I rescued this pretty little side/coffee table at a yard sale for a steal.
I loved the detailed carving on the sides. I usually do quite a bit of color in my pieces but decided this one had so much going on that simplicity was the key. So I decided to chalk paint it white. I’ve done ivory before but never white. Once it was white the carving got lost….
As you may remember last week, I had a night where I was woken by animals all throughout the night. Now that isn’t an uncommon occurrence in this house, but last week I had two extreme nights in a row. Wednesday night I ended up with a whopping two hours of sleep when it was all said and done — so Thursday, I was dragging.
My hubby was off work (and Friday also) so I was excited to have him home to help on some honey-do projects. We did lots of those, and even went to a new-to-me architectural salvage shop which had some amazing antiques with some amazing high prices to go along with it. It was sure fun to look though!
So Thursday night arrived, and I was exhausted. I went to sleep around midnight (early for me), and I woke up around 12:30 to hear my daughter in her room talking on the phone. I was ticked. Her phone gets shut off early on school nights, no exceptions. I went storming in her room ready to raise heck, only to find her phone exactly where it should be, and the kiddo carrying on a brilliant conversation in her sleep — actually mumbling in her sleep was more accurate. Okay, so I got my heart rate up for no reason. So I lay there for another 30 minutes before I can go back to sleep.
…
I have three fluffy white dogs. I have only introduced you to Gracie and Lulu, but Charlie’s story is for another day. As it happens, all three of them have allergies. In the spring and fall they are itchy messes. At night, after they go out for the last time, we stick them in the tub with a couple inches of water to wash the pollen off. Last night we forgot, and this is how my night went:
So today has been a looong day. I did get my two yellow tables completed. The hardware on one of them isn’t dry yet, so I will show you that one tomorrow. They have the same shape, but the doors are different.
I used a different technique this time. I didn’t do much distressing, and I went really heavy on the glaze. I usually mix my glaze with with a mixing glaze/stain ratio, but I wanted to try it with a glaze/paint mixture instead. I used Olympic flat black paint. The yellow I used on this table is bright (Golden Flame by Valspar). By far the brightest color I have used so far. Let me warn you, if you are going to use this color, you are going to use at least twice as much as you normally would. It goes on really thin and doesn’t cover anything underneath. I probably put on 5 or 6 coats to get an even finish. Once I put the glaze on, it toned the color down a bit. It stuck perfectly in all the grooves.
When you apply the glaze, you want to put on a thick coat and then have a damp cloth to wipe off most of it, and then repeat until you get it the color you desire. Now by the time I was finished I was covered in black paint. It was all up and down my arms and all over my feet and legs. It was a mess! I did like the results though. I waxed over it and was good to go.
This will go great next to a bed or couch that is really dark color, like a black or charcoal grey. Or next to a white or khaki bed or couch. It will look great with a black, white or silver lamp on top. It is going to go up for sale tomorrow for $45.
When we moved into our house 6 years ago, I couldn’t find what I wanted to go above our mantel. So I settled and ended up with this.
I didn’t love it but at least there wasn’t a naked space. So FINALLY, I found what I wanted (at least through Thanksgiving) and here are the results.
What do you think? I bought 3 of the pumpkins from Michaels. They were orange and I painted the blue one peacock blue gloss from Valspar. The gold is Colorplace metallic gold. The tiny pumpkins I bought from Wal-Mart and spray painted the same gold and the ivory is Krylon in ivory gloss. I drilled holes through them and strung them on an ivory ribbon I got at Michaels also.
The prints in the frames are from Graphics Fairy.
What’s on your fall mantel?
I have been sick.
Not just a little under the weather, but full out flu SICK. It has not been pretty around here. It’s been the high fever, chills, body aches that-make-you-want-to-die sick. My hubby would come home from work and find me still in the jammies I’ve had on for two days and have a shocked/pity look on his face and say “You look….not so good”. Now my daughter does not put things quite so delicately. After I go pick her up from school, which takes every bit of energy I can muster, she says “Wow, you look like crap. I hope none of my friends see you”. Thanks dear. They both were right though, I looked like walking death. The house is a mess, dishes piled up, laundry overflowing and my daughter’s clothes everywhere.
Here’s the problem with being sick when you work from home, everywhere you look you see your job. Now if you work outside of the home and you take a sick day, you can stay home crawl in bed and away from all the office tasks. Not me, every time I hobbled down the hall, there is my studio — with projects I’m getting farther and farther behind on, and it’s been making me crazy. Besides the house looking like a bomb went off.
