A Tisket, A Tasket, A Little Old White Basket

This cute unfinished basket was needing some character.

I wanted to paint the bottom in Old White and stain the lid.

I painted the inside and outside of the bottom of the basket.

Next I stained the lid with Dark Walnut.

When it dried, I waxed the lid with a clear coat and buffed.

It turned out so cute.

Happy November!

A Little Brightening Up

It has been a long time since I bought this tray and intended to do something with it.  I have been using it as is for about two years.  It was fine the way it was, but when I painted my kitchen, I really wanted to paint this tray.  I was looking for a coffee sign from The Graphics Fairy.

Finally I saw this new graphic last week and knew it was perfect!

See it here at The Graphics Fairy

I painted the Tray with Annie Sloans Old White to match my kitchen.

I only wanted the coffee part of the sign, but I really liked the 'Spices' part of the sign too and decided to add that.  I transferred it onto my tray using my charcoal pencil method.

I then waxed it with clear and dark wax.

It looks so pretty now.

Do you have a favorite tray?

What To Do with These Shelves?

I have had a couple of people who really want me to paint some signs for them.  They want scripture signs.  I know I love having little reminders around my house of God's Truth and Promises.  I was given these knick-knack shelves a couple of years ago, but I really didn't know what I wanted to do with them.  I decided to add a backing to them, frame them, and then add a verse.

 I am so glad I saved all the extra trim and junk boards.

 I primed it with Annie Sloans Old White, and then I made the mistake of painting the shelf and frame black.  It looked awful and cheap.  Since I had little patience left I painted over the black with the Old White, but the black wasn't quite dry.  It turned into this distressed gray color.  

PERFECT!!

I love when mistakes turn into solutions.

 I went over to the Graphics Fairy and picked out a floral boarder. I used the charcoal method to transfer. With permanent India ink and a calligraphy pen I traced over the design and added a little vine here and there.  I then transferred the verse the same way and went over it with a Sharpie Paint Marker.

I let it dry 24 hours before I clear waxed the whole thing.

This one is a gift for a friend.

I have two more that I want to make for my sale in November.

Have a great weekend!

Giving a Drop Leaf Table New Life

My cousin and his wife are such sweet people.  He knows my addiction love for refinishing things.  He gave me this table.  I knew it had such great potential.  It had tons of scratches all over it and some lovely purple nail polish.

I sanded the top, and the sanding went fairly easy.  I didn't get all of the scratches off, but I tried to get any names or initials that were carved into it off the table.

I removed the leaves to stain  the top.

I stained it with 2 coats of Minwax's Dark Walnut stain.

I painted the bottom part in Annie Sloans Old White.  I love chalk paint.  It took two coats and I hardly used up any paint.  Since I wanted it to look like an old farm table, I distressed it using clear and dark wax.  I did not distress it using sand paper, because I did not want the honey color coming through.

Here is a before and after pic.

I love how the scratches in the wood give it an old feel.
I finished the top using a product called Waterlox satin finish. It is recommended to be used on surfaces that will be used for food.  I also used Waterlox on my countertop, and it really has strengthened the pine wood.  I still need to do one more coat, but I couldn't wait to share it with you all.

I am going to try and sell this at my craft sale in November.

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What a Find!

We have not yet started school this year, which is late for me.  I have yet to purchase all of the school books.  I hope to do this Monday and hopefully start school at the beginning of September.  The kiddos are loving it.  I am loving this fall-like weather we have had for the past two weeks.  I am trying to get a jump on some of my roadside finds.  

I found this end table recently.  This is a pic of it after I cleaned it and my son sanded it.  I actually had started to stain the top when I took this pic.

End tables like these sell at our Amish markets for no less than $125.00.

I stained the top with dark walnut.  I also used Clear and Jacobean wax on the top.

I painted the bottom in Annie Sloan's French Linen and then waxed it with clear and dark wax.

This one is a keeper.  It is going in hubby's office.  

He also wants me to paint the other wing chair in French Linen.

I painted a swatch to see if he would like it.  He would rather me paint the chair than reupholster it.  

Hmmm..... This will be interesting.

Headboard Made from a Door

      Well, I finally did it!
After a year of holding onto a door that I found along side the road, I finally made a head board for my oldest son.  I can't actually say that I made it.  I designed it, and he cut it and nailed it together.
...I painted it :)

So I started with a full length wood door.  I really can't believe someone threw it away.  My son cut off the top panel of the door.  He then cut another inch and a half off of each end.  I was pretty impressed at how straight he cut it.

