My Little Christmas

Well, I must say the past two weeks have been sprinkled with challenges instead of glitter. Physical issues, emotional hurts, car issues, phone issues...(long drawn out sigh).  BUT!!  I refuse to allow these to dampen my Christmas merriment.

I was going to post some detailed DIYs for some of my creative outlet creations, BUT, do to tech support help with a hard reset on my phone, I lost all my "during" photos. Yep, even with being helped, step by step, my phone deleted all photos from 2015 and ALL of my text messages. See? I told you there have been issues.

So, instead, I'm going to do a quick post with photos. For some of the projects, I'll give simple instructions.

This is my little front porch all decked out for Christmas. I wanted to keep all of my decs sparkly, neutral and simple. Most of these were items that I already had. A simple tree, old sled with live greens and monogram arrangement are the large pieces for this vignette. The owl wreath and pail are the little highlights and the chevron rug anchors it all.

This is a close up of the pail. I had the galvanized bucket as well as mirrored ornaments and the matte silver ones. For the snowballs, I covered styrofoam balls (which I already had) with Snowtex paint (which I already had.) It makes for a little bit of chilly atmosphere, even though we haven't had a day below 50 degrees.

 The arrangement on the sled was made from cuttings from our boxwood bushes, the Christmas tree and the white pines from the back yard. The "B" and the ribbon were from a previous year's  decor. the jute ornament I made with an old ornament, some white glue and jute string. Remove the ornament top. Starting at the top, smear about 1/2 an inch of glue around the top toward the bottom of the ornament. Lay the jute on in a spiral down the sides of the ornament. Once dry, replace the top. Voila' a rustic chich "new" ornament.

The owl wreath was one of my favorite creations this year. I purchased the owl and the ribbon. Everything else was created from my stash - the greenery, the sparkling buds. The pine cones camer from the back yard.  Every hard core crafter has a stash, right?

I made the rustic paper ornaments from styrofoam balls (from my stash) and old book pages. I cut the pages into squares that were approximately 2 inches in diameter. I didn't measure, just folded and cut. I then took the dull end of a skewer, placed it into the center of the square and loosely folded the square up around the skewer. Placing a dot of hot glue on the paper at the skewer end, I placed each square on the ornament. I know it sounds boring, like watching paint dry, but the fulness of the squares hides a lot of area. These really were quick and they look really Pottery Barn-esque. Once the glue was dry, I spritzed each ball with watered down brown craft paint.

For the dining table, I wanted to keep it a little rustic, but still sparkly and light. I did purchase some items for this arrangement. The chalkboard runner was a lucky find at a Tuesday Morning -  one of my favorite home dec stores. You never know what you're going to find!  I also purchased the clear dinner plates. I already had the silver chargers, the tray, the candle votives, the vase and ornaments.

For the chargers and plates, I found some cheap chalboard wrapping paper at our local Target. Since the plates were clear, I traced aroun the bottom center edge of the plate, cut the circle from the wrapping paper and simply placed the paper under the dinner plate. 

Another project in the dining room is the buffet. The compote was left over from a previous display. The beaded runner was a new purchase. To craft the "JOY" centerpiece, I purchsed two dutout letters from Michaels, as well as the three inch grapevine wreath. To create the "JOY,"  I spraypainted the letters with a dull silver spraypaint. After this was dry, I sprayed again, this time with Krylon Lookinglass Paint. While this was still wet, I dabbed at it with a plastic bag. This gave the letters some texture as well as a zinc or galvanized look. I hot glued the wreath between the letters, and placed the bottle brush trees and deer in the middle of the "O".  The snow is acutally nothing more than epsom salts. It sparkles like ice.

The mantel is up next. Wow! I've been busy. Thank goodness I've been working at it slowly.  Again, I wanted it to be sparkly and light.  LIghts, viler, and white. I'll let it speak for itself.

I have decided that the pine cones blend in with the stone a little too much. So, I put them in some diluted bleach last night. Have you ever seen bleached pine cones? Gorgeous!! We'll see what they look like later today. I can't wait. Maybe I'll put an updated pic in once they dry.

