a nice, solid-wood piece.

2. Raised Details. When a furniture piece has carved or raised wood details, it takes on the paint in a much more interesting way than a flat surface piece. These pieces actually pop when the right shade of product is applied.

3. Interesting Lines. A piece of furniture with curved or turned legs takes on an entirely new and intriguing appearance when Brooks applies a decorative finish. One of the artisan’s favorite projects was taking a set of boring cherry dining room chairs and transforming them into an entirely new French Country wonder.

 

A well-respected decorative artisan, Tucker has added furniture re-purposing to his design menu. Using Parisian Grey Chalk Paint with a rub patina has given this chair a new French Country look.

Bella Tucker Decorative Finishes purchases furniture, and, for more info, visit their website at bella-tucker.com for before and after photos.  The design team is opening a booth October 1 at the Arbor Antique Mall in Franklin.

Being built by Castle Homes, Nashville’s only Southern Living Showcase Home is open select dates October 21 through November 6 in the beautiful, new Dorset Park neighborhood off Old Hickory Boulevard. For the latest info, follow the build on Facebook and Twitter.