Keeping My Butt In Gear

....I'm finding, is hard to do, but I'm doing it better than I usually do. 

I've been on a furniture redo kick lately. Well maybe not so much of the redo as the hoarding-it-to-redo part. yeah. My family room looks like the prelude to a good garage sale. And so does my living room - oh, and the dining room too. And we won't even mention the upstairs. Thank goodness my 19 yr old son is only here part time. Yeah, I have stuff in there too. I think I need a 2nd home for my hobby.

I keep hoping it's all worth it when I have my BIG craft show in November. 

I am one of those that scours over the internet for inspiration, and I admit that I'm rarely disappointed on any given day in my searches. And I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that I don't find all the items I need to recreate these treasures at the numerous garage sales and thrift stores I frequent. Did I mention how full my house is now without having every single thing I see? My husband & I have been discussing getting me an enclosed trailer just to store things in, but I see that being a nuisance too, unless it has 2 doors and some of the larger ones do. It would require one half as To Be Done and the other to be Ready For Sale. And those trailer aren't cheap - even the used ones.

But that's not the point to my post here. I've gone off track. I do that more times than I care to count. sorry.

THIS is what I'm here to show you today.

Sorry about all the clutter in the background, but I just don't have a good "staging" area for furniture. Where I do have a decent spot, it's dark and I can't get decent photos. Please, bear with me.

I was inspired by Korrie, owner of the Red Hen Home blog. She heavily influences me on furniture ideas. I haven't seen a project of hers yet that I don't love.

This was her version that I saw.

Just fabulous! ....and look Ma, no hands! ;)

This is how my own gem started out. 

 If you know anything about my blogging skills, I don't typically do well about remembering to get Before shots of projects, so you're doing good just to get this one. LOL! I had already started to paint the undercoating of black when I remembered to take this, plus my husband had already cut the legs down on it too. It just seemed so tall and I also thought it was quite large to be an end table, but would look nice as a smaller coffee table. The part of the legs that were cut off were thinner and had these nasty looking brass bands on them, well 3 of them did, one was missing.

The top had to be resanded because of water damage, but had this beautiful pattern in the wood. It just screamed Clock to me.

My only issue with the pattern in the wood is that it isn't lined up true. If you look closely, the point where the VI is, it isn't lined up with the center of the drawer. There's nothing I can do about that & hopefully whoever buys it doesn't notice it or will even care.

I thought about adding hands to the design, but I opted to leave them out. My husband said I should do 5:00, because it's 5:00 somewhere. He such a comedian. (insert rolling eyes here)

This is the original pull handle that came on the table.  Fabulous, isn't it?

I thought it looked pretty good the way it was, but I opted to paint it with Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint & I like it so much better.

 

And then I have some other goodies that I recently picked up that I can't wait to get started on. 

I picked up this card catalog and it doesn't look like much now, but I have vintage plans for it.

And I consider this a lesson learned - twice I'm a slow learner, I guess. The vintage table in the below photo was at the Habitat ReStore. It was a somewhat "fair"price for such a pretty table that did need some love, but I had just seen it at a garage sale the week before for $15 & that was NOT Habitat's price! I did talk them down in price, but it was still more than the garage sale price. And to think that I almost bought it at the garage sale. shoulda, coulda, woulda... 

(p.s. the chairs did not go with the table, but they look great together)

I had the same thing happen with a chair (not pictured) I seen at a garage sale for $7.50. I didn't buy it and almost went back to see if it was still there and if they'd take $5. But, I didn't do that. The next week it was at the Salvation Army for $15. So, even when they have they're 1/2 off sale, it's still going to be $7.50 & not that $2.50 is anything to cry over. It's still worth the $15 IMO & I may still get it for that price if it's still there. Which it was last week. (NOPE. Someone was smarter than I)

You know the old adage that if you snooze, you lose...OR you will pay a higher price for waiting.

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This Clockface table project was featured at:

****P.S. ~NOT that I stand a chance, but I'm throwing care to the wind and entering my Clock Face Table in the Best DIY Project of 2012. We're talking a chance to win a $250 Home Depot Gift card here! I can buy MY OWN tools with that and not have to bother the hubby, KWIM?

Here goes......               

 

Parties I'm Linking up to:


   

 

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like....

...Christmas? 

