It’s a ‘newer’ blog, so not a lot of content yet, but DEFINITELY worth ‘adding to your list’ for future reference and inspiration.
Here’s my favorite on there thus far:
How often do you see these old entertainment centers on the curb with a ‘FREE’ sign on it?? The ‘after’ is one of the most brilliant I’ve ever seen.
How ADORABLE is that?!?!?!
Click on the link at the top of this post to visit this wonderful new blog.
Just add black paint . . .
And sand a little.
Add a carved wood embellishment . . .
And black paint . . .
And sand a little!
A reminder of the ‘before’ picture. Not sure what kind of paint had been used on it originally; but it was NOT a fired ceramic glaze, no sheen to it.
Still I wanted to be sure my paint held on so I gave it a quick spray with KILZ primer. Then I rummaged through my stash of spray paint and found some tan color. Sprayed the whole thing tan. (had I not had the tan spray, I would have just used my acrylic craft paints and brushed it on.)
Then. to give it some depth, I sponge painted a slightly darker shade of tan onto the raised parts.
And I just used my finger to put a dot of black paint on the eye.
I think he turned out pretty darn cute! Anything that has to do with the beach/ocean theme seems to sell well lately. It’s such a popular decor theme for bathrooms.
So, as i said yesterday, don’t avoid things at garage sales and thrift stores ‘just because’ they are the wrong color. EXCEPT if it has a VERY SHINY finish, you can almost always re-paint it. The shiny finishes can be tricky to paint over, and always need a coat of good primer.
I don’t think I EVER liked stuff painted gold like this . . . unless it’s ON a Christmas tree. When hunting for treasures at thrift stores or garage sales, try to look BEYOND the color.
With these two items, I simply repainted them white, using a flat spray paint.
You can’t tell in the pictures, but I also sanded just a TINY bit for some of the gold to show through as a highlight to give them a bit more dimension.
Up next on the RE-DO list:
This darling seahorse vase from the thrift store. In perfect shape, and a wonderfully unique piece; but periwinkle is just the WRONG color!
A recent windfall on vintage frames.
Lots of different shapes, sizes and styles.
Even a fun little sconce shelf!
Decided to paint them ALL white.
A little bit of sanding for a distressed look. (sorry, the distressing does not show up very well in the pics)
And here they are on display throughout the store:
Simple little thrift store picket shelf.
Updated with a quick coat of white spray paint.
OUR WEBSITE : www.cscrafts.com/aj.html
PURCHASE OUR E-BOOKS FROM OUR ETSY STORE :
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5876981
~ primitives ~ trash to treasure ~ shabby chic ~ cottage ~ Paris apartment ~ repurposed home goods ~ repaired ~ restyled home decor ~ reused ~ recycled art ~ handcrafted gifts ~ one of a kind ~ artist originals ~ second hand style ~ junk market style ~ flea market style ~ beautiful junk ~ beach cottage décor ~ unique home décor ~ vintage home décor ~ unique gifts ~ custom made gifts ~ custom made home décor ~ personalized signs ~ Sophie’s Cottage ~ grubby candles ~ how to craft books ~ Shabby Paris apartment ~ baby gifts ~ personalized gifts ~ AJ Finsand ~ upcycled ~ rebuilt ~ flea market chic ~ gift baskets ~ custom orders ~ vintage ~ collectibles ~ trash 2 treasure blog ~ gift store Hillsboro, Oregon ~ handmade gifts from Oregon ~ carved wood embellishments ~ shabby style chic ~ flea market finds ~ second hand style ~ cottage retreat ~ craft tutorials
A VERY outdated style of dresser, with some odd wood pulls; but it was in EXCELLENT condition. Even the drawers were perfect. Because of the very plain lines, I decided to go with a darker, more primitive update. That, and I had enough black drawer pulls on hand to use!
I had used this old hutch top in the store for a couple of years as just a display piece, got tired of it and brought it home where it has sat in storage for a good year. Figured since I was painting the dresser black, I’d do the hutch top in black too.
Since I only had ONE sunny day to work with, I opted for spray paint to insure that I could complete the paint job on both in the one day. It took four cans of paint to do both pieces.
After the paint dried, I just lightly sanded the edges. On the dresser drawer fronts I gave them a quick ‘once over’ with the orbital sander.
It IS kind of tall putting the two together like this, and I’m not sure I’d use them together in my home; but the height works well for this corner in the store.
You can see the sanding on the drawer fronts a little better in this picture, although I didn’t have the knobs on yet!
Black seems to be my ‘color of the month’ right now.
OUR WEBSITE : www.cscrafts.com/aj.html
PURCHASE OUR E-BOOKS FROM OUR ETSY STORE :
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5876981
~ primitives ~ trash to treasure ~ shabby chic ~ cottage ~ Paris apartment ~ repurposed home goods ~ repaired ~ restyled home decor ~ reused ~ recycled art ~ handcrafted gifts ~ one of a kind ~ artist originals ~ second hand style ~ junk market style ~ flea market style ~ beautiful junk ~ beach cottage décor ~ unique home décor ~ vintage home décor ~ unique gifts ~ custom made gifts ~ custom made home décor ~ personalized signs ~ Sophie’s Cottage ~ grubby candles ~ how to craft books ~ Shabby Paris apartment ~ baby gifts ~ personalized gifts ~ AJ Finsand ~ upcycled ~ rebuilt ~ flea market chic ~ gift baskets ~ custom orders ~ vintage ~ collectibles ~ trash 2 treasure blog ~ gift store Hillsboro, Oregon ~ handmade gifts from Oregon ~ carved wood embellishments ~ shabby style chic ~ flea market finds ~ second hand style ~ cottage retreat ~ craft tutorials ~
When I rearranged the store a few months ago, I ended up not having a place to put this shelf:
I took it to the fall shows and it didn’t sell. It rattled around in the back of my car for a few weeks until I finally put it in the storage shed. While I was rummaging through the shed last week pulling out some old frames to paint, this little yellow shelf was screaming “Pick me! Pick ME!!”
