My Little Cuddle Bunny

(no, our dogs don’t sleep in our bed, but I do let them up to cuddle in the mornings). hehe

I never knew ties could be so purty.

Okay, I can’t stand it any longer. I have to “reveal” our new closet to you! You aren’t going to believe the before & after’s on this one. This is our second biggest project to date; first, being the refinishing of our floors.

So, I thought I was getting a “his and hers” closet, but I got a walk-in! Yippe! I’m so incredibly happy.

Here is the before & after:

This picture was taken of our master closet on the first day we saw our house.

Here is our master closet today:

Ta-da! Isn’t it lovely! It is not completely finished. I still have to paint some trim, re-stain and poly the floors, add two more bars, shelving up top and on the sides, add a threshold, finish making my curtains, and then hang them.

I’m in love with this closet. I think we just increased the property value of our home by thousands! Here are some pictures of the process, just for fun.

Sorry this is so blurry, I wasn’t trying very hard. So, here is the closet looking in from the living room into the bedroom. Jeff and Dan are starting to open it up into the master.

Here is a few from the other side, after they starting tearing the wall down in the master. There was also a wall in between the two closets.

This is my best find to date. This storage closet is exactly what I was in visioning for our master closet. Retail price = $360, we got this on sale at Lowes for a whopping $72!!! That’s right I said $72! It comes with three drawers, three bars, and shelves. We purchased a shoe cubby and an extra drawer for $2.78 a piece, retail= $32. I’m soooo happy!

They have now dry-walled, spackled, sanded, and are starting to paint the trim and walls. It’s hard to see the exact color, but it is called Cool Cucumber by Glidden. It' looks amazing next to the dark stain of my closet organizer, thingy. (that is not the new paint color in the above photo on the right, it’s the old).

Jeff’s shoes are in the cubby; I have a shelf for mine that I will put in here later. Notice the ugly floors and the unpainted trim, they will not stay that way forever.

And here is the inspiration for my blog title. Isn’t this picture gorgeous! I kept out all the “ugly” ties, hehe. This looks like something you’d see in Banana Republic, or something I’d see in my dreams.

Ahhhhhh…..I’m in love.

I shall leave you with a side by side before and after, so you can get the full effect.

Shocking, right?

Stay tuned for the finished product, with curtains and all. Eventually we are going to move the two lower boxes to the very top and add a flat screen t.v. in this baby (early Christmas present maybe?).

Cheers ya’ll!

How to Make a Stencil

I’ve never done this before, so if you have any tips or if I’m doing it completely wrong, please share.

As most of you know I am super cheap. Call it frugal if it makes you feel nicer, but I’m not afraid to say cheap. I read online where you could just print your image on transparency paper. Not only am I cheap but I’m pretty impatient too. I couldn’t wait for transparency paper! So here is what I did.

Step 1: Find an image, save to computer, then print. (Bonus, three steps in “step one”).

Step 2: Find an old binder with the clear plastic on it (these have a name, but I’m drawing a blank). Also, you can skip this part and just print your image on a transparency, if you have one.

Step 3: Slide your image under the plastic and trace with a sharper. After you trace you will need to cut the whole piece of plastic off the binder.

See image below:

Step 4: Get out your exacto knife and cutting mat. (seriously how have you survived this long without one)?

Step 5: Take the exacto knife and cut out all the images you just traced. (This was my first time using an exacto knife and I did a poor job, but obviously you don’t have to be perfect for nice results).

Step 6: Congratulations! You have made a stencil. What do you do now you may ask….paint, silly!

Step 7: You place the plastic on top of fabric, wood, whatever you want to paint, then apply paint with a sponge brush.

Stay tuned to see what I am making with my stencil.

Cheers!

Glass Bottles

Check out these old bottles I found under my house. I have no idea how old they are. I believe most of them held juice at one time. The lady who used to live here canned A LOT, there are hundreds of bottles under the house.

Any cool ideas for what I can do with these?

Off topic, notice the peeling paint on my railing? It’s driving me insane. There is like 4 layers on there and it’s rusty underneath. I’ve never dealt with rusty metal, but the plan is to pressure wash as much off as we can, then sand or scrape, prime and paint. So awesome that Rust-oleum makes an oil rubbed bronze spray paint! Now my railing will match my lantern. I think this will be our biggest project yet. I’m going to try and put it off as long as possible.

Some Women Shop ‘til they Drop, I Paint ‘til I Drop

I’m at it again, another painting project. This one is near and dear to my heart. I’m refinishing a VERY old chair my Paw-Paw gave to me. Honestly, he’s probably rolling over in his grave right now. My Maw-Maw told me that he used to fuss when he would hear about people painting antiques. Paw-Paw used to run an upholstery shop long ago. He gave each of his grandkids one item that he had reupholstered. This chair is my piece of furniture he gave me. I wish I knew its history or at least how old it is.

I’m not quite finished with this project, but I’m going to let you see what I’ve done already.

BEFORE

So I taped off around all the fabric, then took steel wool and lightly scratched up the wood. Next I sprayed the whole chair with primer to make my paint stick. I just use the cheapest acrylic primer I can get my hands on.

Here is the chair after three coats of Sherwin Williams Creamy in Semi-Gloss. I also used a faux glaze for my distressing, the color is Espresso Beans. I put the antiquing glaze on the cracks and crannies with a brush and then wiped it off with a wet towel. I also lightly sanded in places that I thought the chair would naturally wear down.

Check out this gorgeous detail.