So as the days wore on (and I had taken about four NyQuil flu pills) I began to think “Maybe I’m feeling a bit better, I should get to work”. Bad idea.
After I work for a few minutes I start to realize that four NyQuils throw off your coordination a bit: My painting looks sloppy, my distressing looks weird and as the NyQuil starts to wear off I realize “I.am.freaking.sick.” So as I lay there on the floor next to a headboard I’m working on, I dump a can of paint. It flows everywhere. All over the floor, all over me, on the nicely groomed white dogs… So there I am, laying on the floor in my 2 day old jammies, dark rings under my eyes, pale as can be, in a cold sweat and my I-just-escaped-from-an-insane-asylum hair, covered in paint. On that note, I decide that I surrender. That is until the next day, and I do the whole thing over again.
I just don’t have time to be sick and it makes me crazy. This has lasted a whole week! Sunday was the first I felt slightly human again. So my husband is trying to get me to ease back into my projects instead of killing myself to make up time only to end up right back in bed.
I think today I might be adventurous and actually get dressed today. I might even throw on a little makeup just to spice things up. Maybe I’ll even leave the house. Or I could could just stay in my jammies all day and distress a great big bookshelf. Probably the latter will win out.
I hope everyone stays germ free. Make your spouses wash their hands before entering your house. Hose your children off before they can come inside. De-germify your teenager’s cell phone. Trust me you do not want this bug.
Too sick for new projects, here is a little side table I did for my cousin a little while back. I got it at a fundraiser garage sale for the humane society. It was a bit scratched up and dated, but it had good bones. I used an ivory chalk paint and distressed it. I didn’t glaze this one, it was one of my first projects and it was before I had tried glazing. I think it turned out pretty cute!
So … I’m going to show you what I got for my birthday, but don’t be alarmed OK? Don’t say “Shanna what the heck? Your family got you crap!” No need to pity me, I received just what I wanted. Sometimes what DIY’ers ask for might be a little scary to “normal” people.
Let’s start with number one: A vintage typewriter to decorate or stage my furniture pieces. When I take photos of the furniture I’m ready to sell, I like to “stage” it — make it look like it might if you owned it, and it was in your home. It makes the piece more inviting than if it was setting up against a stark white wall with nothing on it.
2. Old cruddy bookshelves! Oh yeah! These babies are going to be great when they’re finished! Now these are going to take a little bit of work. I’m intend to paint them ivory and distress them. I’m also going to paint the back of the shelves turquoise (because there is no such thing as too much turquoise). Plus, I have some great silver, white and turquoise accessories to decorate with. And once they’re complete, I’m setting them in my basement (as you’ll see in the photos). I’m excited to clear away some time to work on them.
3. Some vintage hardware for a dresser. Finding a dresser from 1910 with all of its hardware intact is a rare thing, and replacing old, authentic hardware does not come cheap. That’s why it’s so exciting to find a piece of furniture with all of its original knobs or handles.
4. Some old furniture pieces. A couple of dressers, an old vanity, a small bookshelf, and a couple of neat tables. All with such potential!
5. A subscription to HGTV Magazine. Now this one’s not scary at all — just motivation to get off my behind and get moving on all these pieces (see bullets 2, 3 and 4).
Now I know most people would be appalled to get this “junk” as gifts, but I’m thrilled! Some of these pieces I will sell, some I will keep, but all will be better off than when I started.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder — but I may be a little farsighted.
For my mom’s birthday I had no idea what to get her. She, of course, said she didn’t want a thing (not helpful). The only thing I heard her say she wanted was something to hang over this antique secretary in her living room. I looked at all kinds of stores and came up with nothing. Her whole house has a Victorian theme so I wanted something to go along with her style.
So my daughter and I crafted her a wreath made out of old book pages. It’s not that hard to make, just time consuming. You also use a ton of glue sticks for your glue gun. You can put anything in the middle, fake flowers or knick knacks, but I used old broken jewelry. I also added a couple of my grandmother’s earrings for a bit of sentimental value. I cut out a round piece of cardboard the size of a soccer ball, then my daughter rolled all of the book pages diagonally, then glued them around the perimeter. Next, we worked our way towards the middle of the circle. Once the pages were all glued-on, we added the jewelry pieces. Three hours later, with some very hot-glue-burnt fingertips we were done. Mom loves it, and it looks great over her secretary.
Have a great weekend everyone!!!