Play Time

This arctic winter weather is making us all a bit stir crazy. When I was asked last week to lend a creative hand to a project, I jumped at the opportunity. 

The Second Thought is a thrift store operated by Heritage Christian Services in East Rochester. Their profits go toward their mission efforts in Guatemala. When I need a break at work, I take a quick stroll downstairs to see what is new in the store. They have wonderful bargains and each day offers new treasures. Their prices are reasonable and I have purchased more than a few furniture items to rehab over the last year. On more than one occasion I have begged the manager to hire me to be the store's repurposer and bring in higher sales. Oh what fun that would be!!

Well last Friday she asked me to take this table home and work some magic. She offered no deadline and no parameters. Just make it pretty and bring it back. Anything I want??? Ohhh, this is gonna be fun!It was in rough shape for sure. I actually think it may have been a handmade table. I have since learned more about it's history. It was purchased at a garage sale in the early 70's and after a little one had two stitches-causing encounters with it the family relegated it to the attic for 20 years. 

 

I immediately had ideas swirling in my head for the flat surface. I had been wanting to try my hand at some French Typography and this table was the perfect piece to experiment on. It was on the store floor for $5 so I figured it could only get better.  First I sanded down the top to remove the finish and get a smooth surface to work on. Then I used a graphic from The Graphic Fairy. She has great tutorials on her site for transferring the graphics. I went with enlarging the image, printing it on copy paper and using graphite tracing paper. It took a bit of time but was not difficult. I was actually very impressed with how well the graphite paper worked. It left a sharp image behind that I then painted with some acrylic paint from Martha Stewart. Once the paint was dry I sanded it back a bit so it didn't look so freshly painted. Then I put two coats of Minwax's Antique Walnut Polyshades followed by two coats of paste wax. The rest of the table got a coat of Annie Sloan Old White paint, some distressing and a treatment of clear and dark wax. All the supplies I used were things I had on hand except for the graphite paper which was only a few dollars at Michaels.

Check her out now...

This was so fun to work on and Anna was so excited to see it brought back to life! It now has a $50 price tag and is waiting to go to a new home to enjoy for many more years. Let's just hope it won't be causing anyone any stitches in its future. I was tempted to buy it myself, it is the perfect size for our small living room. I hope it brings in a few more dollars for a good cause.

The Queen's Chair

Today I am back with another painting project. Back in May or June we all spent a morning going to garage sales in the area. It was a gorgeous day and we had a good time walking around. I don't think we came home with much but I did manage to pick up this lovely chair for $5.00. It actually had a mate but the back of that chair was broken and the previous owner had created a fabric covered back instead. Looking back I wish I had gotten the other one too. The chair is sturdy, well made and very comfortable!

Here she is now in all her Tiffany-inspired turquoise goodness. The color is Annie Sloan Provence.

I picked up some black and white fabric from Joann's for the seat.

I did some light distressing and finished it with a coat of dark wax to tone down the color a bit.

Painting this chair was a bit of a chore with all its details but I love the final result.

She's a beauty! Fit for a queen and in our house, that's me, lol. 

Cabin Bedroom Make Over

As promised, I am back today with some pictures of Josh's room. The quilt that I bought has great colors in it and reminded me of a cabin. As soon as I saw the quilt my mind went to some great Pinterest posts on creating a wood wall. I knew Josh would totally go for a cabin like feel in his room. I wish we had remembered to take before pictures but this is as close as it gets.

The room was painted white and there wasn't much interesting going on in there. Add to that the general messiness that is normal for a 17 year old young man and the before picture probably would have been hideous. I knew a tan color was the ticket and after looking at gads of paint samples I ended up with the same color we painted our living room, Bennington Gray by Benjamin Moore in a satin finish. Greg painted 2 coats on the walls. It already looked so much better and we hadn't even gotten to the good stuff yet.

The local paint store has a back section of the store filled with mis-tints and discontinued paints and stains. I picked up several different colors of stain for $1 a can. I spent one evening staining the boards a variety of colors in preparation to do the wall. 

Here is Kaleb helping to put the wall up. He did most of the cutting on the chop saw too. Man training as Greg calls it.