So, that's it! It looks like a lot, but Christmas and decorating are two of my favorite things! That sounds like a song,,,,

Anyway, thanks for following along and for understanding the technology fail and other challenges. I hope I inspired you to use what you have, with very few purchased new items. It's amazing what a little time, creativity, and ingenuity can do! 

If you're struggling through this season with emotional, physical or financial struggles, I hope that you can focus on the little bits of good that WILL appear. Look for them. Be intentional about seeing them and recognizing them. They really are everywhere. Ask for them. He's more than willing to give good gifts. 

Hoping that you have an enchanting, full-of-delight Christmas. May it be filled with comfort, peace, kindness and beauty. 

Until next time,

Mister, Mister

Hello, y'all. Yes, it's true the South is creeping into my vocabulary. And despite living here for almost two years, I'm still being told that I am the one with the accent. Funny! I guess the Buckeye takes a while to melt away.

Well, the major house renos will shortly come to an end. Kids and hubs are going to school and working. So, I'm finding myself with more time to be creative in some not-so-labor-intensive ways.

I dove back in  - or at least dipped my toes in the water - with some smaller projects. You might have seen a couple of them on past blog posts, such as the typewriter earrings http://bit.ly/1FPF0P8 and my Home with You wall art http://bit.ly/1NFXoCa .

Well, last week, I actually lugged a hoarded  stored piece from the garage to the basement.  This piece was once a simple but gorgeous vanity, but had seen better days. The bottom shelf was missing, it had a dime size burn hole in the top and the knobs were all askew.  I had a lightning bolt of creativity and decided this piece might be better as two instead of one. In order for that to happen, some surgery needed to be performed. It included cutting the remaining bottom shelf off. (Excuse the knobby knees in the pic. My husband had the saw in hand and was antsy to push the on button)

After cutting the shelf out there were two issues that needed to be solved before proceeding: filling in the slot where the top shelf had been attached to the sides; finding four more legs because now there were two tables instead of one vanity.

The first issue was the easiest. There were a couple of ways to attack this problem. I could have used wood filler or joint compound. I chose the joint compound. Here's why. Wood putty might have been the better choice due to its strenth, but it would have been a little costly to fill in a slot 3/4 of an inch wide and 2 feet long. That left the joint compound - yep, that stuff you use on your sheetrock walls to make them nice and smooth. Here are the reasons why I opted for it. It would give me the working time to fill the slot in completely, it would dry quickly and I could sand it quickly and easily.

When I was happy with the sanding, the pieces were ready for paint. Both tables were given two coats of General Finishes Lamp Black Milk Paint. It's not a true milk paint. It's a latex, but I love the true black color. It's also very self-leveling. It leaves almost no brush marks in the paint. Just the look for these two little guys.

The second issue, the legs, gave me a little more puzzling than the slot. At first, I wanted them to match the existing legs. They were chunky and little mid century looking. I searched ebay and Amazon. I found a couple of possibilities, but they were costly. My next thought was to look at some home improvement sites. Maybe there were some options there.

The legs had to be at least 5 inches long. After some more searching (Phew!) I found them!  They were longer than I needed, but they were affordable ($2.98 each) and easy to get.

Although these were a little too long, if I chopped them off right above the the first taper, they were the perfect length. (I always have a small tape measure in my purse. You never know....) I purchased 4 and took them home to my vanity.

I removed the 2 existing legs on the front of the tables, moved them to the back and applied the 4 new legs to the fronts of the tables. Here you can see. Even though the front and back legs don't match, they work and the chunky back legs give the tables a lot of stability.

I know you must be thinking that there was a lot of prep work for 2 little tables. Honestly, even though it was quite a bit, it was easy and fast. I knew that the end result would be worth the couple of hours I spent filling, sanding, and moving and adding legs.

