Shutters

Serendipity was with me one day when I visited a local thrift shop, and I came across a set of three shutters.

They had obviously been painted before, as I could see a little bit of yellow underneath a dirty green color.  As I was on the hunt for something to fill a little wall space in my living room, I decided to take them home with me.

Luckily I always have a little paint on hand  ;-)

I used some sample pots of some other greens to give them a little more color.  (Yes I know it’s hard to tell the difference, but it’s there.)

Then I slapped on some orange acrylic paint…

I used vaseline on some of the colored areas, also concentrating on the edges.  It makes the funny little patches you see in the next coat of black (and for the black I used spray paint—I am an equal-opportunity painter).

With your bare hands, you can simply rub the paint off wherever the vaseline was to show the colors underneath.

      

Next I used more vaseline, then a coating of creamy white paint—plus a few splashes of some more green and even a little gray.  I think all together I used about 7 different colors of paint on these shutters! 

And this, my lovelies, is the finished product.  I love how it turned out!  I adore the chippy-ness of the finish and the layers of color. 

These hang above my couch…in my living room that has been completed for months…that I have never show you…

…I’m going to try to resolve that this week!

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Someday Crafts
Knick of Time Mod Vintage Life	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party A Little Knick Knack
Cowgirl Up!	{aka} design Coastal Charm

Sunrise / Sunset

I tackled a different kind of painting project.  I should be working on furniture, based on the size of my stash…but a bit of a sore throat and a cough seemed to indicate that staying inside was in order!

It’s well known that I love signs and quotes in all their varieties (you can see my Etsy shop if ye doubt).  I’ve been pondering ways to make mine unique and separate from the many other lovely versions that are available.  I thought about using some ombre backgrounds, and that idea morphed into this:
Here is an 18” x 24” canvas that I painted Sunday night.  “What is it?” you may rightly wonder!  Well, lacking the skills to actually make a painting that looks like something…I decided to settle for reminding you of something!
To me, the reds, yellows, and oranges are reminiscent of a sunset.  But I suppose it could be a sunrise, too...although if it is, I keep thinking, “Red sky the morning: sailor take warning!”  And I don’t even sail!

I over-laid the scene with a favorite quote from Mother Teresa:

“We can do no great things; only small things with great Love.”

I used my Silhouette to cut the lettering out of vinyl for this project.  I used the negative space for the canvas, which left me with the “positive” space for another go.
This time I applied the quote to a piece of beadboard, and then painting another sky scene right over top of it all.  This time I used many different blues, as well as black, white…and a little pink.  Is it sunrise?  Is it dusk?  I’ll let you decide! 

I can’t really decide which I like better.  I like the softly faded, worn look of the beadboard (I had to distress it a little, naturally). 

…but vibrant reds and oranges speak to me, always!

Which one do you like?

(and if you really like one…they are both available in the Etsy shop.)

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
	The CSI Project
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Someday Crafts
Knick of Time Mod Vintage Life	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party
Cowgirl Up!	{aka} design Coastal Charm

French Postcard Table

I haven’t really fallen off the planet, I promise.  I just seem to have come down with a serious case of blog ennui. 

I don’t think it’s terminal.

All my kids are back in school this week, and the weather seems to be cooling down a little bit.  So the urge to work on some furniture has finally hit, and that’s a good thing (I have quite a stash accumulated).  One of this week’s projects was this coffee table:

It started out like this:

I doubt you can tell from the picture, but the finish on the top is almost completely gone.  What did someone do to that table, I wonder??  Not that I care, really, because it makes refinishing it much easier!

I went through my stash of French typography (mainly courtesy of the Graphics Fairy), and decided this table wanted to look like a vintage French postcard (similar to—but not exactly like—my white postcard table I painted last summer).

There have been a LOT of typography tables since my first French Chocolate table, so it’s a challenge to change things up enough not to be boring!  So for this table, I played around with a little color.  Although the address is in black, the note that crosses the top corner is actually in a dark charcoal to differentiate it.

But my favorite is the postmark in my favorite color…RED!

The base of the table got a good scrubbing and refreshed with a little oil-rubbed bronze paint.   Doesn’t it have a pretty shape? 

So there you have it.  I’m still kicking and still painting  ;-)

Happy Fall, ya’ll!

This project has been featured at the Graphics Fairy, Elizabeth & Co., From My Front Porch to Yours, and aka design.

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	The CSI Project
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Thrifty Décor Chick
Knick of Time Mod Vintage Life	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party
Cowgirl Up! The Graphics Fairy	{aka} design Coastal Charm

French Country Dining Set

The workshop has occupied so much time and attention this summer that I have a LOT of furniture projects waiting for me! 

I’m at the point of wondering “what to tackle next?” 

I decided to go for the biggest bang—as far as reclaiming space is concerned! 

The table was dismantled, so it wasn’t taking up much room…but I had FIVE finished chairs stacked up in my bedroom, so I decided to finish the set so I could at least have my room back!

If you’ve been with me for long, you know I have a long and glorious history with pressed-back chairs. 

I love ’em. 