(sound of a record coming to a screeching halt) 

Well, it sure isn't looking like Christmas around here with the temperatures in the 90-100+F degrees and dying grass! That is unless you look in my house and see some of the projects I'm working on while trying to prepare for my mid-Fall craft show. You could even get a little confused when you step through my door with all the candy canes, sleds, mistletoe & Christmas trees. Why, even the furniture is getting in the spirit! hee hee How about a little Christmas in July?

If any of you are a fan of Pinterest, and I don't see how you can follow crafting blogs and NOT know about Pinterest, but I've known a few "under a rock" dwellers, so I won't judge those that have better things to do with their time than how I'm wasting mine. 

I will say that the original inspiration for this next piece did not come from Pinterest, but from a magazine. I keep a journal full of ideas that I've come across in magazines, or where ever, and tuck them away in different categories. This little journal is nothing fancy at all, but it suits my barest of organization needs.

The idea came from the Create & Decorate crafting magazine. It fits more of the primitive and rustic category. But I know I've seen this image plastered across Pinterest many a time, as well.

Look familiar?

I've held onto this ripped-out page for well over a year I think, trying to find just the right chair and to muster up enough ambition to paint it when I do. 

I did not find the chair that resembled this one, nor did I find one that was hacked up & cracked from good ol' fashioned weathered use & abuse. However, I did find a suitable imposter. Again, like so many other times before, I forget to take a Before shot, so you'll have to envision this cutie looking like the pristine pure white dining chair with barely a knick or a scratch on it. Got it at a garage sale for a good price!

But here is MY interpretation of the Snowman Chair

   My snowman is slightly different than the original, but I think it's 
   just as cute. 

I might still try to add the blush to it's cheek, but I like the carrot nose on mine better, doesn't it look a little more realistic? The lettering was done with my Cricut using Nursery Rhymes & Botanicals cartridge. The stars are from George cart.

I may have gotten a little carried away with the stars, but the original had quite a few too. It kind of adds to the whimsy, don't you think?

I sanded the edges and sorta beat it up just a little on some corners & edges. You can't have it looking too new!

I'm thinking I might make some more, but I don't have anymore chairs like this one, but they might be even more interesting.


 
Parties I'm linking to:

Feeling A LIttle Frenchy ... Oooh La La!

I have been working feverishly, & the fever is not brought on by the heat of the 100+ degree temperatures we've been having either, but by the need to get enough projects done to fill TWO large booth spaces at my favorite craft venue in November.

A little background about myself, if you don't already know this... I am a procrastinator in just about every stretch of the imagination. I also don't do well with finishing projects either, so this does NOT make for a good combination when you have deadlines. I am determined to change this pattern this year. I've done it one year in the past, but once summer came, I fizzled out and then found myself still scrambling at the last minute with not so fabulous ideas that didn't end up working out anyway. I cheated & purchased manufactured items to fill the void. It worked, but I want more hand crafted stuff, even though the majority of the customers don't seem to really care either way.

Another "issue" I have with this craft show? I'm also moving to a different location than I'm used to, which historically draws TONS of people. It's kind of scaring me to move, since the girl I shared the space with before will still be in that location that everyone knows to go to first.

Enough about my fears & inadequacies....

If you haven't read some of my previous posts that showed some of my Primitive styled projects, you can check them out here & here.

I'm not finished with the Primitive projects yet, but for now I'm switching gears by going more in the French shabby chic/country direction. I'm starting with a basket that I picked up at a garage sale earlier this summer. Here it is in it's finished state.

The image I used came from Graphics Fairy and you can get it here. I printed it in black on my home printer onto some drop cloth, then I stitched around the edges in black. I really like how the stitching frames it and will keep the edges of the fabric from fraying beyond the stitching, so it serves 2 purposes. I applied a light coat of spray glue on the back of the fabric to adhere it in place so I could poke holes for the black scrapbooking brads that permanently attach it at the corners to the basket. I don't trust the glue to last, but needed something just to keep it in place.

I painted the natural colored basket with a flat white spray paint. The basket soaks up a lot of the paint, which I like because it gives it that worn look without having to do anything to it! I painted the top rim (inside & out) and the handles with black acrylic paint and distress sanded those.

I think this would look so pretty at the top of a pretty painted hutch or at the foot of a tall accent table in an entry. It could hold magazines too, if you want it for function.

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This project was featured at:

 

 
I'm linking  to these parties: