Desk Re-Do

LOVE chalk paint...my new thing...after the armoire turned out so well, I thought, "I should paint that desk downstairs, the one with the laquer finish that would otherwise have to be sanded and then painted" Oh yeah...those girls over at Your Funky Junk warned me once you paint with chalk paint, you will be hooked...and they were so right...love it!!!

So here is the desk...hubby had it before we were married 25 years ago...for the longest time it was what we kept the cat food on so the dog wouldn't eat it...and since we moved into this house, it has held my sewing machine...but it is red stained, and it totally needed a color change. Chalk paint...black and cream....would have painted the whole thing black, but was concerned about sewing on a black top, might be hard to see...I don't know...

 When knobs are on sale at Hobby Lobby, we usually pick up some that we like, and I found a set of these in the knob box...yes, we have a box for knobs....lol

 Here is the finished desk...I opted to seal the chalk paint with 2 coats of acrylic polyurenthane, just so the paint wouldn't chip. I love the clean, fresh look it has now...so much better in this space than before.

Chalk Paint Attempt

Been wanting to try chalk paint out for a while now. Of course, here in southern Ontario, no one sells Annie Sloans Chalk paint, so I decided to try making my own. After searching online, I decided to try the paint, water and plaster of paris recipe . ( 1 1/2 cups latex paint, 1/2 cup warm water, 1/2 cup plaster of paris...mix the water and p of p, and stir into paint)It was easy enough to make and I loved how it covered the old armoire without any sanding or prep work. It felt all chalky when dry on my piece.

So here is the said armoire. We picked it up at a yard sale a few years ago, without really anywhere to use it. I didn't even like it. But then we moved to our new old house, and Im sure you know what the closet space is like in older homes...so I graciously told hubby he could have the only closet in our room, and this armoire would be for my stuff. I know what you are thinking....how could you possibly fit a women's wardrobe in this...but I did...anyhow, it is ugly...plain jane....so it was time for a makeover

 Here is the new color scheme...cream left over from basement painting, and light turquoise from my son's room...one coat done!

 Two coats...now, I painted this sloppily,,,every which way, and with lots of paint in some places and not so much in others...watch this video for some help with the hows...

 Here you can see the somewhat sloppy way I painted

 Then once the two coats were done, I stenciled with a dollar store stencil...yup, you read correctly...

 Now came the work. Since we don't have the Annie Sloan products, I bought a paste wax at the local hardware, found it in the cleaning section...they said it was for polishing wood floors...oooook...and I bought some Minwax dark finishing wax. Both products were a lot more solid than what the Annie Sloan seems to be in the above video...but they worked fine. I sanded some edges to get that distressed look.  Firstly, I rubbed the clear wax over an area and then rubbed it off, somewhat, and repeated with the dark wax, until I got the desired effect, and finished with the clear wax. It was not as easy for me as it looked in the video, but then I wasn't using the same products.

Below is the finished piece, and although it didnt turn out 100% like I thought it would, I am mostly happy with it. It is a little blotchy, but it looks a lot better than it did. Added some decore on top and lets call it another finished project!!!

 Here you can see the dark stain rubbed into the detail of the armoire...I love how it looks

Thanks for stopping by...let's see what new trouble I can get into.

Yard Sale Chair Makeover

Ok, so I bought this nifty little chair at a yard sale for $10 two summers ago...wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with it, or where I wanted to put it, but after revamping my sewing room, I decided it had a home in there. Here is the chair almost as I bought it...I usually forget to take a before picture until after I have started the project...so actually hubby had already spray painted the wood flat black for me...cute chair huh???

 I grabbed an old Home Arts magazine I picked up at a local antique dealer a while back and started cutting out the ads and articles from it. It is from 1936 ...you should read some of these, totally hilarious...anyway...grabbed the mod podge too

 As you can see the chair back had some damage and mod podging over would totally take care of it

 Happily mod podging away...one layer at a time..make sure to let each layer dry 15 min before putting another on...especially if you don't want wrinkles

 Tada...here is the finished chair...love the way it turned out...fun and unique!

 Thanks for looking!!!

MIA???

Seems like I've been M I A for the summer...nope, here, busy...working...crafting and hubby had emergency by-pass surgery as well...so it made for an interesting summer. He is recovering quite well and things have returned to normal, well, as normal as our clan can be.

My latest projects have consisted of working on my sewing room. Its just a tiny little room in my basement, adjacent to my craft area...it also doubles as extra storage, so it was a challenge to make the area aesthetically pleasing while making it easy for everyone else to find things when they need them. Also dealing with a less than attractive cement wall that is very uneven and somewhat unattractive...but since there are no plans to change that, I just worked with what I had. Below is a pic of the area emptied out before I began painting. Notice the lovely panel box too...

