Morningside.....

Happy Halloween to you, happy birthday to me, and happy sugar hangover to whom it may concern.  ;-)

I can't wait to show you my latest project....

My dear friend, Kim  gave me this handmade farmhouse table , chairs and bench. It reminds me of the Neil Diamond song, "Morningside"...
Only this old man did not die and  he did not carve "for my children" on it.....
But I do know that it was made by hand by the father of a big family. After several years of good service, he passed it down to another big family (I'm talking like 7 kids, big), and then finally to my friend, Kim, who currently has 5 children, all ten and under. They used it for a few years, until, finally, a couple of months ago, some of the chairs and even the table started showing signs that it was ready to retire...parts of legs and backs started breaking off, etc.

OR....it was just in  need of some serious TLC.....

I had to use some paint stripper on the table, because I wanted a natural look on the top.

Let me tell you, cleaning these babies was no joke. Just imagine twelve years, 20 children, and lots and lots of meals...

There was so much food stuck in every sneaky corner, I'm telling you, it could keep my entire family alive for quite a few months in the event of a Zombie Apocalypse...or something.

I must have contemplated this aloud, because I'm not sure, but I think I heard Hubby mutter something about feeding my brain to the Zombies instead, since I'm apparently not using it anymore... 

I could not quite get rid of  all the marks, but that's ok, since I still wanted a rustic look.

Since I actually remembered to take pictures during the process, I can now tell you step by step what to do to get the result.

1. First, clean, of course. We've covered that. No excuses about Zombies, etc, allowed.
2. Sand all the pieces lightly. 
3. See that it is going to take forever. Try to guilt hubby into helping.
4. See that its not working. 
5. Wonder aloud why you married him.
6. Say "nothing" when he asked what you said.
7. Try a different approach. Ask for a new palm sander.
8. Get said palm sander.
9. Hug hubby. Say your mother was wrong about him, after all...

10. Using yellow acrylic leftover paint, paint the sides or random places yellow.

11. Let dry, and paint everything a light green, or color of your choice. (In my case whatever I have)

      I painted a rather thick and sloppy layer with a brush, since I wanted it to have the look of several,      old layers of paint, added through the years.

In other places, I did not even bother to cover 100 % with the paint, since I was going to sand it down again, anyway.

12. Wait for it to get dark... (ie. nighttime, not the paint.)

13. Get out trusted Tracer Projector, and trace image of choice onto table.( I did a google search of  cafe signs, and traced it with a black permanent marker.)

 14. Use small brushes and black paint to fill in the letters. ( I used yellow for the shading)

   Remember that this was done on a bare, sanded table.

15. Next day, sand over the letters lightly, and stain whole table top with Minwax Dark Mahogany.

Nice, right? Now back to the chairs and bench....(I'm stopping the numbering of steps, there seems to be way too many) LOL.
After the paint has completely dried, distress by sanding the edges and corners, etc.

 See how the yellow shows through in some places?

Just what I wanted...

After this, I applied a little bit of stain over the sanded areas with a brush, and wiped it off immediately after.

 A little dry brushing with stain in the corners makes it look nice and old.

AND....VOILA!  My new table,  chairs and bench!

I know...I really have to work on my photography skills....and staging!

 I  love how this turned out. 

 A layer of Min Wax Polycrylic sealer was the last step,to protect this little set for many years to come. 

 Let me know what you think, and

Happy Thrifting!

Love,

Suzanne.


Linking up to these parties:
Metamorphosis Monday
Feathered-nest-friday

Super Hero to the Rescue

 This post is long overdue...It seems I am only creating, and not blogging these days. I just have so many ideas swirling around in my head, and I want to do all of them now. 
I'm sure you know the feeling.

I found these chairs and table at my local Goodwill a couple of months ago.

I liked the chairs especially. They were sturdy and retro looking. 

I had plans to do something along the lines of what I did to this bench

 in this post , but then I started thinking about all the super hero movies that are out right now, and I got to thinking. "What if I Modge Podged the table and chairs with some super hero fabric?" But, alas, I couldn't find any such material here in the West Valley at that point.

(Of course, about two weeks later, there they were...4 different rolls of Superman and Captain America!)

So, I did the next best thing... I went to the local Comic Store, and bought a few of the older comics that were on sale.

After I primed and sprayed the legs black, I proceeded to decoupage the rest in strips of comics.

It took forever, but I had sooo much fun doing it!.

The middle of the table is chalk board, painted with homemade chalkboard paint.The recipe I used is :

11/2 TBS un-sanded grout

1 cup acrylic paint in the color of your choice.

Remember to prime the chalk board after it is dry, by covering the whole board in white chalk paint, and wiping it off again.

I'm sorry I did not take more pictures of the process....I have no idea why I didn't.

Well, I hope you like it, and are inspired by it.

Happy Thrifting!

Joining These Parties:

Metamorphosis Monday

More the Merrier Monday

From Toy Chest to Shipping Crate

Hi Everyone!
I have heard and seen of shipping crates being turned into toy chests, but not the other way around...yet that is what I did with this ordinary, run of the mill chest I got on Craigslist.

I remembered to take the "Before" after sanding and stripping off the layers of thick, enamel brown and beige paint. The sides are MDF, and the top and ends are pine.

I roughed it up with some screws, a hammer, and even took a firelighter to it in some places...lol!