Now that I was ready to paint, I noticed that the tables had a masculine feel even with the new curvy front legs. You know, if you wait long enough the pieces almost tell you how to restyle them. I don't know if it was the scent of leaves in the air or the end of summer, but I wanted this piece to have a cozy fall feeling - sweaters, hot tea, bonfires and hayrides.  But I also wanted to keep them a little masculine with little dashes of femininity scattered in.

I knew they had to be black. I knew that I wanted to camouflage the burn and the divots from the bent knobs. That meant using paper to decoupage. I usually opt for painting, but this felt right for these pieces.

I always keep an eye out for deals and interesting things for my pieces. I already had a typographic wrapping paper that I had purchased a year or so ago to use on the tops. I found samples of a gray and tan flannel print wallpaper for the drawer fronts (it reminds me of a sweater) and I had picked up some black and white knobs a couple of months ago at a Home Goods store (I think they were Cynthia Rowley). All of these were purchased at different times. I had no solid plan to use them, but I have a small stash and I'm always looking.

I applied the wallpaper and wrapping paper with a wallpaper paste. For me, wallpaper paster has more open working time than a product like Mod Podge. Apply the paste with a large paintbrush. Use more than you think you'll need. The excess is easily smooshed out using the side of a credit card or plastic putty knife. When the paper is nice and smooth with no bubbles, clean up the top surface and under the edges with a damp towel. I let mine dry overnight. Then, using a sharp utility blade I ran the side of the blade along the edges of my pieces, using the cutting edge to trim the papers. This makes neat, clean edges. Anything that wasn't nice and clean is easily made that way using a piece of fine sandpaper run smoothly along the edges of the paper.

After cutting and sanding the paper, the little white edges of the paper will be visible. This is easily remidied by just applying a little more of your basecoat paint to these edges. You don't have to be very neat with this. As long as you're not a turtle, the wet paint will easily wipe off the papers with a damp paper towel or rag.

After putting the drawers back in the tables, the typographic paper looked a little too brown. I wanted to gray it up a bit. The paper had a slight sheen to it, so I knew that it was coated with some kind of finish. Using a large brush, some water and my black paint, I dipped the brush in the water and then into the paint. Working quickly, I brushed the paint over the brown paper in large, messy swaths. Then using a dry paper towel, I moved the paint around and wiped it off until there was just enough glaze left to tone the brown down a bit.

The paper on the right has been glazed. If you look closely you can see the wash. It's a very subtle difference, but it made ALL the difference.

All that was left to do was to protect the tops with some polyurethane and add the knobs.  Iuually use brush on varnishes, but in this case I used spray ons. I was afraid if I used a brush on varnish, the paper would change color.  Now, these pieces won't get a lot of wear, but the tops needed to be water resistant. They got two coats of a spar varnish. Spar varnish is made for outdoor use and it's very water resistant. It's even used on boat hulls. Then, they got two coats of a spray on satin polyurethane.

Finally!!! It's so exciting to see a piece come together and finished. The knobs!! The piece de resistance!! Ugh...after I got the on, they almost disappeared on the black and tan background paper.

Back to another search: this time for some backplates. Again, ebay, Amazon, home improvement websites. I knew the backplates had to be a little masculine to counter balance the feminine drawings on the knobs. That meant angles not curves.

I always strive to be frugal with my revamped pieces. Spending $4 - $8 a piece wasn't going to work. I finally found the exact backplates and they were only $1.98 each! The only problem was they were silver, which would again disappear on the black and tan paper.

To fix this, I primed them and painted them a solid satin black. I also gave them several coats of the same satin polyurethane that the tops had gotten. Now, they were PERFECT!!

I put them on an angle under the beautiful knobs.  What a difference a little black paint made. They were finally done!!

I hope you found this post informative as well and enjoyable. As always, comments and questions are always welcome. Don't hesitate to interact!!

Enjoy your day!

This post has been shared on http://diyshowoff.com/category/other/that-diy-party/

                                               http://www.itsoverflowing.com/2015/09/rise-and-shine/

The Big Break!

