I went resale shopping Friday. Hubby and some buddies were golfing so I was on my own. I made quite a haul.
The projects will be showing up soon. The first repurpose from my weekend is a quick and CHEAP project. On my adventure I spotted an ornate frame with a broken mirror in it buried in a pile of paintings and frames. I dug it out of a pile of other frames. The pastor who runs the thrift shop told me he had dropped the mirror. He just doesn’t know what to do about me, he doesn’t get that I love the broken, chipped, old stuff more than the newer treasures. I asked for the price, he said fifty cents. SOLD!
Here she is with the mirror removed. The back of the mirror was marked May 5- 67. She is younger than me and considered vintage…sad.
I explained to the pastor when he asked that I would be painting the frame and putting a bright print where the mirror was…he said he would pray for my husband. Three times. ( He upped it to four times later in my shopping.)
I purchased a roll of coral wrapping paper at Marshall’s that I will be using to line the back of my milk glass display. It is perfect for the “mirror hole”.
I had left over paint from the giant ornate mirror and could not resist the bright shiny look on this silly frame.
An old S from a wreath I took apart finishes the beauty off. Fun, huh?
Not bad for a total investment of about $1.50 in supplies. It will add a little silliness to the green bedroom. No seven years of bad luck here.
Before this very LOOOONNNGGG post begins ( sorry about that, I have missed you!), I have to show you my anniversary card from Hubby.
Here is the front of the card:
and here is the inside.
I thought it was the PERFECT anniversary card from a dude who had moved my stuff around for two weeks now while I try to settle in.
Unpacking is 99% complete and decorating has begun in earnest. Because I am way more savvy than my last move about bargain shopping I decided to challenge myself for decorating our new home:
Use as many of the things I currently own to decorate my new house as possible. If I loved them enough to lug them across south-east Texas, the least I can do is find a spot for them!
Incorporate elements from the color scheme I have chosen in the main rooms. Bedrooms will have their own personality.
Keep the decorating budget to $200 per room. I love a challenge.
When we started this adventure of moving into a new home, it was our plan to downsize. That did not happen. We found a great home, on a cul de sac, near our jobs that was 60 square feet bigger than our City House. Because we planned on downsizing I cleaned house. I sold, gifted and donated a ton. If I did not love it or need it- out it went. I must tell you folks, it was a little liberating. What we kept for in the house fit in a 16 foot Pods Container and a 16 foot storage unit.
For the first time in my life we have empty drawers in the kitchen, and space in the closet. We are still working through a lack of storage in the bathrooms but I have a plan for that. Additional cabinets are in our future.
Before we moved in I worked feverishly on getting some unique furniture pieces ready and we will continue to add. If you click on the links it will take you to the projects we have been working on. We got a French Provincial dresser and headboard ready, and coral colored end tables
recovered dining room chairs, and found some awesome yellow chairs at a garage sale. My favorite pieces have made the move. My mudroom bench is in, although it is a little worse for the wear- it will need some touch up paint.
My farmhouse table made the trip too. In the near future there will be a bench at the foot of our bed, a back porch that my son says is going to look like the inside of a bag of Skittles, a unique kitchen island using this beauty below,
a home office and a media center for the TV. (wait until you see the dresser Hubby found for me on Craig’s List!
All that being said… I am WAAY short on accessories. I just don’t have enough unique items to make the home feel lived in. I have focused so much on the furniture that I just didn’t think about the little things that make a home unique. I have not been buying those items. A visit from my friend Shahana confirmed that we just don’t have enough “stuff”. She came over to help me decorate the top of the pie safe and cabinets but we were just stumped.
Right now it looks so…generic. new. mass produced. NOT ME AT ALL
The best option for me to decorate is also earth friendly. Resale, re-purpose and create. Oh, and clearance/sale shopping. Yes there are going to be some new things too.
This painting is in our family room.
A quick trip with Shahana to Goodwill and $69.00 later I got everything below including this awesome huge basket,
this jug (It had a light kit in it, but they had not damaged the jug- I think it is old for real, which I love),
these matching lamps that are going to be worked over ( Hubby is being a little resistant to my painting the glass- so I think the shades are getting painted along with all the metal on them…for now…in the spirit of world home peace),
this ornate frame with a print in it that is going to be an art project ( think herringbone and check out one of my pages on Pinterest- New Home Pinterest Page),
a chicken plate to hang, ( I have a shelf project in store for above the buffet that will incorporate the chicken plate.) these three platters that will look awesome on the Skittle porch,
this woven greenish tray,
and this huge metal can of some sort. I love the can but am just not sure what it was for. Right now it has a barn painted on it but that is only temporary. It is going to get stripped, a paint job, a big sanding and hopefully it will look it’s rustic aged self again.
Here is the running total for the bedrooms: (I will have previews of the kitchen, breakfast room and den on Sunday)
Master Bedroom
$20.00 for two new lamps and shades
$10.00 for I Love You More Pillow–Yay Kirkland’s one day deal sales- get on their email list if you have one near by. They send out alerts when they put items on sale for 24 hours only.
$92.00 for Burlap Curtains- I found these 96″ curtains on sale for $23.00 a panel at Hancock Fabrics- lined natural burlap, so they had to come to our house. I am making curtains for the den/dining/family room but they will not be lined.
More to come. The bench needs nail head trim so there will be an additional cost and we desperately need artwork. i think there is a project in my future.
Green Bedroom
The dresser and headboard were purchased for $80.00 and painted for $15.00.
The curtains were $30.00.
