Console Table

So, my sweet husband is something of a pack rat :)

He comes by it naturally, both his parents are too.  

But, I must confess, there are times when those pack rat tendencies come in quite handy.  

Like when I decided I wanted a console table behind my love seat so that I would have somewhere to set drinks, magazines, glasses, etc.  And since it is technically in my "office" area, I could throw a few office things on there, too!

So, I come up with a picture in my head of what I want, explain it to my hubby, via pics on the web, and voila! I have my console table! 

The wood we used had a couple of different looks to it, so we took advantage of that.  The wood on the top and on the shelf came from an old bunk bed that we took apart.  It had a dark finish already.  The rest of it was pine from inside the wall we removed.  

I wanted to try the recipe that I have seen with steel wool and vinegar to age the wood.  Didn't work quite like I had envisioned, or I did something wrong.  Because it turned the wood quite orangey. And there was a dusty orange film on it.  

So I rubbed it all down and started over.  This time I used a water down version of black milk  paint to just give it a wash of color.  Liking this much better!  I only painted the pine boards, not the ones that were already dark.  Then I gave it a coat of antiquing wax and it was done!

Well, maybe not quite that simple since I ran out of the wax I was using and was too impatient to wait until I could get some more, so created my own using clear wax and a bit of dark stain.  

I like the way it turned out!

Blessings, 

Ronda

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Tricycle Red Chair

Another chair has been completed for my dining room set!  This was another that originally had wood seat and the rest was white.  After my experience with the last one, I thought I would try a different route so that I wouldn't have the white showing through when I distressed.

So I spray painted the white parts with brown primer.  Primer, thinking that it would hold up better to a little sanding.  Then, once again (since I am a lazy painter) spray painting the whole thing black, followed by a bit of sanding.  

Hmmm....

The overall look, not bad.

BUT...

upon closer inspection...

 Not only did I do a poor job of spraying...

Yep, the white still showed through!  ARGH!

I even tried a little stain on the white spots, but the white paint didn't want to take the stain.  

So, spray it again, or do something a little different?

How about a little red milk paint?

 These were taken after one + a bit more coats of milk paint.  

And then another coat, some sanding, some more messing with paint after the white showed through again.  Still not thrilled...

So, a little dark wax...(and yes, I realize that I am using a lot of dot, dot, dot)

And...

I am actually quite happy with the finished result!

Sorry I didn't get more up close shots.  I tried, but they didn't turn out so great.  You'll just have to come by the house and see it in person!  

So now, I have 6 black chairs and one red!  One more to go to have a complete 8! 

Blessings,

Ronda

Curtains Take Two

I have been SO Stinkin' lazy lately!!  

The last project I did was completed over a week ago.  I know I say this often, but I was waiting for the right time to get a good pic! Do you have any idea how tough it is to get a good picture of curtains?  I'm sure that I just need to work on my camera skills, but I get overwhelmed when I start reading about all the technical stuff on my camera.  I know, just do it and quit whining...

Anyone else ready for Spring????

Anyhoo...a couple of shots for fun...

Some things that belonged to my uncle. 

As I have been debating what to put on the walls in the music room, I decided that I couldn't part with my little Amish boys.  But not liking the oak frames, I painted them with black milk paint and distressed them.  

If you google painted curtains, you will see that my idea to stencil my music room curtains was not all that original.  Ah well, who cares.  I LOVE the way they turned out.  I think it looks like expensive designer fabric, but in reality they were pretty cheap.  Basic panels made with utility osnaburg fabric. 

I used a mini foam roller to stencil.  I did end up totally cleaning off the stencil about half way done.  The thing I hadn't anticipated was the little fibers from the fabric stuck in the paint and gradually built up enough that the small holes were almost covered.  

Blessings,

Ronda

For Sale and Such...

 When my husband bought my new china cupboard, I promised him that I would sell my old china cabinet.  So here are the pics.  It is painted in old white and antique glazed and distressed.  Then finished with clear wax.  The inside is a robin's egg blue.  I am asking $325. If you or anyone you know are interested in this piece, contact me here or on Facebook.

Now for just a few random thoughts. :)
I put 2 coats of Typewriter MMS milk paint on an oak picture frame.  It didn't chip at all, so I took some sandpaper to the edges to give it some distressing.  I am loving the way it turned out!