We started at the top of the wall so we would be sure to have a full board along the top and then worked our way down. The boards were originally 8' long and we cut them down to various lengths to give it a random look.A nail gun definitely made this job easier. As it was this wall took about 4-5 hours to complete, I can only imagine how long it would take if we had to nail them in by hand.

We all stood back and marveled at the final look. Then we patted each other on the backs, lol.

I took the blinds down and gave them a good cleaning as well as the windows. The brown valances still worked so they went back up. The dresser was put into place. Notice the lamp, it was a woodshop project Josh did 2 years ago and fits nicely I think.

We thought we would let Josh pick out some wall art or decorations so the room still has a bit to go.

What do you think?? Josh was surprised when he got home and I think he likes it. It was a lot to absorb after a 7 hour car ride home.

Since this isn't our house I was a bit concerned about doing this wall but it can be a) removed or b) painted over if the next folks don't like it.

I am reminded that a little paint can change the whole look of a space. Next is Kaleb's room. We are scouring Pinterest for inspiration. 

Singing the Blues...

Yesterday Josh returned home after a month long stay at Jon and Gail’s place in Massachusetts. Jon offered Josh a job working with him in his flooring business. Josh is no stranger to long summer trips away from home and now that he is 17 he has dreams of buying himself a truck some day. He jumped at the chance to help Jon and put some money into savings. The last month flew by and we are glad he is home again. Face time on the iPods every few days made him feel not-so-absent from us.  He worked hard and learned a lot, got to go to Fenway to see the Red Sox play (and win!), went kayaking and so much more. We are grateful he had the opportunity. And more than a little jealous that he made it to Fenway before the rest of us.

Anyway, last week while browsing TJ Maxx I spotted a quilt that I thought would be great in Josh’s room; it was full of rustic colored stripes. That quilt set an entire room remodel into motion. Tell me I am not the only one that does crazy things like that?! The room was begging for something and the quilt was just the catalyst to make it happen. Having a deadline helped too. Greg, Kaleb and I worked hard for 5 days to pull it all together before Josh came home. I will post pictures tomorrow of how it all turned out.

One big part of the remodel was a dresser make over. I purchased this dresser a couple of months ago at a thrift store for $50. As you can see by the photo, it sat so long it became another work surface in the garage.

The dresser is made of pine and although it looked a little dated, it was in great shape.  It had signs of a quality piece… drawer dusters, dovetail joints and wheels hidden underneath for easier moving. The brass acorn shaped pulls were cool but I knew I wouldn’t be keeping them on this piece. It sat in the garage for 2 months because I wasn’t sure what direction to go with it in terms of paint color.  Once we decided to remodel Josh’s room, I used the quilt to dictate my color choice…Annie Sloan’s Napoleonic Blue.

Now she is singing the blues, but in a good way.

I knew this dresser had potential but it turned out better than I had hoped.

Because of the pine and possible bleed through with the knotty areas, the whole dresser got a coat of Zinsser shellac. I also gave the insides of the drawers a coating of shellac just to freshen things up. The dresser then got 2 coats of Annie Sloan’s Napoleonic Blue chalk paint. After a coat of clear wax I distressed the piece and then did a final coat of dark wax. Greg drilled holes in the drawers to accommodate the new nickel colored bin pulls I bought.

Things I learned:

-Shellac inside the drawers is a good thing and I will probably do that again on other projects

-I {heart} bin pulls

-I now know how the Karate Kid felt doing all that waxing, lol. I got some blisters and sore arms from this project.

-dark wax is a lot less scary over dark paint

The dresser looks great in Josh’s room but I did give him the option of going back to his old dresser if he wanted. I think the blue one is staying.

Desk Make-Over

When we sold the house in Ransomville we had to downsize some of our belongings. We went from a 1650 sq ft house to a 1200 sq ft house and it wasn't all gonna fit. One of the things we got rid of was our big desk. The computer and printer still needed a place to go though so for the last 10 months we have been using a 4' folding table as a desk. Not an ideal long term solution. The budget just doesn't have room for extra's these days and honestly, the table functions just fine even if it isn't pretty.