Then I applied some ebony colored glaze. I did not have anything else, and I was too impatient to make the steel wool in vinegar mix, which has to soak for at least 24 hours. There are many tutorials on how to do that, but here is a link to one. I was going for the look of old cedar. The pine part turned out pretty good, but the MDF was a different story....

I ended up painting this part red...just could not get it to look right.
I then dry brushed some more red on the other parts, too, just so it would look like it fit.

I found old vintage magazine ads of Pfluegers, a fishing tackle and equipment company, on line,  printed it out, and decoupaged it to the side. The writing was done free hand, from an example I found when searching for "shipping crates" images.

I don't know if you noticed, but I tried to make the corner strips look like metal. Painted it silver, and screwed some screws in. On one side I stenciled "THIS END UP" ,

 and on the other side I decoupaged a sign that says "HANDLE WITH CARE" .

I also drilled some holes and made handles out of rope for a more authentic look. (or so I thought, anyway)

I distressed the edges and sanded the  chest all over a few times during the process.

Also applied and wiped off the same ebony colored glaze  a few times. I just played until I got the look I liked. The decoupaged parts were sanded pretty heavily to make it look really old.

This is what the back looks like. Some random stenciling, and another sign decoupaged on.

O yes, and see the little stamp in the right corner? It says "product of the USA". I just used a plate as a template en drew it on with a thin brush. The words were just done freehand.

Well, I had a lot of fun doing this, and I can just see it in a boy's room with a fishing theme, or even as a rustic kind of coffee table in a TV room. 

What do you think?

Until next time, 

happy thrifting!

Suzanne

Joining...
A Little Knick Knack's EBTKS Party

Got Sewing Machine?

I have had this little sewing cabinet a few years now. I actually used it just like this, while planning on painting it for myself later.

 In the mean time I found another, bigger sewing desk, not as cute and antique-looking, but more suited for my needs, so I decided to paint this one to sell in our booth at The Brass Armadillo Antique Mall in Goodyear .

It was actually in a good condition, with some superficial scratches and marks.

Nothing that could not be fixed with some light sanding and paint.

Since my discovery of home-made chalk paint, I almost never do any heavy sanding anymore. Not when I want to paint over the surface anyway. 

This is it after some light sanding and a off-white base coat of chalk paint.

(yes, I'm painting in my family room...too hot in Phoenix this time of the year. But it is an old carpet remnant on top of my regular carpet, so I am being careful...)

For the top coat , I mixed in a small amount of blue. I kept the original hardware, just spray painted it black. The rest of the hinges I just painted over...I liked the look.

 Isn't she gorgeous? 

 So many extra little drawers and cool storage ..

 I almost regret selling her now..

Have a lovely week, and happy thrifting!

Love,

Suzanne

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Summer Projects part 2

Here's some more items I transformed while on vacation in South Africa...

This is a beautiful drawer chest that my sis bought years ago from an old clothing store in town that closed down.

I encouraged her back then to get it, because it is so cool...even as is.

That's the way she kept it for years, until my visit recently , and "we" decided it needed a make-over.

She wanted the multi-layered green and red painted look, so , this is what I did.

It was so quick and easy...light sanding, no primer, and just patches of green and red paint applied with a brush. Some sanding afterwards, rubbing with a little bit of my secret ingredient (brown shoe polish...shhhhh) , and there she was...

exciting and new, and once again the focus of the room.

I love it!

Happy painting!

Love,

                                                    Joining these parties:




            

Summer Projects:

Hi Everyone!

I know I have been MIA for a while now, but I have a good reason. I visited my home country and family in South Africa. For ten whole weeks! That's right, 10! But just in case you thought I just sat on my behind and sipped wine, you are wrong...
Some days I sat on my behind and sipped wine, and other days I transformed furniture and sipped wine.... so there!
Yep! My sisters made me earn my keep... (but you know I did not complain about saving old, neglected furniture from the dump!)

Look at this piece for instance: was once a built in kitchen cabinet, then stuck in the laundry, and eventually in the garage, where, as you can see, it had been used as a handyman table.

Old Built in Transformed to house a Stereo

My sister needed a place for one of her twin 16 year old sons' stereo, so we went to work on it. I liked the look of the sanded wood on top, so we just sanded it thoroughly (with NO palm sander available, I might add), and waxed it. We painted the body with homemade black chalk paint, and wiped a little brown stain over it, to give some depth to the mat black color.  After distressing the edges, and  adding wheels and funky hardware, this piece was transformed into a very cool, industrial look entertainment center any teenage boy can be proud of.

Don't you agree? And yes, I know the handles are different sizes. And no, it was not on purpose, OK? After we had drilled the holes and attached them, we stood back proudly to view our handy work, and  broke out in hysterical giggles when we realized our  mistake....
Then we decided to just pretend it was meant to be that way.

Old Bathroom Cabinet transformed

This little cabinet was brought home from the farm, and was stuck in storage for forever.

We had specific  plans for it, but it knew better....

When we started to sand it down, all these lovely layers, added through the years, were uncovered.

Then we realized that the door was not real wood, but supa wood...and, soon after, while I was sanding my heart out, the door fell open, slammed on the ground, and the mirror broke. This is when we decided to just go ahead and take the door off.

The lovely blue color on the inside, was left just as is...

..and just check out all the wonderful old layers...blue, green, yellow and white.

We did not bring a paintbrush near it..this look was achieved just by sanding!

It is going up as a shelf in her powder room.

Love it!

See ya soon with more Summer projects!

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Metamorphasis Monday