Ordinary Table and Chair Set Becomes Functional Art

You've seen these before....typical pastel colored child's table and chair set....

 My client Barb wanted to "fun these up" for her daughter, Vivian...oh boy....my kind of project!!!

So here I go....I painted each of the chairs in a punchy color, then had a blast with free-hand designs...

harlequins...

 circles...

 stars and stripes...

 stripes and dots...

And then the table.......

 Here they are..........so which is your favorite?

(Did I get a little carried away???)

Don't sweat the small stuff. Just paint it! Birds bees bunnies...

Most of you already know I'm a thrift store junkie.

I'm not ashamed of that.

I tend to go a little overboard on the little stuff.......

Here's why:  Immediate gratification!

Besides, it's easy to work on little stuff indoors when it's so nasty outside.

Here are a few small finds from the past week to demonstrate what you can do with some of those ugly-ass ('cuse my french) knick knacks out there!

These little ugly ornaments? plaques? have plastic gold frames, BLACK VELVET backs and reproduction art. I bought a bag of them for 45cents.

And here are a couple of them after my reinvention.  I used cast iron knobs and napkin ring pieces, and Annie Sloane Chalkpaint. Yep, you can even use it on black velvet!

Sweet little terra-cotta bunny...

Blue bunny loves to sit on my grain sack bench...

And lastly, a couple of large finials.......silvertone and black..........

 And here they are for sale in my booth, after a couple coats of Old White, a little distressing, and wax.

Looks to be another dreary day out there...

Hmmm, wonder what will get painted next?

Thinking Outside the Box: Old Chair + Fuzzy Throw = Retro Reinvention!

This is the kind of stuff I live for.........when the old light bulb goes off and something gets repurposed in a new and interesting way!

Take one old 2nd hand chair.........

Nice size, nice lines, just, well, dull, worn, and in need of reupholstery or a slipcover....

 Which is what I was intending to do.....Until an idea struck me. 

   I had this great fuzzy throw I purchased for a client, and ended up keeping for myself.

One day I decided to toss it over the chair to camouflage it until I could get around to its makeover, and, well,  it was working!!!!!!!!!!! So here I go...

 Today I just sewed that bugger right on, and I have an instant furry fun retro-inspired chair!

It was very easy to sew because with all the "fur," you couldn't even tell where I sewed the edges together.

 It took a bit of finesse, but all-in-all, it was a heck of a lot easier than a traditional slipcover!

I also primed and painted the legs in a glossy grey-white...........

I didn't even cut the throw up! It's still intact under there, waiting to be revealed one day on this chair's next future makeover.  Wonder when that will be??

Trashy Cover Up: Cabinet Makeover

Hello all of you out there in blogland......

I'm back!  

I know, I've disappeared for awhile......

Today was a beautiful day, and since I had to take my Bernina sewing machine into the shop yesterday, I couldn't tackle all the sewing projects I have on the books.

So, I decided to do a little sidewalk work this afternoon.  

I had my sights on this yukky cabinet that my friend, Robin, found in the trash.  You can see why someone tossed it... 

 She wanted it out of her car so I gladly took it...

 Pretty disgusting really.......

I took a putty knife to it and got off most of the loose paint.

 That's TEXTURE, baby!!!!! It's going to look great after I'm finished.

 It has a nasty retro formica top.........Bet it will clean up with a little Bar Keepers Friend...

 And this is what it looks like now! 

What a great little cabinet for a kitchen island, or a bar.

I  painted it with Annie Sloan Chalk Paints in Duck Egg Blue and Provence, dry brushing most of the edges.  

Then I distress sanded, and waxed with clear MinWax, and Annie Sloan Dark Wax.

 Added some miscellaneous hardware from my stash...

 I love these pewter nail heads I purchased from Ufab.

 They're great for disguising holes when you have to reposition hardware, etc,  and don't want to deal with wood filler and sanding and dry time.....

I'm on a schedule here folks! Who has time for dry time?

See how the waxes accentuate all the crackled paint that's leftover?

No, Robin, you cannot have it back!

Feeding the Addiction: The Saga of a Rehabbed Console Table.

Oh my, I haven't been to a junk store in weeks........serious withdrawal symptoms are kicking in, so thought I would just peek my head into Diversity Thrift today on my way home from client appointments.  

I walked in and immediately saw this sofa console on a metal base for $35...I'm not kidding, we were on our way home in literally 5 minutes, me and yet another piece of furniture that I didn't need.