I’m swooning over the tiny cracks in the woodwork. Isn’t it to die for!?! I think I did a much better job distressing on this piece.

Stay tuned. Hopefully tomorrow I will be showing you the cheapest way EVER to reupholster furniture.

Cheers!

I’m Distressed

Not me silly, my highchair! Yes, I am 25 years old, and yes I still have a highchair. I have inherited my baby high chair, which was my mother’s before me, and my uncle’s before that; he is over 60 now. I lurv my high chair! I actually loved it more before my crazy ex-aunt lady ,not really related to me, took it and painted it PINK, yes that’s right, I said PINK! A hideous pink at that. It used to be in its natural dark wooden state, and I loved it. My highchair has a lot of cracks and crannies…(do those fit here)? Anyways, I was too lazy to strip it all down, so I sanded and then painted, and then distressed it. This was my first time distressing a piece, and I think I went a little crazy. These pics are of my high chair toned down. I actually went back and added a lot more distressing on the seat and the back, per advice from a friend. I can’t tell you how many times I painted, then distressed, then repainted, then resanded. I think I’m just gonna leave it. It looks like it has been given lots of love and usage throughout the years. Tell me what you think!

Before. I actually had started sanding before I took the shot.

AFTER. Please excuse our hideous floors. We ripped the linoleum up in hopes of restoring the original hardwoods, but as you can see they are in terrible shape. We have decided to save up our funds so we can afford some nice tile/slate for the kitchen and mudroom (since they are adjoining rooms).

The back and seat are much more distressed now…Should I have left it how it was? IDK! I barely distressed the tray, bec/ we might have a little one eating on it one day. BTW I used Olymipic no VOC paint. The color is Creamy by Sherwin Williams.

Seat detail. You can still see a little pink in the distress areas, I guess I can handle it in small amounts. :D It makes it look like it has been painted multiple times (which it has) and the paint is chipping. It is all actually very smooth. I sanded over the whole thing with 120 grit and then I finished it with wax finishing paste. This is what it looks like.

It is not suppose to yellow your white paint like polyurethane. It also protects with a water resistant finish. You just wipe it on with a rag, let dry for 10 to 15 minutes and then buff off with a clean rag, shines right up!

Thrift Finds

So, if you are like me and on a budget, you are probably not able to go out and buy a new dining room set or fancy full priced things. This isn’t the only reason I love to bargain shop. It’s just so stinkin’ fun! The only draw back is: you have to get up super early for garage sales. This must be why I’m starting to prefer secondhand and thrift stores. Lately I’ve been shopping at one very close to home. This week I went by because on a certain day of the week they give 25% off. She had these SUPER old metal chairs outside, that she sold to me for $5 a piece! I’m not going to show them to you now, because I’m going to do a before and after later. Once I started taking them apart, to reupholster them, I realized how bad a shape they were in. When I started taking the seat off, it practically fell apart. Jeff is going to need to build me a base for them and then I will finished them off with foam, batting, fabric, etc. The metal is in great condition. I’m just going to lightly sand, then prime and paint them. So, stay tuned for that before & after. I don’t know if these chairs will go with the rest I’ve been picking up to go around my table (they’ve all been wood), but I really love the eclectic look in the dining room.

case in point:

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this look. My plan is to gather random chairs and paint them all white and distress them a little. So far I’ve collected two that I know I’ll use for sure at my table. Stay tuned for those before & afters!

Okay, so on to the thrift finds. Pics are as follows…

I think these are the prettiest little teacups I’ve EVER seen. The artist in me gets all giggly when I look at these. I could stare at them for DAYS! The were $2 a piece and then 25% off! Yippee! I’m trying to convince beg my hubby to let me have some open cabinetry in the kitchen, so I can display these puppies and other awesome kitchen finds. We shall see how that goes. :P

I found a couple of tea tins, also made in England, to hold my loose teas! I’m diggin’ every one of the loose teas I bought from The Barons Tea House. If you are ever in the panhandle of Florida, you HAVE to stop by. We just went in to purchase the loose teas, but you can also have lunch there. They have the typical tea fare that you would find at any tea house. We have already made plans to have tea there on the next visit to my Maw-Maw’s. Teas I recommend: The Baron’s special blend (excellent sweetened and iced), Bavarian chocolate (great in the morning or for dessert, barely needs sugar), Rainbow Rooibos (a red tea from S. Africa, helps with allergies), and Lady Hannah’s Fruit tea (doesn’t actually have tea in it, but is a blend of fruit). Lady Hannah’s and the Rainbow Rooibos are naturally decaffeinated. If you haven’t tried loose tea, you need to at lease once in your lifetime (I can guarantee you won’t only do it once though)!

I LOVE old mason jars. I would like to buy more to store my dry goods in for my pantry; it would look like this…

or for crafts, like this:

But my first plan (since my pantry is under construction) is to do this:

but I’m going to hang them off my porch! I would love to buy some more old mason jars, but these were $4 a piece! Maybe I can get lucky and find them at a garage sale one day.

So, I have no idea what this is. I do know I fell in love with the lion heads, and it is copper. It’s starting to get a nice patina on the inside. This only put me back $5 with 25% off! :) I also purchased a copper watering can, that was in pristine condition, which would never do! So, right now I’m working on a homemade remedy to patina it too. I forgot to take a before picture, but when it’s through curing in the sun, I’ll post an after picture.

These are just a few of my recent finds. Like I said, I have four chairs to refinish, so I will be a busy lady for a while. Stay tuned.

Cheers!