We took some old trim and baseboard scraps I hoarded saved and added some architecture to the door.  This door already had great panels.  It just needed a little more character.

I couldn't believe my ears when it came time to paint it.  He wanted Annie Sloans French Linen!  He is usually a black paint kind of guy.  He likes things to look rich.  I think my primitive cottage look is rubbing off on him :)

This is after I waxed it with clear and dark wax.

I wasn't brave enough to take a pic of his room today.
That will have to come in a later post.
I love the way it turned out!

If you can't find a great door to use try this Simple Headboard idea I found at one of the blog parties a couple of years ago.
Thanks, Pam!

Dresser in Linen

I've been wanting to paint this dresser for a long time.  I bought it right after I graduated from high school in 1995.  I finally decided that Annie Sloans' Linen was the color I wanted it to be.

Now before anyone gets too upset that I am painting a lovely wood dresser, I thought I'd share with you some of her blemishes that I've lived with for years.

I covered them up with linens on top of the dresser now I am ready to clothe her in 'Linen' and some dark wax.

I love how the dark wax just enhanced her natural beauty :)

I am really pleased that the hardware looked great against the Linen.

Sigh!

Simple and Lovely!

A New Linen Look and a Tip for Making Your Own Piping

Remember these?

The one chair was a roadside find, and the other was my craft chair.

I am gearing up for some slip covering, but I thought I would try a little reupholstering.  I used a 7 oz. canvas drop cloth.

For this chair back, it was not worth taking out the back vinyl part, so I painted it with AS French Linen.

I then did a white wash over the linen.

For the front of the chairback, I used the old vinyl as a template and then stapled it inside over the existing foam pad. 

I then stapled some batting and drop cloth over the foam on the chair's seat.

Making sure to stretch opposite sides and corners.

For the piping I bought a $1.50 clothesline.

I measured around the edges.
Tore a 2 in. canvas strip, wrapped it around the clothesline, and with a zipper presser foot I sewed and made the piping.

I attached the piping with a staple gun to the bottom of the upholstered seat.
I also stuffed it in along the edge of the chair back and glued it.

They turned out wonderful.

I wanted to make it look like old linen, so using some frog tape and watered down acrylic paints; I made some "linen" stripes.

After it was dried, I ironed over the paint to help it stay in the fabric.
I love them!

Ms. vanity sold at my sale this past weekend, but the lady didn't want a chair.
I really thought either chair would have worked well with her.

What I Painted with One Can of Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint

I thought I would do a post to show you all how far a can of Annie Sloans Chalk Paint went for me.  I just used up my can of Duck Egg.  Well, I could probably still paint a picture frame or something small with what is left in the can.

I think people apply paint differently.
 I will share with you how I used this can.  Some projects took one coat while others took two.
*Warning*
There are a lot of pictures in this post.

I wanted this color as an accent color in my bedroom.

So I did just that.
Here I painted a pair of gold medallions that were at the foot of my bed.
I used 2 coats.

I painted a small wood bowl that I use on my dresser to hold odds and ends.  The bowl was a hunter green, so I only painted 1 coat over the hunter green and distressed it to let the dark come through.  You can't tell that it use to be hunter green.

This was a gold picture frame.
I only used 1 coat on this because I also wanted that to come through as I distressed it.

My dresser was the first piece of furniture I painted Duck Egg.  It had laminated type wood on the sides.  I noticed that Chalk Paint spreads really well on shiny surfaces.  I had taken the chipped laminate off of the front of the drawers, so the wood soaked the paint up more on them.  I used 2 coats of paint on this, however I was not so picky about it being totally perfect because I don't like perfect--I like distressed pieces.

My next furniture piece was this roadside rescue rocker.
It got 2 coats--again not perfect just filled in the center seat and let the edges go with less paint.

Our night stands only got 1 coat of paint because the base was black, and I wanted the black to come through when I distressed them.

Ms. Vanity was hard to paint.  I suggest you don't sand when using Annie Sloans.  I had to sand some bad stuff off of this piece.  The wood just really soaked up the chalk paint.  It took 2 very thick coats of paint.  It was really hard to smooth it out.  I probably should have added some water.

This window took 2 coats of paint, but the paint went far because of the smooth surface.

My final project was these swivel counter chairs.  They had a coat of shiny white paint on them.  I did use 2 coats of Duck Egg, however I still left some white show through.

There ya go.
I feel like I got my money's worth.
If you are very picky about having every inch of furniture painted perfectly and totally covered, you may use more paint than I did.

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My Monday Muse