 Not a real fine piece of furniture by any means, but this is something I figure I can redo fairly easily and sell in my booth.  Besides, I love many drawered things!

The piece is pressed wood...........has some water damage around the base...

 And the top is scuffed up but that's okay because I'll be painting it.......

People ask me if I know what I'm going to do with a piece in advance.  

Sometimes I do, sometimes it just has to evolve. 

 In the case of this one, I thought I might try something a bit different than my normal finishes.....

Perhaps an asian inspired chinese red with blacks??.

I painted the piece in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Emperor's Silk, and then dry brushed Graphite.  Yuk...hate it....I added a Pewter Metallic Glaze, but I still wasn't feeling the love.......

 Next I used some Benjamin Moore satin finish paint I had on hand in Gossamer Blue. 

I just continued dry brushing over the base coat.  

After letting this dry, I got out my trusty mouse sander.

 Okay, getting better now....I'm liking the aged look with the red base coat peeping through and the wood showing now on the sanded edges.

 Next.....let's add some numbers..........I printed off some numbers in a stencil font, and then traced them on each of the drawer fronts.

 I don't know what it is about numbers on furniture...I just like them.

I painted in the numbers with Graphite.

 Yep, really starting to come together now...the black numerals help tie in the wrought iron base.

 Then I brushed the Graphite along all the sanded edges where the wood is peeping through.

 After adding some shiny metallic black knobs, it's looking like this....Not sure about the knobs yet..

 Here's the piece after I waxed it with clear and dark waxes......The clear wax pulls out the red undercoat and the dark wax ages the piece......but I'm still not in love with the knobs...........I mean they're okay....but...aha, idea!!!!!

 I pulled out the Mod Podge..

 and decoupaged some images of different corals onto wooden knobs...

here they are still wet...

 And here they are added to the piece....

Certainly not your run-of-the-mill piece now.  

Hmmm, a numbered, coral knobbed sofa console...

 What do you think?  Too much? Or just right?

I'm sort of grooving on it..........Heading to the booth soon...Selling for $165.  If you're interested, shoot me a message.........

Just another day in the life of a thrift junkie.

Thanks for reading my blog!

Bookcase Makeover with Rustic Type Transfers

After living with this piece for a year or so, I finally decided it was time to tackle it!  It was one of those treasures I found on the front porch of Greenwood Country Store. I put a beadboard back on it...and it's been collecting power tools, knobs, paint, DUST, under my stairwell ever since.......So during this week's purge/rearrangement, I pulled this baby out.....

I had to do a little work on the legs because it was leaning terribly. So I whipped out my circular saw and cut down the legs to make the piece stand straight.......(or straighter anyway..)

I painted it with some Sherwin Williams color samples left over from a project.....The back is Trade Winds, which I dry brushed on to give it a not-so perfect-appearance, and the frame is Softer Tan.

And then I transferred words from my printer onto the backs of each shelf:

I'm still experimenting with this technique......I've learned so many approaches via folks on Pinterest lately, some that work better on fabric, and some on wood...and I'm still exploring......look for some how-to's soon....it's amazing the wealth of information that is available out there! It's like going to school every time I sit down at my computer....there's nothing like learning! So keep those great ideas flowing, folks! And I'll do the same!

First Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Transformation for 2012!!

Yep, it's January 3rd, and it didn't take me long to pull out the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in 2012! (Actually, I did this on January FIRST, I'm just now getting around to writing about it..). 

I'm addicted to this paint!  

This time it wasn't a piece of furniture, though, that I had my sights on. 

Nope, this time it was (drumroll...)

....the ugliest little Christmas present ever!  

 Here she is in all her glory!  My CLEOPATRA BUST!!

 Egads!
(Do you think that snake ate off her breasts?)
Truly this is one bad-looking bust...
But I saw potential!
Besides, it was a gift from my sister.
And who could really hate Cleo?
She was such a rad chick!

 But back to the paint, the beauty of this Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is....you just slap it on! That's it.
There's no prep, no priming, no sanding....I painted two coats of Old Ochre....and voila:

 She looks just like alabaster!!! I didn't even wax her because she looks so great with the matte finish.

 Here she is wearing her sheet music crown that came in the Christmas Crackers....

She's already moved around a bunch, but I think she's going to live here on the dining room buffet...next to Mr. Owl Lamp....