Friday 18 May 2012

Blue Sideboard!

Oh wow. 
It just seems so long since I've had a moment to blog about anything. What a busy week. Some weeks are like that. 
I have gotten a few things out the door, and a few things done and a LOT of things on the go. 
My "big" project this week was a sideboard. 
I did my normal yard sale drive last week and came across an antique table. 
The woman at the yard sale said it came with six chair but they were still inside. So off I went to look at them. I really wasn't interested.
But I loved the table, we made a deal for it and she told me she had something else I might be interested in. So we went to look. 
This is what she offered me. 
Well you knew I couldn't just leave it there. It was in really good shape and solid? WOW, I can not remember the last time I didn't have to do a bit of repair on one of these. 
So it came home with me. :) 
(funny moment came when we were almost to my truck to start loading it, and the husband decided to look inside, it was still FULL, I almost came home with a bunch of keys, light bulbs, kids projects and a portable DVD player..lol)
So home it came, and I got to work on it right away. 
What a pleasure it was to just work on something without having to "fix" it. 
I didn't have to use a primer because I planned on using chalk paint, but I did anyway. I wanted to have the white of a primer show through. 
 I love how she turned out.
 I couldn't believe how wonderful and dark the top was. In the sun it does look a lot lighter.
Check out all those details. 
 I painted the insides with a light grey
 And left the drawers natural. Those bottoms are not little slabs of thin wood..they are the real deal and HEAVY!
 Very cute skirting on the front. (with a secret)
 See?? pretty cool eh?
 And of course...holding it all up are these amazing legs and all that wonderful yummy carvings.




Only one side has a shelf. but that's ok. 
I love all of it. 
Now I'm off to start a few and finish a few. 

Friday 11 May 2012

Somedays I learn from my struggles

Some days I really do learn, then beat myself up over the fact that I "had" to learn.
You see one of the things I keep telling myself is that I really do need to just trust my gut. Have you ever been there?
How many times do you second guess yourself? I do it all the time!
You see I picked up this set of night stands.
 I knew I could do something with them...and a colour popped in my mind. But when I got back to the cottage (which is where I was at the time) I didn't have the right colour that was in my mind. Soooo I tried something different.
A light off white colour. I hated it :(
Then I tried mixing a colour to match the colour in my mind...didn't like that either, although it was better and I love the colour I mixed, but not for this piece. I so wanted TEAL! it was screaming for it.
So I did what every good blogger does.
I walked away from it.
And I went home.
This is a pic of the second colour I tried.

So then I thought I would check out my local Lowes store to see what they had for "oops" paints.
BINGO!!!
They had just the colour that was in my brain. I love when that happens. Almost did a happy dance right there in the store! :)
But I kept my cool. Calmly lifted the can and quickly walked to the check out, paid for my purchase and as I as walking to the truck I kept having that old Ikea commercial flashing through my head. You know the one.."start the car, start the car" LOL
So back to the cottage I went. Ok, it was a few days in between but I got back there, and I got to work.
First coat...HAPPY ME!
Isn't that MUCH better? I thought so :)
So then I was able to finish it off.




 NOW they matched the picture in my mind. 
And they are SOLD already! 
They will be off to their new home on Monday. :) 
I hope you enjoy them Jacqui! 

Sharing:
Decorating Insanity 
Miss Mustard Seed 


Wednesday 9 May 2012

Happy day. 
The sun has been shining a lot this week and I've been getting a lot of projects done and out the door. 
I've been working on an antique table on and off for a couple of  weeks between projects and finally managed to get it finished, and just in time too. 
Remember the dresser my online friend found for me? You can read about it HERE
I had so many responses when I posted it and in only two days it found it's new home. BUT when she and her fiance came for the dresser, they saw the table and fell in love with it. Literally I had just finished putting the legs back on it. It was still upside down when they first saw it. So basically they fell in love with the legs (amazing legs if I do say so myself..lol) 
The fiance helped me turn it over. They oooohhhh and ahhhh'ed over it and left.
I am NOT a pushy seller. I really believe that some pieces are meant for some people and my job is simply to bring the two together. 
I don't have any before pictures, so I will just share my afters. 
 I found her on kijiji, and so glad I did. She was a bit beat up, but oh my, how unique is she?
 As you all know I'm just a sucker for unique and beautiful legs! and this girls certainly can fill both of those descriptions.
 I'm not totally sure, but someone told me this was Walnut. Whatever it is, it is solid wood and ohhhh so pretty.