We held our own garage sale 3 weeks ago and were able to get rid of a lot and make some extra money. After paying some bills there was enough left over that I had some pocket change to shop at other people's garage sales. Yep, we sold our junk so we could buy other people's junk, lol. It was the same sale I bought the bread maker at. It was a very fruitful neighborhood sale and my little Vibe fit it all in!! Love that car!! Anyway, I found a desk that fit the bill and only cost me $15. Or was it $20? I don't remember exactly, but either way, it was the right price, the right size and the right look...almost.

A simple oak desk with a slide out keyboard tray.

The top had some artwork on it that needed to go. The oak didn't match the dining room decor where the desk is going. (Either does the plastic folding table, but it served its purpose) The oak was soon to be transformed.

After a bit of sanding, Greg primed it with Kilz. Then it got 2 coats of black latex paint and 2 coats of poly.

Now she looks like this...

Things I learned...

-Like I said in my last post, I am not a fan of the paint and poly process. It takes too long!

-painting with black paint in a dimly lit, cramped garage doesn't work very well. (I got impatient waiting for the rain to stop)

-painting in rainy weather makes everything take even longer to dry, ugh.

- Painting is not exactly my strength!

-I am pretty impatient. No, really impatient! Maybe this is the wrong hobby for me. Or maybe it is the thing to teach me patience.

-I didn't distress this piece and wish I had.

-someone's else's trash is now our treasure.

In the end, I like it. Muchly. It looks better in black and definitely better than the folding table.

Round Table Re-Do

So, I told you I have been working on something new. I really needed an outlet, something to do with myself creatively. This is again where Pinterest has gotten me! For months I have drooled over people's furniture make overs. It is crazy how a piece I would designate to the curb can be brought back to life with a little paint and attention. I read tons of blogs on various painting methods. Chalk paint. Latex paint. Distressing. Waxing. On and on and on.

Here's the thing about me...when I find something I like I tend to go all in. Sometimes even more than all in. Greg can tell you how the "gone nuts" gauge pegs at red at times. Because I am such a self-actualized individual and I know myself so well (excuse me while I spew soda, lol), it took me a long time to decide to try my own hand at making over a piece of furniture. I had to be good and ready in case the gone nuts meter pegged again. I had a good idea it might.

Several weeks ago Kaleb and I went to a large community garage sale in the city. I had heard people rave over this sale and the crowd certainly was an indication that many people agreed. We walked and walked and walked. In the end, we lugged a 12 pound bowling ball home ($2), Kaleb bought a weight bench with lots of metal weights ($20 and by far the best deal of the day!) and I got this lovely piece for $23.

Isn't she purty???

She sat in our living room like this for weeks. It took that long to decide what to do with her and to take the plunge. She was in fairly good condition but the top had water stains and such. In the end I decided to paint the body with chalk paint and refinish the top to keep the natural beauty of the wood.

Now she looks like this...

Now she really is purty!

I love the brass hardware on the drawer and the feet.

After all the reading I did, I went with Annie Sloan chalk paint in Old White and then waxed it with Annie Sloan clear and dark waxes. It has a little bit of distressing with sandpaper but I didn't want a heavily distressed piece when I was finished so the sanding and dark wax were done with a light touch. For the top it was Dad to the rescue! He helped me figure out that the finish was shellac and then showed me how to take it off with denatured alcohol. After I let it dry for a couple of days, I put on 2 coats of poly and then Greg finished it off with paste wax. I love that the original stain is still on the piece, as are some of the original dings but now the surface is smooth as butttahhh!!!

Here is a picture of it taken inside, it shows off the brass feet better.When it was stained dark, the feet got completely lost.

Things I learned...

-I like working with chalk paint, very little prep which is great for an instant gratification gal like myself.

-Reddish stains are some of the few things that will bleed through chalk paint (there are a few light pink spots on the table but they are part of her character now, I am not re-doing the re-do)

-waxing is a work out

-waiting the 3-4 days it took to remove the finish off the top, poly and wax it was agony. I did the painting and waxing of the rest of the table in a day! Well, maybe a day and a half.

-this house isn't big enough to store all the pieces I know are out there, lol!

If this piece was the litmus test, I think the result is more please!

And those weights Kaleb bought? They were a bit rusty so he used some steel wool to clean them up and then spray painted them with black Rustoleum paint. They look great now! And he didn't even need weeks to ponder his actions, he came right home and got to it. He is so pleased with his bargain purchase and I am so proud of his efforts!