The Big Break

Wow! Time really Does fly! Where has the last year gone? I just realized that because of all the work we've been doing here at home, I haven't done any furniture updates. My focus has been on updating our out-of-date-but-beautiful home. We've updated every room; some major updates - such as the kitchen; some minor updates; but there's not a room that hasn't needed some repair and updating.  http://bit.ly/1o9uQyl

We're on the last leg!! I can't believe it. The light is in sight. The furniture in the garage is calling my name and soon I'll be able to start redirecting those creative juices back where they belong! Meanwhile, I HAVE been doing some smaller projects. Let me show you one.

I'm one of those people who love giving personalized gifts. Although some people love getting gift cards for department stores, I rarely cave and buy one. Only in certain circumstances. In my quest for a personalized gift for my daughter, I ran across an item that's called a wrap bracelet. Maybe I'm out of the loop, but I had never seen one before. 

While brainstorming ideas, I thgouth of making her a "souvenier" of her favorite place on Earth - New York City. 

I actually stamped the coordinates for her favorite place (New York City) on the metal plate, which was easier than I thought. I knew I wanted some kind of bangle with NYC on it, when I ran across some vintage typewriter keys. Perfect!

In order to get the N, Y, and C, I had to purchase a LOT of typewriter keys. So now I have almost 40 keys left. What do you do with almost 40 spare typewriter keys? I mean, there's not a huge market...

More brainstorming...

I had all these weird keys, cabachon trays, earring hooks...

...EARRINGS!

I pulled the back of the keys off, pulled out the faded paper letter, printed off a new letter, put it all together and VOILA! A pair of X and O earrings! 

Hugs and kisses!

Now, to the garage...I hear furniture calling my name!

The Switch Plate Debacle ~ and How to Fix it!

If you've ever visited our blog, you know that we're usually into painting furniture, like our Gray and Coral Chevron Desk. However, due to our house remodel, I've had the opportunity to reintroduce myself to the fun of painting other surfaces.

Paint or Replace?

Have you ever pushed and strained to get a project done? The final nail is driven. You lay down your hammer, take a breath and wipe the sweat from your forehead. Phew!

Then - HORROR! One of the little details you've wrestled with for months looks terrible to your eye. You decide that maybe you're just too close to the project. Maybe you're just being too critical. Maybe it's just you. Then, your DH, who usually seems a little too happy to leave all those details to you, says, "Hey, do you think those switch covers look a little bad?"

A LITTLE BAD? IN YOUR NEWLY-RENOVATED  KITCHEN/DINING AREA THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A LITTLE BAD!!!  Dang it!  Now what?

I had just invested time, money...oh, did I mention money (?) in choosing just the right covers. Our last house was built in 1930.  Electricity was a luxury, so the outlets were very sparse.  Replacing them was no big deal. But, in this house, there is at least one outlet on every wall. There are so many switches that we still haven't figured out what some of them are for! Needless to say, replacing the plastic covers for so many switches and outlets was no little feat. And THEN, to have DH notice??

I did replace the ones in the kitchen with antique pewter plates. But now, all of the plates in the adjoining dining area were antique brass. I wouldn't have minded, but the rooms are completely opened up to one another and there are four covers that are less than twelve inches from each other. Ugh! Details!!

I really like the look of the antique pewter with the new tile backsplash.

How to change antique brass to antique pewter?

Frugality wins!

If you've read any of my posts, I'm all about being frugal. And I don't think there's anything that I wouldn't try to paint. Soooooo...what about taking those now mismatched covers and changing their looks? Give 'em a fake tan. Plaster a little barn paint on 'em. Spiff 'em up!

Here goes!  Knowing what I do about paint, I decided that switch plate covers aren't going to get a lot of wear and tear. For that fact, I decided that I wouldn't even prime them.

The Process

The first thing to do was to change the base color.  I grabbed a can of silver spray paint from another project lined up all these little critters and sprayed! The first coat was the Brilliant Silver.

The second coat? I lightly sprayed over the silver with the Krylon. It's a satin indoor metallic called Nickle.