One of my first major projects was this gathering table:

…and I loved it so much I later refinished a similar table in black:

Then there was my grand idea of refinishing a dining set with different pressed-back chairs for myself:

…which I didn’t end up keeping, but another friend of mine decided to run with the idea.  She bought up grundles of pressed-back chairs, and I finished them for her.  When she had multiples, though, I received some of the chairs back…in payment!

And that, dear friends, is why I had five pressed-back chairs cluttering up my bedroom!  As luck would have it, I found a sixth chair at Deseret Industries recently, and I was given this table (don’t you love the legs??)…

…what if I put them together??

Ahh…a match made in heaven!

The table top was sanded down and re-stained in Minwax Dark Walnut, which for some reason didn’t want to get very dark.  I liked it anyway.

The six chairs—all different—are painted with a Behr Color match of Sherwin-Williams “Creamy.”  They are glazed with a watered-down burnt-umber craft paint.  That is NOT my preferred form of glaze anymore—but some of these chairs were started long ago, and everything needed to match!

I like these table legs better…

I had fun dressing up the table a little bit….

…someday I’ll have a table that looks good with this doily runner; it’s my goal in life!

Anyone up for an al fresco dinner?

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This project has been featured at Elizabeth & Co. and Domestically Speaking.

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	The CSI Project
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Someday Crafts
Knick of Time	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party
Cowgirl Up!	{aka} design Coastal Charm

Stripey Stool

Just a little “after” project to show you today….the “before” is not to be found!

I darkened this cute little stool with some antique walnut stain, and then used a little homemade chalk paint to “embellish” it a little.

   

Of course I sanded off some of the paint to make it look it’s age!

I guess it could be a flower stand or a little end table…

 

But you know what?  I wish I had kept it for my shop!

<sigh> 

Maybe I’ll luck out and find another cool stool for there someday!

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	The CSI Project
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Someday Crafts
Knick of Time	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party
Cowgirl Up!	{aka} design Coastal Charm

Little French Gray Buffet

I broke my self-imposed furniture diet to buy this piece at Deseret Industries…how could I resist?  

Although the body was in pretty good shape, the top had been scratched up quite a bit.

I painted the base with the same color as my other gray buffet, but I used it in my homemade chalk paint recipe. 

The proportions are 2 T. unsanded tile grout mixed with 2 T. water, then mixed in to 1 c. latex paint.

Then I used a little white chalk paint (homemade) to dry-brush over all the details.

The handles are original; I just re-painted them with oil-rubbed bronze spray paint.

The top did not quite turn out like I envisioned!  I wanted a stained top, but I wasn’t crazy about the color of the wood next to the gray.  So it actually ended up getting stained darker than it looks in these pictures…but I sold it before I took an after-the-after picture!

Guess that’s not really something to complain about, is it??

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	The CSI Project
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Someday Crafts
Knick of Time	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party
Cowgirl Up!	{aka} design Coastal Charm

Gold-dipped Chair & Table

It has been a while since I posted a furniture project again, so I thought I’d give you a two-for-one project!

This cute little bamboo-style chair and table came out of my neighbor’s garage.  She has a little bit of a thrift store addiction herself, and I still remember the day I got to Savers just after she did…and she walked away with these!  I was very jealous.

Well, several months later they ended up coming to me anyways.  HER husband decided it was time to clean out the garage!  Mine was already so full that a few more pieces of furniture didn’t matter  ;-)
The first thing I had to do was replace the caning on the seat back.  For a more detailed description of how you can replace chair cane with kitchen utensils, look here.   
 
I painted the chair and table in a creamy white, but I thought they needed a little more pizzazz!
So I got out some gold acrylic paint to dress up the bottom of the legs for a “dipped” look.  I also added some gold to the finials on the table and the banding on the arms of the chair.  What did I learn from this project??  Don’t use acrylic paint on furniture!  It took about a million coats of paint to cover!

I found this fabric at JoAnn’s.  I’m not normally a “blue” person, but it was perfect with the white and the gold.  And it had a bird on it!  I’m a sucker for birds.

So there you have it.  A little gold-dipped “glam” for a corner somewhere…I think these would be so fun in a bedroom for a little reading corner!

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	The CSI Project
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Someday Crafts
Knick of Time	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My rRepurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	It’s So Very Cheri
Cowgirl Up!	{aka} design Coastal Charm

Replica Dry Sink @ Knick of Time

Today I am guest-posting for Angie at Knick of Time Interiors!  Hope you’ll visit me there to see the transformation of this:

to this!

Come visit at Knick of Time!

Hope is the thing with feathers…

I have so many things to blog about that it’s overwhelming!  There are furniture projects, home projects, my first building project, sewing projects, not to mention an entire WORKSHOP…

…but all those projects have worn me out 

So for now, I will leave you with a favorite quote.  My sister requested this a few months ago in “Tiffany blue,” and I have made two more versions since then in coral (or tangerine?) and aqua.

“Hope is the thing with feathers

that perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops at all.”

                             ~Emily Dickinson

You can see a little bit in the picture below that the bird, the birdcage, and the words “hope, feathers, soul, sings, and never stops” are all highlighted with clear glitter.  Glitter makes everything better!

Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Sisters of the Wild West	The CSI Project
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Someday Crafts
Knick of Time	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours
Cowgirl Up!	{aka} design