~it almost worked out…..~

I posted a few days back about secretary's.

I had found a good deal on one at a thrift store and was in the process of making it over.

I got about 3/4 of the way done and thought I better try it in it's spot before finishing.

Well, that's when I realized it was about 2" too big~I had measured incorrectly.

I did manage to place it on an angle which I think looked good, but standing back and looking at the room overall, it looked totally off balance.

I let my husband be the final deciding factor and he thought the same thing.

So, off it went to live with my friend Michelle.

Here is the before pic. and the halfway through picture.

I painted it a combo of grey and cream because I am real adventurous like that~ha!

I wish I had had another spot for it in my home, but I really didn't.

You win some, you lose some.

Cheers to the weekend~go Hawks!

xoxo

~thrifty thursday~{painted canoe paddles}

If you are like me, you have piles and piles of file folders filled with magazine pages and lots of design inspiration.

Well, I was cleaning out those file folders the other day and came across a photo of painted canoe paddles.

I got inspired because I just so happened to have recently picked up 3 wooden canoe paddles.

The picture I had were left plain wood and then painted in patterns. 

I decided to paint over the wood because I thought it was a bit orange.

So, I painted all 3 paddles with Annie Sloan Old White paint, then went to town with varying widths of painters tape.

I uses paint colors that I have used in my house as well as a few bright colors for fun.

{paint colors will be listed at bottom of this post}

After they were all painted, I sealed them with a coat of Annie Sloan clear wax.

These are a bit time consuming because of all the measuring and taping, 

but I think they are worth the time!

I cannot wait to display these in my home somewhere!

Paint colors used:

body: Annie Sloan Old White

Orange: Annie Sloan Barcelona Orange

Raspberry Red: custom mix

Black: Disney Mouse Ears

Blue: Behr Marine Magic

Dark Grey: Seal Martha Stewart

Grey Green: custom mix I used in our kitchen

xoxo

~a French breadboard makeover~

My friend gave me this breadboard out of her stash 

because she knows I have a slight breadboard obsession.

This is how it started out, rather orange and shiny.

 First I sanded it down with the grain of the wood using a palm sander. 

Then to tone it down even more I added liming wax.

The liming wax was cool but made it too white, so I mixed a little Annie Sloan clear wax with a tiny bit of dark wax and went over the whole thing.

Perfect.

It's just the perfect color and I couldn't be happier!

I hope to see all you local friends tomorrow at the French Flea Market!

xoxo

~thrifty thursday~ {candle making}

Don't ask me why I am crafting in the middle of the One Room Challenge.

I guess I am crazy like that.

So, I had all these Annie Sloan empty quarts of paint and wax containers sitting around.

Their packaging is so cute~I'm a sucker for cute packaging.

Anyway, I thought it might be fun to use the empty containers to make candles.

I am no candle expert, so please don't hold me responsible if you burn something.

Just saying….

Here is what you need and the steps to make your own candle:

Scent, I bought mine on amazon, but I also bought some lavender at my local craft store.

 Containers {make sure paint residue is fully dried}

wicks, again, local craft store, and a metal skewer.

 I also found it cheapest to buy the wax online.

I think I got this on amazon.

 I also picked up a 99 cent pot at the goodwill because I didn't want to ruin one of my good ones.

Melt your wax in a pot of hot water on low, stirring constantly.

When it melted fully, I added the scent.

I didn't measure, I just poured it in.

 Before pouring the wax in you will need to attach your wick to a skewer on the top.

 I poured 1/2 way, let that set up, and then poured the rest in.

I am not sure if this is necessary with soy wax, but I did it anyway.

 Let set up for a few hours.

Then top off with more melted wax.

Let sit overnight then remove skewer and trim wick to 1/4" and enjoy!

I will be taking the next 3 days off blogging to finish my ORC.

However I will be back Monday with a great big huge giveaway, and you can always follow along with me on instagram where I post a ton of photos!

Click here to follow!

xoxo

~one room challenge week 4~

We are on week 4 and my kitchen looks like this:

I went to take the back splash off……

It went well for about a minute.

Then big chunks of drywall started coming out which, long story short, had me removing it all.

That's the bad news. 

The good news is that we are able now to add new outlets, and have them all straight!

{they were not level before and it drove me crazy}

And,

I got my new sconces hung.

 I also got the upper cabinets painted.

I used Annie Sloan in old white and just slightly distressed them and opted not to use the dark wax, only the clear.

 It's a subtle difference but you can tell by the photo below how yellow my old cabinets are next to the new"old white."

And tonight I am attempting to rip up the old granite tile counter top.

The measurements were taken last week and the new marble will be installed on Friday!

So, to sum up the last week:

I got the upper cabinets painted, in one day I might add.

I hung two sconces and didn't electrocute myself.

I took out the old back splash and only cursed 2 356 times.

The marble company came out and did a template for the new counter.

My new roman shades arrived but I have yet to open the box

 because it is such a dusty wet paint mess in here!

Between now and next week I hope to have the island lights put together and hung, have the skylight patched and sanded, have at least the lower cabinets painted, have the new counter tops in, have new drywall in, in order to prepare for the new back splash, and if I drink enough Red Bull, I might even be able to paint the island. 

But don't hold your breath.

To see how far ahead of me everyone else is, click on these links:

Abby M. Interiors 

Because it’s Awesome 

Bijou & Boheme 

Calling It Home 

Chez V 

Chinoiserie Chic 

Copy Cat Chic 

The Decorista 

Design Crisis 

Design Indulgence 

Design Manifest 

The English Room

The Glam Pad 

Little Black Door 

Mimosa Lane 

My Notting Hill 

The Pink Pagoda 

Simple Details 

My Sweet Savannah 

Verandah House

xoxo

~chalk painted candlesticks~

I wanted to show you an easy way to make a bunch of mix and match candlesticks go together.
Since Annie Sloan chalk paint covers practically any surface, I decided to use it on this project.
I started with candlesticks in varying sizes and styles and finishes.