The last spray paint I used was the Rustoleum Hammered Bronze. I held the can so that the nozzle of the can was parallel to the switch cover. Spraying very lightly, the paint landed only on the high spots of the covers.

After the three colors were applied.

See all the little carved out areas? I knew that I wanted to bring attention to them. I mixed up a little black craft paint and water to an inky consistency.

I painted the entire surface of the cover with this paint and then, using paper towels, wiped back most of the black. This leaves the black in the cracks and crevices, and dulls the silver just a touch.

Here is a close up of the antiquing phase. Picture #1 is the cover with the basecoat of spraypaint

Picture #2 - inky black craft paint wash

Picture #3 - Wiped back 

Although the difference between #1 and #3 are subtle, it really does make a big difference! It brings out all the little details and really shows the textures in the cover! And I LOVE textures!

I know, I know...it seems like a LOT of steps to get from the first cover to the last. I just couldn't justify spending more money on covers when I had a style a liked. The color just needed changed. I think the experiment was a success!

The last step was to give a couple of quick coats of satin polyurethane spray to each cover. Overall, this project took about 2 hours, not including drying time. So, for 2 hours, I save my family a whole lot of cash! That's NICE!

Here is a quick view of the covers from antique brass to antique pewter. 

The Result

They are a nice warm antiqued silver, which matches much better than the stark antique brass.

Hopefully, this will help you in some way. Whether it's the spray painting, the antiquing, or just realizing that if you need to change something -- try paint first. After all, it's just paint. It's not permanent. If you don't like it -- paint it again!

If you have any questions about the technique or paints I used in the transformation, please comment. I respond to every comment on my blog, cuz I love comments and I love paint!

"Home With You" Knock-Off Wall Art

"Home With You" Canvas Knock Off with a Purpose

Wanna Knock Off?

Have you ever seen something and thought, "Hey, I know I can copycat that for a lot less?" Yeah, that's usually where my mind goes when I see the price-tag of something that I really like. And so it was with this little piece of art.

This was my beauty, found on a retailer's site, priced at $49.99. 

It drives me crazy to pay for something that I know I can do myself.  I always weigh the options, to see whether I think I can do it for less.  In this case, I thought I could.

The Great Cover-up

Here is the exact spot I needed to place it. Isn't this pretty? (Sarcasm intended) This is what looked you in the eye as you walked through our kitchen door. I know it's a must, but WHY must it be so visible?

I was hoping to just buy a cover-up picture, and PLOP! be done with it.  "The best laid plans..."  the panel is too long for a normal size picture to cover it up, yet to cover the length, a ready made picture would be too wide and go past the door opening. Don't you just love a challenge? (Yep, sarcasm once again intended)

The Challenge

I couldn't find the right size picture, but a canvas frame was very close. I would still need to add something, but I was going to worry about that later. After a bit a brainstorming, and a little looking, I decided I could replicate the retailer's look AND cover up my beautiful breaker box. 

I knew that I could do this using the image transfer tutorial I found on A Beautiful Mess http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2011/10/make-your-own-canvas-portrait.html

The first step was to find the background image. I found a clip art picture of an old map online and saved it to my computer.

I uploaded the picture into Pickmonkey - http://www.picmonkey.com/

If you haven't used Pickmonkey, it's a great online tool for any kind of pictures, collages, edits, etc. I use it for most of my editing. To use the basic package, it's free. There's also an upgraded version with more fonts, etc. It's actually very affordable; it's just that I haven't needed to use any of the upgrades.

Once the map was uploaded, I added a grunge frame that I found here - http://2momstalk.blogspot.com/2011/10/free-grunge-frames-for-your-photos.html

When you add the frame, choose the overlay option in Pickmonkey.  Overlay > Your Own  Using the Overlay option makes the middle of the transparent, so that your image shows through the frame. Once the overlay is over your picture, you can resize, play with transparency, etc. I then added a Pickmonkey smudge texture. Save it! Then you can reload it in Pickmonkey without the risk of messing up your background image.

