Two-step stool with DRAWER

A little DRAWER in a step stool?!?!?  I love that!

This sweet little stool really didn’t ‘need’ to be made over at all . . . it was in perfect condition; but you know me!!!  I can never leave well enough alone!

I removed the drawer knob and gave the whole thing a good sanding.

Some aqua paint and more sanding to distress.  Another ‘perfect piece’ to use one of my little aqua ceramic rose knobs on!!

And off to my booth at Stars it goes!

Great little piece for adding height to displays in my booth (while it lasts!)

Here’s a little peek at some of the other new stuff in my booth:

Ceramic and stoneware bunny dishes.

Covered duck tureens and a tiny duck pitcher.

Vintage metal plant stand set up as a serving station.

One of my ‘yard wreaths’ (hand crafted using twigs, bark and moss collected from my yard)

A new batch of small frames; some with glass and backings, some without.

A couple more vintage crystal lamps with NEW Paris script shades.

How adorable is this box of vintage cocktail forks!?!?!  (Sorry about the glare!  I had to wrap the box in plastic wrap to be sure none of the forks ‘went missing’)

Stop on by if you haven’t been at Stars in a while.  LOTS of new stuff in my booth  . . . and throughout the entire mall!

What to do about cigarette burns on old furniture

This tall end table / lamp table with one little drawer was in pretty good condition, except for the badly damaged top.

A couple of VERY deep cigarette burns and several areas where the embossed gold design had worn down completely.  But it was plenty sturdy, had a lower shelf and a drawer (storage is always a big plus!) and it had ‘nice legs’!  I decided to buy it and see what I could to with it.

The CLEANEST vintage drawer innards I have ever seen!  Missing knob is no biggie since I usually change them anyhow.

The cigarette burns were not just ‘singes’ . . .  they were divots, burned clear through that top layer of wood; and just sanding them was not going to do the job.

I filled them with some wood putty, then sanded smooth once the putty was nice and dry.  The gold embossed border which was worn away in some spots was very inconsistent.  At first I thought I could just sand the rest away.  But it was very deeply  embedded in some spots and just barely on the surface of others.  So I just sanded enough to remove the surface sheen and painted as I usually do.

That little drawer was perfect for another one of the aqua ceramic knobs I have.

I went fairly light on the distressing because of the issues with the top.

I was concerned that the variations in the embossing would bother me, but it doesn’t.  And you can still see where the filled cigarette burn divots were . . . .  ‘a good distressing job covers a multitude of flaws’. (You may quote me on that!  hehe)

All in all, I an quite content with how it turned out.

Available for purchase in my booth at Stars for $79.00.

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Nesting tables

Bought this set of wood nesting tables at an estate sale a while back.

At first I didn’t think they all actually went together, because of the different shapes; but they are indeed a ‘set’.  When the smaller tables are ‘nested’ they slide on runners that actually lift the legs slightly off the floor.  A unique feature.

I sanded off all the ‘sheen’; painted them aqua and sanded again to distress.  (I was able to do most of the distressing with an orbital sander.  Then added some stenciled designs.  Since I never actually sell a set of tables ‘as a set’

A set of ANYthing that a customer MIGHT want to buy ‘just one of’; it’s always best to price individually.  For several reasons:  a) Someone WILL ask “How much for just one of them?” whether they are actually interested in buying just one of not.  b) They can STILL buy the set for the combined price; but the store doesn’t have to waste time calling you to ask.  c) If the set gets ‘separated’ by shoppers in your booth you have items that don’t have tags and they end up in another booth!  It’s just easier to price them individually and be done with it!

I didn’t want to completely cover the tables with a design, and I didn’t have any stencils that ‘worked’ with both shapes.  Settled on these simple edge designs.

Nesting tables are GREAT to work with in your displays!  You can ‘nest’ them id space is tight.  Stack and use them like a shelf, or spread them around.

I actually only had room for the large oval one when I took then in last week.  Stacked it atop a little night stand at the front of my booth.

In the meantime, I got this other oval table put together and painted, and took it in along with the two smaller nesting tables on my next trip.

This third oval table has been in my booth for a while.  I was HOPING the newer oval pedestal table was a slightly lower height than the one already in my booth; and I knew the oval from the nesting set was shorter.  I putting them at the front of my booth, cascading from taller to shortest; with the matching upholstered chair and overstuffed foot stool sitting on top of them; along with some stacks of my grubby books.