Another view of those amazing legs :) 
Ohhh to finish the story. I took these pics and posted them on kijiji. The person who bought it saw that I had posted and begged me to take the ad down as she couldn't stop thinking about the table and they wanted it badly. 
I had a feeling she would want it..I saw how her eyes lit up the min she laid eyes on it. LUV at first sight...even if it was upside down at the time...LOL 

Sharing:
Domestically Speaking 
The Shady Porch 
Knick of Time 
Momma Hens Coop 
The Shabby Creek Cottage 
Decorating Insanity 
Miss Mustard Seed 

Tuesday 8 May 2012

I have some wonderful friends. Really I do. Everyone knows what I do, and they are all very supportive. So many of my friends keep their eyes open for me and rescue things they think I can work with. 
Last week one of my "online" friends contacted me and told me she rescued some things if I was interested. So off I went with my daughter, and came home with this. 


Pretty plain eh? 
But the lines were good and I love bringing stuff like this back to life. :) 
So I sanded all that shiny stuff off , spray painted the handles and breathed a bit of colour onto it. 
And this is what I came away with. 
 I was working out in the garage...and it was raining. I couldn't take it outside for some lovely pictures. I seriously need camera lessons. The colour is so not right on this. :(
 The colour is a light blue...very light. But it does have a bit of an aqua tint to it.

So do you like? I love it. Husband...not so much. He's getting stuck on teals and greens. oh boy, I think I may have created a monster...lol 

Sharing:
The Shabby Creek Cottage 

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Teal Console Table

I keep meaning to blog about every piece that I do/recreate. But it all seems to slip away from me. Some come in and go out so fast it just slips my mind. 
I was organizing some of my pictures and remembered this little piece that came in, and was out in just a couple of days. 
I found it on kijiji (Canada's version of CL) 
Just a simple little console table, but I love these things...you can do so much and be so creative with them. And they sell very very well. 
So I picked it up. Glued it all back together and got to work. 
 I think she turned out well.
 I changed out the hardware and glazed it.

 Painted the inside white...all with chalk paint...and sealed it.
I really liked it. Husband really liked it. He was actually suggesting places it could go :) 
It was out the door and off to it's new home the day after finishing it. 
I'm so happy. 

An amazing trip.

We had an amazing trip. 
Last week was birthday week in our house. Two of our boys had birthdays on Thursday and my husband had his birthday on Friday. And before you jump to conclusions. Our boys are not twins. They were born on the same day, two years apart. But I swear most days they do "act" like they are the same person! 
They tend to think the same way...finish each others sentences etc. It's scarey at times. Even more so when you realize they are not related by blood in any way. Our oldest son is adopted (at birth). Not that that is important, it just makes it a bit freaky when watching them..lol 
Anyway. They are both adults and I only felt a tad bit guilty for leaving them on their own for their birthdays. You see my husband and I needed a break. So I took my husband on a bit of a road trip. 
We started out Wed afternoon. 
We ended up in PA for the night and stayed at a wonderful little B&B. 
If you ever need a B&B in PA, I highly recommend this place. It's out in the middle of nowhere, but perfect for people like us who love history and antiques. 
Gail (the owner) has a little shop where she sells her home made preserves and a few antiques along with some furniture that is made to look antique. 
Both her barn (converted to her home) and the original farmhouse are FULL of originals. 
 I love this idea. Seeing as we were traveling into the evening, we noticed that a lot of the homes had candles (obviously not real) lit in the windows. What a great way to welcome visitors.
 This is probably my favorite piece in the farmhouse. An old apothecary file.  
 I'm not sure what to call this other than a kitchen cupboard? I'm sure some of you know the real name for it. but it was a great add on to the kitchen.
 Outside on the wrap around porch there were quite a few wonderful finds. This little antique table and rocking chair were very welcoming. If it had been warmer I probably would have had my morning coffee sitting there.
 Then there was this beautiful couch. You can't really tell from these pics, but it can be folded out to make a bed. And the sides open to hold books/papers/ magazines/knitting. Whatever you want really.

 She had a few old benches sitting out there as well. I think this is an old church pew.
 More comfort seating. Can you see the bits of snow in the back? They had a snow storm just a few days before we got there.
 What about this old chippy painted bench. I just love the character of these things.
 I think this belonged to an old sawmill???
 And all the buildings, both old and new were covered in cute little pieces. See the barn in the background. That has been converted to their home/breakfast room and shop. The place was PACKED full of antiques.
How cute is this little set up? 

I'll share more later...for now I have to get back to work. It was an amazing, inspiring trip and we can't wait to start planning our next get away!