My First Freebie

I know a lot of people find or are given furniture, but this is my first piece of free furniture.  A lady posted a brass piano lamp on Kijiji and this free little side table.  I quickly called her and told her I wanted both.  On closer inspection of this little table I noticed that the top really didn't go with the style of the bottom. ( Being a different colour and type of wood were clear indicators....I know, I have good observational skills), but I didn't hate it and hey it was FREE.  Whoever replaced the top had SOME skills as it fits snugly.

Well I thought for sure that painting it would unite the whole piece, but before I could do that it had a little problem.  Can you see it?  The top drawer's front panel is crooked.  I had to take it off, redrill the holes and put it back on straight.  I know the little thing appreciated that, it had gone it's whole life lopsided.  I then sanded, primed (KILZ) and painted it aqua (RUST-OLEUM).  I then sanded the edges and glazed the whole thing.  I added an extra metal embellishment on the top drawer and painted all the hardware hammered black (RUST-OLEUM).  I think it looks much better....... it's even smiling now!! (ha ha)

Love the sanded and glazed edges.

For fun....

  I thought I would line the drawers with fabric even though they were in good condition ( love quatrefoil right now.) 

I hope it finds a good home. 

Linking with

thirtysixthavenue

firefliesandjellybeans

theshabbycreekcottage

beyondthepicketfence

somewhatsimple

restoreinteriors

myuncommonsliceofsuburbia

houseofhepworths

*UPDATE*

I thought the black hardware was too much of a contrast so I repainted in hammered silver.

SOLD

Finished Front Room

Well here it is, my sister's front room makeover is complete.

Before

After

That beautiful IVY green bowl on her table used to look like this.

and......this vase went from dark

to a POP of turquoise

Here's the other view

It looks so fresh now........so light and airy.  I love it. 

List of items that were changed:

-Two cane chairs

-6 pillows

- telephone table

- vase and bowl

-quatrefoil dresser

- new hutch

-drapes and valance

Boy that's quite the list, but totally worth it.
Linking with
fadedcharmcottage
pinkpostcard

My Great Grandmother's Shoe

I'd like to show you one of the coolest things I have in my possession.  It is my great grandmother's shoe.  It was made by her 60+ years ago.  The funny thing is, that as a child this shoe was at my grandmothers house in a small display case behind glass and I grew up thinking it was made of glass.  It's not.  It is JUST a shoe spray painted gold and covered in coloured seashells.   BUT....I love that it's her shoe.  I love that she wore such high heals.  I love that she was creative enough to put this together.  I love showing my girls something from their maternal past.  I love that I think about the amazing women in my family when I see it.  I love that it is covered in childhood memories.  I think it's lovely.

I think I need to carry on the tradition and make one of my shoe's up.

Linking with

thediyshowoff

Two New Chairs

My sister is getting close to finishing her front room transformation.  She had two chairs that fit the bill with line and function, but were quite dated.

The one on the left was my grandma's and the one on the right she found on Kijiji.  Well she painted them both white and then I came over and helped with the glazing.  It was so fun to do as the chairs went from simple to amazing.

Before

After

 I love the detail in the legs.

Her fabric choice was great, another shout out to quatrefoil.

and here is the other chair.

Before

After

She has two more "things" to finish in the room and then she's done.  Good Job Sis.
Linking to
fadedcharmcottage
restoreinteriors
pinkpostcard
beyondthepicketfence
savedbysuzy
theshabbychiccottage
firefliesandjellybeans

In Honor Of All The Rain

Well it has rained, rained some more, got sunny for a second and then rained again.  I'll try to not sound too negative, but we didn't wake up to alarm clocks this morning.  We woke up to thunder shaking the house at 6:00 AM......really lighting and thunder in the morning?!? 

Anyways, I have this very solid, but somewhat feminine side table that needed to be transformed.

I sanded, then primed (and in honor of all the rain) I painted it a soft pewter grey (and of course) then glazed it. 

 Now she looks so pretty and I wish one of my girls was into this colour scheme, so that I could keep it.

They're still a little young and are easily swayed by pink, yellow and green.

*sigh*

I'll miss this little table. 

Linking to

creatingahouseofgrace

Flower Power

Who didn't grow up with one of these telephone tables?  Oh yeah, everyone born after the 70's.

Well with a coat of paint, some distressing on the edges and a graphic flower this relic is ready for the future generation (and when we tell them the stories of how our phones had these cords attached to them and you were attached to the cord) they will have a soft spot for these little tables.

*my sister forgot to take a before picture in her excitement to add new life to the table so I found one that was pretty close.   Hey did you even notice before I told. *



perfectlyimperfectblog

Hutch Makeover

So my sister has been changing her front room around and found this tall hutch that would go in the corner.

She painted the back a dark blue and freshened it up with white paint.  We then glazed the whole thing to give it some depth and detail.

It looks so good now and she loves the added storage.  I can't wait to see what she displays on the shelves.

The Power of Paper?

I'm sorry I just had to post this awesome sign from hypheninteriors it ROCKS (hee hee)

ahhh made my day.  Fun site too.

To Glaze Or Not To Glaze

So when I purchased my bedroom set on Kijiji a couple of month ago, it came with two extra side tables that I didn't really need and I've been debating what to do with them.  Well as I worked on the boy's room I thought I would add this little table beside his bed.

But when I added the headboard next to the dresser I realized there was not enough room.  So I decided to paint the side table a beautiful turquoise and try to sell it on Kijiji.

Now when I finished the table (and painted the hardware) I thought it looked great and I was going to leave it as is.  For two days it sat in my garage and every time I walked by it I felt less and less happy with it.  Today I couldn't stand it.  I had to glaze it.  (Just look at the one on the right, it  looks just way more interesting.)

Now I feel at peace (and now I want to keep it.)

A couple of hints with glazing. 

1. Work in small areas so that the glaze doesn't get too dry and becomes hard to remove.

2. When wiping off the glaze pretend that you're the worst maid ever.  Be lazy and leave all that glaze in the corners and grooves, just where dust and "gunk" would naturally get stuck.

3. I'm a "clean glazer" and where an area is flat I wipe it quite clean.  I then go back with a fairly dry brush (or sometimes with one of my dirty rags) and add a little glaze to the edges.

4. Stand back and admire all your hard work.

Sorry about all the pictures of inside my lovely garage, it rained and rained and I couldn't get it out in the daylight.  OOPS!

**update** This piece sold within 4 hours for full asking price on Kijiji.....gave me a little rush.

Guess who's a BIG boy?

That's right....trust me I know it's time.... my little boy finally got his big boy bed.
This headboard started out a royal blue with white sliding doors.

After a good spray of Kilz Primer and 3, that's right 3 coats of navy blue paint the headboard looked NEW.

Here is his room before

and now with the headboard and new bedding from Homesense.

He thinks it's the coolest thing that the doors slide and started filling them with books right away. I'm going to have to make some art for the walls soon.  They're crying out for something and I've always loved these pictures by Amy Schimler

It's time to pull out the paints.