Yippee Skippee!!!  The heights are just right!

Alas, the chair legs were a tad too wide to fit on the biggest table.  (well, the just perfectly fit . . . but could have easily been knocked off with the slightest touch.  A gamble I was not willing to take.  So the three tables ended up like this.

You can still see part of them from the front of my booth; tucked behind a couple of night stands.  As soon as something sells and I have a little more room to work with; I’ll bring the three tabled forward.

Did you notice the two smaller nesting tables on top of the tallest oval?  Once I have more room, I’ll spread those out or stack them for better visibility.

I wanted to be sure it was really well stocked going into this weekend because  . . .

I am occupied taking care of this little ball of energy this weekend while her mommy  and daddy (My son and his wife) are out of town for a friend’s wedding.

Yep!  She follows my every move.  Sleeps at my feet when I am sitting down (she’s ON my feet, under the computer desk right now!) And keeps me very entertained.

And before you ask . . .  she is a ‘Bernedoodle’.

UPCYCLED Little Treasure Chest

Little trunk style jewelry chest I recently found.

Nice clean ‘innards’? Check.  Paper peeling off?  I was probably going to remove it before I painted it anyhow.  Sold!

It was actually a nice finish under the paper.  It was a bit harder to get all that paper off than I’d hoped.  I peeled off whatever would easily come off first; which wasn’t much!  Then I soaked a dishcloth in hot water and laid that over the remaining paper.  After letting that sit for a bit, I used a paint scraper to get ‘most’ of it off.  finally had to use some ‘Goof Off’ to get the last little bits of paper off.  Then a little sanding before repainting.

Aqua paint (of course!) and a bit of sanding to distress.

A section of a pretty paper napkin decoupaged on the top for a little added ‘oomph’.

Done and already SOLD, at Stars.

Another mixed media collage

I bought ‘a bunch’ of these wire topped wall plaques at the dollar store, YEARS ago!

I didn’t really like them for what they WERE; rather for what they could BECOME.

That’s what I did with them ‘back when’ we had our own gift store.  I found ONE last one recently and decided it was time to use it up.

First I covered with assorted papers; including some vintage pattern paper as the last coat.  Using them as the last coat adds a nice ‘softness’ to the look and sort of ‘blends them all together’.

I painted a heart with wings; glittered the wings, and cut out words form a old book to put on the heart.

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NOW I just need to figure out what I want to do with the rest of these backgrounds that are ‘ready to go!

Old shelf ~ New paint

Found this grubby black metal shelf in another booth at Stars.

Nice and big with lots of room for ‘stuff’, but it was very lightweight.

You can’t really see it in this photo, but the black paint was chipping off quite a bit here and there; and I didn’t want to completely hide all that naturally occurring distressing with the new paint.  I opted to ‘dry brush’ paint it.

The dry brush technique doesn’t completely cover the original finish; and it’s such a ‘light finish’ that the areas that had begun shedding the black paint, will more easily continue to do so naturally, over the course of time.

Dry brush painting is pretty ‘fast and easy’ too!

Perfect size for the crowns in my booth at Stars.

And lightweight enough to easily place on top of another shelf to get the crowns at ‘eye level’.

Trying my hand at some mixed media art

Mixed Media Angel Plaque

Still ‘sorting and purging’ the craft supplies that I didn’t get rid of before I moved.

Came across this ‘thrifted’ plaque (which originally had a simple abstract design) in a box of frames,  It was either ‘USE it or donate it’ time . . . . I decided to use it.

I had NO IDEA what I was going to make of it when I first started.  I applied a page of sheet music; then layers of old clothing patterns, extending over the edges.

I ‘tested’ some assorted papers and thought about making it a ‘vintage key collage’; but I’ve dome LOTS of those.  Forcing myself to do NEW things right now . . .  and I settled upon painting an angel.

It took two coats of acrylic craft paint to cover the paper.  It’s been a while since I’ve painted eyes . . .and does it ever show!  sigh.  Then I outlined everything with a black Sharpie.

I glued a piece of gold pipe cleaner for her halo; and some little gold metallic stars on her wings.  I thought about giving her a tiny ‘key charm’ necklace, but the chain didn’t look quite right; so I settled for painting a heart on her chest.