Upload again into Pickmonkey. The next challenge was the text. This was the most time consuming part of the project: getting the placement and size just right. I couldn't find the exact font used in the original artwork, but I came pretty close.  Be patient. It took some playing around, but it is really close.

The next challenge was printing the image into a 15" x 30" size. I ran across this website a while ago, but had never really used it.  http://www.blockposters.com/  I opened the website, and got started. It was very user-friendly. The only thing I had to play with were the size ratios to get as close as possible to my finished size. Once done, you can save the pages to your computer. This was very nice, because if you want to change your mind or play around, you can have various files to chose from. I think I ended up with 6 files.

I saved my file, printed off the pages, making my page margins as narrow as possible. IF YOU HAVE TEXT, MAKE SURE YOU PRINT A MIRROR IMAGE! If you don't, any text will be reversed. If I were going to do this again I would choose the "shrink image to page size" option on my printer. My straight lines were a little off on the edges of my pages, and I think that would have corrected it. Geez, this is getting a little dry, isn't it? READY FOR SOME FUN? Here it is! 

Saving money is always fun! Using a 50% off coupon, I bought a 30" x 15" canvas at a local craft store. The canvas cost me $7.00. So far, so good. I took my printed pages to the local UPS store and had them printed off on their color copier. Another $3.00 - GREAT!  

Following A Beautiful Mess' instructions, I trimmed the margins of my image and laid down my copies. Weighted down with books, I let them dry overnight. Now the magic begins! Working slowly and carefully, wet down the paper backing. The idea is to remove the paper from the copier toner, which has been "glued" to the canvas. Be patient. I work at mine until it looks done, let it dry overnight and then see if I need to remove any more paper.

I used some watered down black craft paint to further age the edges and some brown to age areas of the text.

My final canvas still wasn't quite large enough, so I created a "frame" using old palette boards, just gluing and stapling the corners. Then I screwed it onto the back of my piece.

After looking at it again, I used some black colored pencil to straighten out the letters, where my crooked pages met and add some reddish brown lines and a circle. I think I need to add some lime green to areas. And I may do some pattern stenciling to the frame. I'm still deciding on that.  Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. 

At Last

So, if you're like me and have more time than you do money, and you're all in for knock-offs and upcycles, this could be a project you'd like to replicate. So, for about $10 and some time, this is now what greets you as you come in my door. It may not be perfect, but it's definitely an improvement.

If you're like me and like to save some hard earned cash, here are a couple of other projects that I hope inspire you to dig deep, think hard and get crackin'. There is ALWAYS a way to make something your own with your own two hands!

Be inspired!

To be inspired by more people, visit 

http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com  &   http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/

http://tinyurl.com/mv48k4y

http://tinyurl.com/lxkhwdj

Burlap Canvas Home Dec Knock Off! (Ha! Ha!)

If you know anything about me, you KNOW that it really bothers me to pay full retail for anything. No, I'm not an extreme couponer, and I don't dumpster dive (usually), but why pay full retail when so many retailers offer discounts, etc. They are practically BEGGING you to buy their good without spending all of your money.

This philosophy came in pretty handy lately. We've been in the throes - a love/hate relationship deal - of a relocation which included the purchase of a fixer upper home. Don't get me wrong; I LOVE decorating and updating and being creative. I love anything DIY. That's just it....I love the fun part, the "putting it all back together" part. The prep and grunt work - I could leave to someone else.

But the end results? Oh my! I love seeing something come to life, reloved!  99% of everything that has been done to our new home has been done by us. To see some of the updates click on this link - http://tinyurl.com/lrwaqmg 

While creating a palette wall at the end of our stairway to the basement (which my kids did all by themselves!), my daughter and I ran across an industrial looking picture that we both agreed would be a nice addition to their wall. But, my frugality and my daughter's cheapness (yep, she's more frugal than I am) wouldn't allow us to spend $50.00 for a 16" x 20" picture. 