 However, I am not so sure about the blue matting on it.  I don't think it will go so great in my "new" family room.  But I don't know that there is anything I can do.  I collected Nancy Noel prints for years.  I am officially ready to move on to something else, but a few of them hold a special place in my heart and I would like to try to make them work.

 LOL!  My slippered foot!

And some nice shots of my new rug! :)

Blessings,

Ronda

And In My Spare Time...

I am listening to Pandora accompanied by the pounding of 2 hammers.  Two of my kids are helping DH get ready to lay the flooring in the Family Room.  The carpet is gone.  They are working on laying the sub floor.  The walls are all painted, this time BEFORE we put down the new floor.  I think hubby is hoping this will be done by the end of tomorrow.  We'll see...

Anyway, amidst all the chaos of the renovations, I thought it would be a good idea to add another project. (Do you hear the sarcasm?) My grandma's lyre table had been sitting in the garage since my parents brought it to me in October.  I was getting tired of it being a cat bed, so I thought I should bring it inside and work on it.  First it sat in daughter's room for her to put her little Christmas tree on for the month of December.

You can see the top was in pretty bad shape.  I didn't get a close up of the legs that were splitting.  Hubby did a little work on those.  The cute little claw feet needed a bit of work.

 I tried a cleaning method that I found on line for brass, only to discover that they were plated and I kind of ruined them.  So I chose instead to spray paint them with oil rubbed bronze.

I painted the rest of the piece with MMS milk paint in Linen.  I know, the pics sure don't look like that color...but more on that in a minute.  I was curious to see if the paint would work it's chippy magic, since the end table that I painted did not chip.  Well, I messed up on the mixing and ended making way too much because I had to keep adding water to it.

And you can see, it certainly did chip!!!  When I took my scraper to it, the paint started just falling off.  The only places that didn't just fall off on the legs, I did a little bit of sanding on.

 Since the creamy color of the linen is not really me, and didn't really fit my decor, I decided to use an antique glaze on it.  Since I wanted it to soak into the paint and actually change the color, I didn't put wax on it first.  And it REALLY changed the color.  I'm not sure what I would call the color now, some kind of a mix between gray, green and taupe.  Anyway, it works for me! I finished it off with a couple of coats of spray on poly ( I was too lazy to try to wax all of the details on this piece!)

 I just realized you can see the line in the wall where we stopped painting between the music room and the entryway.  BAHAHAHAHA!  Ah, well, trying to find a good space to take pics right now is crazy!

Hoping to have another room reveal soon!

Blessings,

Ronda

A Tricycle Beauty

It has been a few days since I posted.  Busy couple of days.  I appreciate the people who have left comments on my blog!  I spent several hours today driving around the county looking for deals.  I visited a new shop full of antiques and other flea market-type finds.  I didn't buy anything, but sure enjoyed looking.  And there are a few items that I stored in the back of my mind to possibly go back to look at.  

Today I want to show you a piece that I painted a month or so ago.  This was an end table that I found on Craigslist.  When we went to see it, it was a bit unsturdy, but after discussing it with DH, we offered a bit less and took it home.  

I did manage a before shot, but this was after my husband removed the decorative pieces from the bottom shelf.  It was missing one or 2 anyway, so we planned to replace them with new ones. Please ignore the lovely garage!  Ha! This baby was destined for MMS Tricycle Red milk paint! I'm still not sure what I think about it.  It didn't perform as expected at all! I didn't use the bonding agent, but it didn't get chippy.  Sad.  

I did the usual sanding to distress and then applied antiquing wax followed by minwax clear furniture wax.  

Here you can see the decorative pieces my DH put on.  

I changed the pull.  Hubby had to drill new holes and I filled the old ones.  I toyed with the idea of trying to sell this Tricycle beauty, but my sweet daughter says I CAN'T!  It does fit well in this room.  Also having some issues with moisture going through the coasters and leaving marks on the top.  I didn't think that should happen with the wax.  I even put 3 coats of the clear on the top.  Suggestions?  

I also worked some more on my "new" dining room table.  You won't get to see  her for a while.  But here is a sneak peek.  

Let's just say it will have lots of character!  

Blessings, 

Ronda

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