Wordless Wednesday: Chocolate makes me smile

Gotta love chocolate!!

TGIF!!

Thank God It's Friday!!

I usually don't mind the weekdays, I find that the weekends are more hectic than the week...but I am really happy that it is Friday! I finished and turned in my last project for the class I'm currently taking, and the only other BIG thing that I have to worry about finding time for in the class is the final.  Everything else that is scheduled for the class is small and will only take an hour or so a day.  YAY!!  I also usually work on one piece of furniture a week for my booth---and with the small amount of time that I have, it literally takes me all week to do a little every day.  I sold two big items in one day, so I had to bust butt to get three pieces down to the booth yesterday. 

I'm going to show you one of those pieces today and save the other ones for other posts. I have a local thrift store that is right down the street from me that donates its proceeds to the local Animal Shelter. I buy almost all of my furniture from charity-run thrift stores, with the exception of a few items here and there that I just can't pass up.  The prices at this particular thrift store are a little high sometimes, so I don't buy from them as often, but this nightstand was five bucks, and it is handmade and solid wood! Could not pass that up (although I did during my first, second, and third drive by...I looked like Chevy Chase in European Vacation when he kept driving in circles around Big Ben).

Here is the before...

 It was scuffed, scraped, dusty, and two of the legs were a little loose. I sanded it down, my husband fixed the legs (thank you husband), and dry brushed with a creamy white paint. I then sanded some more to distress it a bit, added some walnut glaze, and sprayed a poly over it to keep the paint from coming off any further.

Here's the after...

It's really cute and it took about half of my day to do! Well, I'm off to do errands...in the rain...but, it is Friday, and after my errands are done, so am I.  I plan on enjoying the weekend, rain or shine...hope you do too!!

I'm linking this to:

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/
http://serenitynow4amanda.blogspot.com/
http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/
http://www.mybackyardeden.com/
http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/2011/04/feature-simply-creations-link-party.html 

A Small Before and After

I can't believe it is Monday already! Where did the weekend go? I'm just not ready to start the week all over again so soon (at least until I have had two cups of coffee). I will be working on a bunch of assignments that are due for school this week, but before I get caught up in that and my kids activities, I wanted to show a little before and after that I was finally able to do. I already had this desk in my home, it was my hostess gift for hosting a Home Interior party years ago. I wonder if they still have Home Interior? Anyway, this is the before...

The other little sconce thing is also a Home Interior item, but that was my Grandmother's and I haven't decided if I'm going to keep it as is, or paint it white. I love this desk, but I am not so in love with the color anymore, so all I did was just dry brush white paint on it and then added a little dark brown glaze, and this is how it turned out...

That is my small makeover for the week! I have another project that I am just finishing up...here is a sneak peek at the before on that one...

I had already stained the top before thinking of taking the before picture, but it looked just like the bottom does!

Have a wonderful week!!

Rustic Dresser for Daughter is Done!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

 I am loving this weather, and have spent two days working outdoors.

I was finally

able

to finish the dresser I bought for my daughter from the thrift store.

It has been sitting in my shed for a few months now just waiting for her to decide

on what kind of hardware she wanted.

Well, 

we decided that since her husband is the one who is

actually going to be using the dresser, and since he is in

the military, we are going to use the original hardware (which is a brass American Eagle)

and just make it look different!

This is the original hardware:

 

I used Krylon primer and primed all of the hardware.

Then I used a dark Walnut stain by Min Wax, mixed it with a glaze 

and stained some areas of the hardware.

This is what it looked like after I rubbed some off with a damp rag:

I was asked to make the dresser look old and rustic, so

I thought the hardware should match.

This is the before picture of the dresser:

After sanding the dresser with my palm sander (love it), I primed the main 

areas of the dresser and drawers that I wanted to hold the paint well.

After priming, I just dry-brushed a creamy white onto the dresser, starting from the middle and 

working my way out.

Then I just took some steel wool, pricked my fingers a few times, and sanded around the 

edges. I also did some sanding on the top!

Then...

I had the mirror to do!

This is the before:

It was sticker galore!! So, I sanded

taped up the mirror

  and dry brushed again

(thank goodness I taped right?)

and then TA-DA (is that how you spell that?)