We both love the nail heads, the burlap and the reference to NYC. (Due to a girls only trip a few years ago) But for $50 we felt we could duplicate the look for a lot less.

Olivia chose a picture from our trip and had it printed out at an 11" x 14" size from Shutterfly. Cost? $4.00, including shipping. 

For the burlap background, we were going to purchase canvas stretcher bars and put them together to form the frame and stretch some burlap over it. The burlap was left over from another project. However, when we went to Michael's to buy the stretchers (with a 40% off coupon, of course!), we spied these in a center aisle. We almost missed them! So excited...and they were on sale!

We snagged an 16" x 20" and checked out! The burlap background cost us about $11. When we got home, it was time to put it all together. I glued the print of our picture in the center of the burlap frame with some regular wood glue, just because that's what I grabbed first. I weighted it down with some large paperback books until it dried.

Once the glue was dry, I trimmed the edges of the frame with some nailheads that we had left over from our updated couch project. http://tinyurl.com/lxkhwdj

Ta da!! I am very pleased with the end result. Actually, I think it looks better than the original, and it's personalized, using one of our memory photos!!  So, for a whopping cost of less than $15, we reproduced, and bettered the original pic that we both fell in love with. 

For the next post, I'm going to be sharing another knock off I used to cover up this ugly thing that stares you down when you walk in the back door!

 Ta ta til next time! Love to you all.

Revisting a Favorite

Time sure does fly. I have been thinking of a new post for a couple of weeks. EEEKK! I didn't realize that I hadn't posted anything since July!! Geesh!

We have been really busy with a lot of reloving our new home. Honestly, I LOVE decorating. I think I should have gone into interior design instead of visual communication. It just melts my butter to see anything that's outdated, delapidated (like the word delapidated) or trashed, bring it back to life and give it another chance. I had been finding that creative outlet in furniture until we bought a fixer upper and relocated to another state. (Lots of posts on that later.)

I've been noticing that white is still very popular in furniture color. I think it's here to stay for a while. It's bright, clean-looking and a neutral. I saw this piece and fell in love with the carving on the front. It was missing a drawer and one handle, but other than that it was in great shape. Well, what we relovers consider great! A missing drawer only allows us to be more creative, right?

I got so excited about it I forgot the before picture. I hate it when I do that. I'm getting better at it.

The dresser was a medium, nondescript brown wood.We decided it needed to be white. So, we primed and painted a bright white. But the entire thing didn't want to be white. My daughter and I brainstormed. We had just finished using General Finishes Java Gel Stain on another piece and LOVED the end result. It's so different from any other stain. Wipe it on, let it dry.  No sanding!! It darkened the top without hiding all the beautiful grain and it was gorgeous against the white.

This IS an oil based product, so be sure to wear gloves and be careful about spills accidentally hitting anything with your wiping cloth. You can buy it here - 

 http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/826978/General-Finishes-Java-Gel-Stain-Pint.aspx

Where the drawer was missing, we added a piece of 1/2" plywood, some trim around the sides of the wood and across the front edge of the plywood. It was primed and painted the same bright white.

But it still was lacking something. The top needed a little bit of zazzing up. My daughter had the idea of adding some silver to the top. With a damask stencil, she applied several patterns with silver paint. When that was dry, she used a small brush and added leaf sizing just in spots. She wanted the silver leaf to look aged and spotty, instead of solid. And the final result of the top?

If you look closely, you can see the brighter spots in the silver pattern. Those are the aged silver leaf areas. The entire top was given two coats of clear sating polyurethane.

To match the silver leaf design, we found some bright silver baskets at our local Home Goods. (I LOVE Home Goods. Maybe because it feeds my interior decorating addiction. 

It has just the right amount of feminine mixed with masculine, and just the right amount of zazz!

This gorgeous beauty found a new home within 3 hours! 

Neutrals will never go out of style!

Stay tuned! There's so much more furniture and maybe more home reloving updates like this one -  http://bit.ly/1o9uQyl

Thanks for stopping by! Come back soon!