Painting OVER the edges was new to me, so I only attempted it with the wings.

Here you can better tell the size, fairly smallish at just 8″ x 8″; even though it’s not a very good ‘photo’.  The flash made a lot of glare and the lamp is reflecting in the glass in the lantern on the right, completely obstructing the ceramic bust.

SO, that was my new adventure for now.  I’m TYING to ‘ease my way’ into less ‘physical labor intensive’ projects.  I’m not getting in younger, after all!

Little wood trays

Found these little trays at the thrift store.

The fronts of old greeting cards had been glued onto them.

They were a tad beat up.

And the pictures are really dated.

They aren’t very big either; about 6″ x 8″.  But trays always sell well for me and they were a good price; so I figured they were worth buying to fix up.

I sanded over the cards a little, then painted the whole tray and distressed along the edges.

Now what to decorate them with?!?!?  I thought some stenciled designs or words would be cute, but all my stencils were too BIG to fit these little trays.

These pretty paper napkins look like a good fit.  I’ve never worked with applying napkins, so I was a tad leery, but decided to give it a shot.

I had these other napkins to consider also, but settled on the first ones.  Wanna know where I found all these pretty paper napkins????

DOLLAR TREE! I kid you not. And they have dozens more designs . . .and table covers and paper plates and cocktail napkins to match!

I cut the napkin to size and got my little 2oz bottle of Mod Podge out (which I also found at DT!!) and went to work.  I waited to remove the back layer of the napkin until after I had cut it to size.  Slathered the tray with the Mod podge and veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery carefully placed the napkin on and gently dabbed it into place.

I was able to cover all three trays with ONE napkin, by using the back; and then putting two pieces together (which you can SEE on the tray on the left).

The tissue went onto the first tray perfectly.  The next two . . . .notsomuch!  As you can see here.  sigh.  The napkin paper is SO thin it tears really easily, so as I was ‘working it into the corners’ it ripped!!

The Mod Podge ‘sets’ so quickly that I couldn’t remove the napkin to start over.  (Well, maybe if I had immediately submerged it in water).  I just wanted to be DONE with them, so I left them to look ‘distressed’.

Think this will pass for good enough?

Another little tear in the corner.  I suppose I would have tried harder to fix the tears if the trays were bigger, but these are so small it really wasn’t worth investing more  time and effort into the project.

Outdated thrift store primitive pumpkin ~ updated to shabby cottage farmhouse chic

I remember when these carved resin pumpkins first came out on the market and were CRAZY expensive!  Now they’re on the shelf at the thrift store, out dated and no longer wanted.  And CHEAP!  A perfect candidate for shabby chic update.

I gave the whole thing (except the stem) a couple of good coats of antique white craft paint.  Unfortunately the paint seeped into the engraved parts, so those ended up needing darkening to show up.

Good ole Ralph Lauren tobacco glaze to the rescue. (ANY antiquing glaze would work; I’m just an RL paint products fan!) Generously applied the glaze to the entire surface, making sure is filled the engraved parts.  Then gently ‘dab away’ the excess glaze from the surface area, avoiding removing it from the engraved area. 

As is often the case, I couldn’t leave well enough alone though.  And a day later I added a spritz of some iridescent ‘glitter spray’; for a bit more of a holiday glitz!  Either way; a fairly simple update for an outdated decor item. 

The moral of this story is, the next time you decide to change up your decorating style, set the outdated stuff aside for a few days and ponder the possibilities of updating them before tossing or donating them.    Sometimes the change you need is as simple as a new coat of paint!

Recent finds ~ sofa back table re-do

This is such a great SHAPED twill suitcase.  LOVE it!  There was a matching one that I really wanted, but the lock was broken and try as I may, I could NOT get it to open, so I had to pass on it.  Will probably leave this one ‘as is’ and work on getting some smaller black and gray ones to create a whole stack.

The sofa back table was pretty quick to spruce up.  Sanded the top real good (to take off all the SHINE!) and painted it a flat black base-court.  spray painted the legs with flat black.

Then hand painted the whole thing my signature color of beachy blue.  Sanded to distress a bit; then used a decorative sponge stamp for the design.

A wee bit more sanding to mute the center design a bit; then two good coats of a water based matte varnish.

It’s currently stashed away with the other beachy blue stuff; until the next big booth re-do.