I would use WA-LA but I'm not sure

how to spell that either:)

The dresser for Jake is done! Now, I just need to 

get them to come pick it up ;)

I'm linking to:

http://www.missmustardseed.blogspot.com/ 
http://www.504main.com/2011/03/tickled-pink-44the-whole-kit-and.html 
http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/2011/03/french-chairs-welcome-to-feathered-nest.html 
http://serenitynow4amanda.blogspot.com/ 
http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/ 
http://www.bystephanielynn.com/ 
http://www.thestoriesofa2z.com/ 
http://todayscreativeblog.net/ 
Hookin' up with HOH 

 

Shabby Dresser is Finally Finished!

Hello friends! I am so happy to be able to blog today, I have been so busy with really tedious things that I am excited to be able to do something fun! I finally finished the dresser that I had posted about earlier, and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out! I still have to fill in one of the drawers and add a drawer pull, but this is pretty much what the finished product is going to be!

It started out as....

and after some sanding, priming, painting, distressing, and glazing, this is what I have ended up with....

priming the hardware with Kilz...

 spraying it with Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray Paint (three coats)...

Painting the dresser and the drawers a light gray by Kilz and then distressing it and glazing with a dark walnut color....

The stain had some splotches that didn't take the stain very well, so I dry brushed the gray paint on top and then added the dark walnut stain on top for some variation and this is what I ended up with...

I love this dresser! It cost me $15 for the dresser and about $8 in materials and off to the booth it will go (after I put some wood putty in the top dresser drawer and add another pull drawer knob to it). This project has taken me awhile to finish in between school work and my family...I'm so glad to have it done! I've sold a few items in my booth and need some new things, so this is just what I needed!! Hope everyone is enjoying the mild weather that we have been having here in MD!! I am so looking forward to spring...and I have a few more projects underway, but unfortunately they are only being worked on as I can fit in to my schedule. I will hopefully get pictures of my new dresser that I recently purchased soon!! Oh, and Happy (pre) St. Patty's Day from one Irish girl (O'Neal is my maiden name) to the rest of you!!!

I'm linking to:
http://www.myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/
http://www.mybackyardeden.com/
http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/
http://www.restoreinteriors.blogspot.com/
http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/
http://www.allthingzrelated.blogspot.com/
http://todayscreativeblog.net/
http://typeadecorating.blogspot.com/
http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/
http://adiamondinthestuff.blogspot.com/
http://sassysites.blogspot.com/
http://creatingahouseofgrace.blogspot.com/
http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

What I have been up to!

Hi Friends! I hope everyone has been doing well and is looking forward to Spring as much as I am! I can't believe it has already been a week since my last post, time is just ah flying! I have several things on my plate right now, which unfortunately means that I won't be blogging much. I am taking classes to earn my BA degree, still working on furniture for my booth (to pay for my classes), working on scenery for my daughter's musical theater club, and just life with my kids, husband, and household stuff, it's making it hard to squeeze in anything else on a regular basis right now. I'm going to post as often as I can, especially when I have new furniture finds or crafty things. Hopefully things will calm down a little when school gets out for all of us, but I seem to recall saying those same exact words before, and it never happens.

Here is what I'm working on right now:

I found this dresser at the thrift store by me. It was originally marked $50 and I patiently waited for it to go on sale, and finally, after 5 months, they dropped it to $15 with 25% off of that! The waiting paid off! It is solid wood (even the drawers), except for the back, that is a thin particle board type thingy.

These are the drawers (sorry for forgetting to take a before picture with it all together), they have a nice bow shape to them.

This is after sanding the top with my palm sander and using paint/stain remover. The bottom has not been sanded yet, and if it wasn't so dark in the workshop, you would be able to see the difference in color better.

I'm using this for the top of the dresser....this is after only one coat of stain...

I still have to sand it and reapply stain (I'll probably use three coats), I hope it doesn't stay blotchy :(

I have primed the drawers with Kilz primer and I'm not sure if I'm going to paint the dresser white, or a light gray? I'll make that decision once the rest of the dresser is primed and the top is done. This is as far as I have gotten with it for now. I will take a picture of the hardware it came with later as well.

Now, I have to go do my schoolwork before taking my little "N" to school and running errands! Hope you all have a wonderful day....enjoy the sunshine!!