 Good news is that I have an updated, however small window for natural light...it does look into our driveway, and so in some of the pictures you will notice our cars, but hey, thats life

 Here is the storage area...love all the shelving, its just really ugly

 Here is the first after shot...colour is a tealish aqua-ey colour...now, it did seem a bit dark at first, but one I got all my stuff back in, I was happy with the choice. Notice the small green fabric cabinet...that green is the colour of the craft room...weird combo, but it works, well, I think it does anyway. Made the ironing board cover myself, as all the pre made ones are not pretty and I wanted pretty, even had enough left over for a small valance.

 Here is what I like to affectionately call my "wrapping centre"...in the middle I put some cork boards from the dollar store, to hold bows and ribbon. I covered them with fabric and staple gunned (as my husband gasps) to the wall. I have been wanting to make something for all my wrapping stuff, and who knew I had it all along, so Im quite happy with that. The chair, which you can barely see at the bottom of the picture, was a yard sale find a couple years ago...it had some damage, the veneer was cracked, but I loved the style, so hubby spraypainted it black and then I modpodged the seat and back with ads from an old Craft magazine from 1936 that I picked up at a local antique store we frequent. Another post will follow with the chair project

 This is a peg board I painted, then created a stencil with my cricut and painted the "create" with the same green as the fabric cabinet. I got dowels from the dollar store (gotta love that place) and cut them to hold a spool of thread and the matching bobbin, and then glue gunned them into the pegboard...made some extra on the other side, just so all my stuff is easy to see and grab. Now the pin cushion in the tea cup is an old one that I've had forever, and just last night I made one of those cute ones from pinterest with a jelly jar and the same fabric from the cork boards...but I guess I neglected to take a shot of it.

 Here is the eensy weensy little window with its eensy valance, cute though, and a great window ledge for setting stuff, like my large pinecones, and pics of me and hubby

 Got some mdf letters from Hobby Lobby for 2.49 each, covered them with scrapbook paper, mod podged them, sanded them and stuck some ribbon and buttons on them. Hubby spray painted the piece of drywall the panel box was on, wires and all, just so it looks a little less obvious.

 The wreath I made earlier this year from dictionary paper...it just hadn't found a home where I liked it...but I love it here. The sign I made myself...we were at a yard sale earlier this year, and this guy was selling all these wood planks for $1 each...I bought 5 or so, then hubby went back and got me like 20 more...lol...he knows me so well. I painted it roughly with some leftover paint, and tried not to cover the wood entirely. Cut some letters out with my cricut and Sure Cuts a Lot software for the quote. I even drilled the holes in the wood myself, once I figured out how to use the drill...(hubby usually does this for me, but he wasn't home) and then just ties some jute and knotted it in front to hang it up

 Got some dollar store fabric baskets to hide all the not-so-pretty items that get stored here, then made tags with my cricut and ran them through my printer with the contents of the basket

 The chest we picked up at a yard sale a month or so ago, for like $5...they wanted $10, but hubby haggled em down...I simply rolled up all my fabric and stacked them...I can see almost everything and fabric is somewhat like scrapbook paper, you can never have enough, and I love to collect it

 The only thing left to do is paint the desk that my sewing machine sits on...I want it black on top with everything else an antique white...a friend suggested perhaps black is not the best choice for a sewing table as it will be hard to see...what do you all think?

Thanks for looking...email me if you have questions...

Dresser Makeover

 Above is the original dresser...now...I bought this at a yard sale about 6 years ago for $5.00 and the lovely stenciling on it I did after I bought it...it served its purpose for many years, but with a new color scheme in my bedroom, it needed a makeover

 First two coats were a color called Fiesta Red by Color Your World...our living room was this color for a few years and I had a jar of leftover paint...yay...and my comforter has deep red flowers in it. so it is perfect.

Next, above...I took one of dh's candles, and rubbed it all over where I wanted the red to show through after the next coat...then above right, I painted with cream over the wax...needed two coats ...let it dry completely while I cut the grass and made dinner

 Here are the drawers after the second coat of cream

Tada....here is the finished product...after I sanded of course...I am so pleased with the finished product, and it looks wonderful in the bedroom...tomorrow is shopping for some fabric, and then on the old window headboard that dh did himself, but again the colors don't match, so it will receive the same treatment as this dresser. At the ends will be two old shutters I picked up at a yard sale for 1.00 to make it as long as my bed...will post when done