Gave them all 2 coats of Annie Sloan cocoa paint….

And finished off with both clear and dark wax.
Much better!

xoxo

~how to make a trumeau mirror~

I am doing my thrifty Thursday post today because tomorrow I will be showing you
our house all decorated for fall as part of the finding fall home tours!

So today I will show you how to make a trumeau mirror, step by step.

You will need a few things. A cheap floor length mirror. You know those
ones you see at Target and Walmart for around $10.00, usually with a plastic frame?
You will also need a piece of plywood and various pieces of wood, but I will get to that.
You will also need some sort of "swag" or decorative appliqué.

Lay your mirror on a piece of plywood. Determine how big you want your overall piece to be, then cut the plywood using a skill saw. I
think I cut mine about 20' bigger on the sides {10" on each side} and I left around 4" on the bottom and about 20" on the top. You can
totally play with these numbers to make it the size you'd like.

Then you will need some "swag" or an appliqué. I got this giant swag at a garage sale for $10.00. My piece is rather large so I found a piece of wood that was tall enough to accommodate it.
{a 1 x 12 piece of pine}

Position it on the plywood, but don't nail anything down yet.

This is the fun part. I have stacks of old wood in my studio.
Bits and pieces, all different sizes, colors, and shapes. Just start playing with different widths etc. The wood can be all
different kinds because eventually you will be painting it all. The wood can be old or new, it doesn't matter.

I found some 1/4 round and cut it on 45 degree angles around my 1x12 piece.

Next I started working on the sides. I used 1x4 pieces of mixed woods, cutting the corners on 45 degree angles as well.

Once I had everything laid out and cut to correct lengths, I attached everything with a nail gun. You can nail right through the plastic frame on the mirror. Center your mirror {or wherever you want it to be} and nail that on first. Then work around that with your final pieces. Just be sure to have everything right where you want it before nailing it on.

After you have nailed everything on, you can choose to spackle in some of the holes.

Once the spackle is dry, sand lightly, and sand any rough wood edges as well. Vacuum or dust off any loose dirt or sawdust, then tape off the mirror.

Next, pick out your paint colors. Chooses a couple colors so that you get that layered look.I chose duck egg blue for the first layer, then coco.

First I painted a coat of the duck egg blue. {LOVE Annie Sloan chalk paint}

Then it got dark out and I stopped taking pictures. BUT, when the blue was dry, I painted on a coat of Coco.
When that dried, I painted a little Annie Sloan Old White on certain pieces of trim, just to make them stand out a bit.

And, the last step is to distress it. Sand the edges and sand down certain spots of the coco to reveal the base color. Finally, I covered the whole piece in Annie Sloan clear wax, then hit the high spots and the edges with the dark wax. Sorry no photos, I was literally doing this step at 10 pm by dim light!

And, by the time I brought it inside to photograph it, it was really dark, so pls. excuse these poor quality photos. It really does look better in person! It is huge, about 6' tall and about 3' wide.

Don't forget to check out the homes on the Finding Fall tours today! We have: The Shabby Creek Cottage, Four Generations One Roof, The Old Painted Cottage and The Graphics Fairy.

Enjoy, and pls. come back tomorrow for our own home tour!

xoxo

~thrifty thursday~{wine barrel server}

Have you seen this wine barrel server from Ballard Designs?

I love it, but for $169? No thanks, I'll make one myself.
Here is how you too, can make one!

It all started with 3 wine barrel rings I picked up at a garage sale for $1 a piece.

Then some wood, tongue and groove, from a different garage sale in the free pile.

Another thing you will need is a lazy susan. My mom picked this one up for me at a garage sale. Price, $2.50. Price for me~FREE.

As you can see I have squirted wood glue on the top of it.
After you do that you need to lay your wood on top and leave to dry overnight.

Make sure you make your wood pieces big enough to accommodate your ring. In my case, I needed to overlap the lazy susan, so I used magazines to prop up the ends until the glue was dry. I also added a few small nails with my nail gun to make sure it was really secure.

When it's all dry you will need to stain your wood.
This is what I used:

I applied the stain with a rag and went pretty heavy because I wanted it to be really dark.
Let the stain dry overnight.

Once the glue and stain is dry you need to trace the inside of the metal ring with a
pencil onto the wood. Make sure it is centered with your lazy susan underneath.

Next, carefully cut on the pencil line using a jigsaw.

Here is the back:

Now you need to fit your ring around the cut out circle of wood.
It should be a tight fit. You may or may not need to sand down the edges to make the fit better.

Now that the ring is around the wood, you need to secure it. You will need
a drill with a small drill bit and these nails:

Next, drill holes all the way around however close you would like them. I did mine about every 4". You are
only drilling through the metal, not the wood.

Then in each hole, hammer a nail into the wood to secure.

Next comes the stencil. I get my stencils here.

while that is drying, have a glass of tea and put your feet up!

After the stencil was dry, I sanded it down in the direction of the grain of the wood, and then put on a coat of Annie Sloan dark wax.
Sorry, I didn't get a picture of that.

Here it is done and on my kitchen island. It's huge, 27" diameter!

Since I had all the supplies on hand and my mom gave me the lazy susan, would you believe I only spent $1.00 on this whole project? I just saved $168.00!

xoxo