Since I was painting a bunch of frames black, I decided to paint the little shelf black too. And decided to add one of my handy-dandy wood appliques first!
And I sanded and distressed it a bit. A change for the better? The shelf found it’s new spot in our booth at Stars Antique Mall.
Isn’t it amazing how much those appliques ‘dress up’ the piece?
And just in case you forgot or missed the original picture of this piece . . . it was a country heart shelf.
OUR WEBSITE : www.cscrafts.com/aj.html
PURCHASE OUR E-BOOKS FROM OUR ETSY STORE :
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5876981
~ primitives ~ trash to treasure ~ shabby chic ~ cottage ~ Paris apartment ~ repurposed home goods ~ repaired ~ restyled home decor ~ reused ~ recycled art ~ handcrafted gifts ~ one of a kind ~ artist originals ~ second hand style ~ junk market style ~ flea market style ~ beautiful junk ~ beach cottage décor ~ unique home décor ~ vintage home décor ~ unique gifts ~ custom made gifts ~ custom made home décor ~ personalized signs ~ Sophie’s Cottage ~ grubby candles ~ how to craft books ~ Shabby Paris apartment ~ baby gifts ~ personalized gifts ~ AJ Finsand ~ upcycled ~ rebuilt ~ flea market chic ~ gift baskets ~ custom orders ~ vintage ~ collectibles ~ trash 2 treasure blog ~ gift store Hillsboro, Oregon ~ handmade gifts from Oregon ~ carved wood embellishments ~ shabby style chic ~ flea market finds ~ second hand style ~ cottage retreat ~ craft tutorials ~
I sure do LOVE these carved wood appliques! So much so that we will soon be carrying them in our store, and possibly even sell them here via our blog (if there is enough demand. Is there???) I’ve ordered about a dozen different sizes/styles.
So, here is another sadly outdated country heart accessory, this time it’s a quilt rack.
It’s in perfectly good shape, just very outdated.
I just glued on one of my handy~dandy wood applique to cover up the heart . . .
And spray painted it black. Now it’s totally chic!
(okay, actually I wanted it to be WHITE at first, but after two GOOD coats of white paint, the pine knots were still showing through. So I gave it a coat of KILZ primer, then a couple coats of some CREAM paint. And the knots STILL showed through!! Thusly I finally succumbed to using the black. Which I am entirely happy with; but just learn from my mistake that light color paints will NOT cover pine knots!)
OUR WEBSITE : www.cscrafts.com/aj.html
PURCHASE OUR E-BOOKS FROM OUR ETSY STORE :
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5876981
~ primitives ~ trash to treasure ~ shabby chic ~ cottage ~ Paris apartment ~ repurposed home goods ~ repaired ~ restyled home decor ~ reused ~ recycled art ~ handcrafted gifts ~ one of a kind ~ artist originals ~ second hand style ~ junk market style ~ flea market style ~ beautiful junk ~ beach cottage décor ~ unique home décor ~ vintage home décor ~ unique gifts ~ custom made gifts ~ custom made home décor ~ personalized signs ~ Sophie’s Cottage ~ grubby candles ~ how to craft books ~ Shabby Paris apartment ~ baby gifts ~ personalized gifts ~ AJ Finsand ~ upcycled ~ rebuilt ~ flea market chic ~ gift baskets ~ custom orders ~ vintage ~ collectibles ~ trash 2 treasure blog ~ gift store Hillsboro, Oregon ~ handmade gifts from Oregon ~ carved wood embellishments ~ shabby style chic ~ flea market finds ~ second hand style ~ cottage retreat ~ craft tutorials ~
Not bad ‘as is’, but I wanted to fix it up a bit . . . .
I spray painted it black and gave it a light sanding to let some of the brown show through for a distressed look.
How PERFECTLY do these square grubby pillars that I just made fit ?!?!?
I still feel like it ‘needs something’ . . . just not sure WHAT! Was thinking about one of the carved wood embellishments like I used on the blue apothecary chest. Not sure if that is ‘rustic’ enough for the look of this piece though???
For now, it’s hanging on the wall in the store ‘as is’ and I look at it every day and ask it what it wants!
Does it look a little TOO plain to you too? What does it need? Maybe a painted mustard color star in that ‘balnk space’ above the candles????
OUR WEBSITE : www.cscrafts.com/aj.html
OUR BLUJAY STORE : http://www.blujay.com/folk_art_originals
TO PURCHASE OUR ONE OF A KIND HANDCRAFTED PRODUCTS, E-BOOKS AND CRAFT SUPPLIES; PLEASE VISIT OUR ETSY STORE :
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5876981
~ primitives ~ trash to treasure ~ shabby chic ~ cottage ~ Paris apartment ~ repurposed home goods ~ repaired ~ restyled home decor ~ reused ~ recycled art ~ handcrafted gifts ~ one of a kind ~ artist originals ~ second hand style ~ junk market style ~ flea market style ~ beautiful junk ~ beach cottage décor ~ unique home décor ~ vintage home décor ~ unique gifts ~ custom made gifts ~ custom made home décor ~ personalized signs ~ Sophie’s Cottage ~ grubby candles ~ how to craft books ~ Shabby Paris apartment ~ baby gifts ~ personalized gifts ~ AJ Finsand ~ upcycled ~ rebuilt ~ flea market chic ~ gift baskets ~ custom orders ~ vintage ~ collectibles ~