A $20.00 World Market shade and a 12.00 accent pillow.
Front Bedroom
Wow this room is going to be a beauty! No hints on this one because I am so excited for you to see the before and after of this room. The only thing I am showing you that is finished for the room is this awesome lamp.
Purchased for $2.00 at a resale shop, I spray painted the nasty amber glass and metal ($4.00 for a can of spray paint- new avacado). The shade was $1.00 at a church garage sale. Love it. Love it more that the whole lamp cost $7.00. I am planning a DIY on lamps soon. They are not hard to take apart and re-do.
I have also purchased some fabric for pillow shams- $6.00
Art work $29.00
Oops paint for the furniture I will be painting- $2.00
Not too bad huh? I made a haul! I am working feverishly on getting the items settled in to their new homes.
I will be updating the rooms and will be adding pictures to the cul de sac page on the blog. The fun is beginning.
The Southern Belle is scheduled to arrive this evening! We are so very excited to have her come visit and I have all the items required for a burlap pillow project lined up. She requested it, I promise!
I know you are sick and tired of hearing about my move. I am tired of it too. Right now I do not have any creative projects of my own going on. It is killing me, but Hubby is picking up a piece this Monday for the new home.
My friend and neighbor Shahana, has a very busy home. I have enjoyed watching them grow up across the street. There are two elementary aged daughters, one junior school son, three dogs, and a shift working husband. The beautiful formal dining room furniture she inherited from her mom is a treasure to her but let’s face it, right now they are not the formal dinner with white linen napkins kind of home. Shahana has a very eclectic, fun style that ignores a lot of the “decorating rules”.
I love her nod to summer. A vintage picnic basket is the centerpiece on the table. The runner she got on clearance after Christmas. It is a linen fabric with a red stripe. Perfect to make you think of summer picnics.
So the question was what to do with a huge china cabinet, formal table and 6 chair? The china cabinet hung out in the much too small breakfast area while my friend tried to figure it all out. Finally, she decided to make the set work for her family. She took the doors off the front of the cabinet and installed her coffee makers into the center. I have a feeling she may not be through with the piece. She may decide down the road to paint it and take out the glass in the doors.
She also decided to paint the chairs without arms a wonderful blue color. I donated some of the chevron fabric from my chair day to two of the chairs and she purchased a blue sort of zebra fabric for the other two. Because they have a lot of company for meals, a pair of small black chairs were added. I also love that she kept the arm tables the mahogany color, but added a punch with the fabric.
The corner cabinet looks old, but is a recent purchase with a lot of her treasures on top.
Her mom’s desk nameplate is on top. I love that she honors her in this family room.
This frame sometimes has a chalkboard in it. I love that she thinks the frame is pretty enough alone.
It is that time of the year that I struggle with decorating the mantel in our den. Now that we are getting ready to sell the city house, I wanted to decorate it for more mass appeal and for my own enjoyment. I took down everything Valentine’s Day related, moved some things around then went on a house hunt. The silver stuff came from the yellow and gray bedroom. I quickly drew an owl on the chalkboard, but it is only temporary. I am just trying to figure out what I want it to say. I do love the stack of Bibles. My grandfather and my grandmother’s Bible are there along with my “cradle roll” Bible I carried when Hubby and I got married. What do you thin? Be Honest!
Recently my social planner, Tanis, picked up two old windows that were in a trash pile where a home was being renovated. They were already the perfect shade of red on one side and had just the right amount of peeling paint. I loved them and I know that they are going to look great at her new home, The Rockin F Ranchito, in Coldspring.
One of the frames wil be a hat rack with an adhesive Rocking F Logo on the glass and the other will be a menu board for the kitchen. The glass is removed from this one.
Tanis painted both sides of the frame with polyacrylic to seal in the paint should it have lead. Here is the finished product after Hubby put in hard board and we painted several coats of chalkboard paint.
This week in my thrift store shopping I bought several things in a bundle for $4.00. The bundle included three milk glass pieces, a mid century modern relish dish, two yellow plates, a bowl, a creamer, and two really ugly ornate picture frames. I the frames were a faux terra cotta color, and because they are so overly ornate, they are too small for a photograph to be noticed in the frame. Look at the oval one. It almost has teeth around the edges do the inside.
Here is a sampling of my $4.00 bounty. The milk glass was already on the shelf.
Of course I wanted the frames. They were the first thing I picked up when I entered the shop. The guy must have felt sorry for me once I picked up the unfortunate frames because he clearly sold me the stuff I collected there for a song.
I am not sure if I should be proud of my husband or worried that he has given up on me because he didn’t even shake his head or ask what I was going to do with them. Believe
It or not I did have an idea. I decided to turn them and another ornate frame from the hoard about the same size into key holders that will hang by the mud room bench in our entryway. I was looking for a small ornate frame to copy this idea: shadow box key holder
Possibly this will help us with out morning rush out the door.
To make the holders Hubby cut some hardboard that attached to the frames. The oval ones were trickier than the rectangle because we did not have the skill saw. It took multiple coats of black paint to cover the terra cottaish coating. I used scrapbook paper that looks like an old love letter on the hardboard. I attached the paper to the hardboard by soaking it in watered down school glue. Once it was dry I spayed the glued down paper with acrylic sealer before attaching the hooks.
Here they are without the screws in.
The ornate frame I added to the two that I found at the thrift store.
A simple, inexpensive and I think stylish solution to a nagging problem at our house. I only hope it works to speed up our mornings.
We are still negotiating the location, but they will be up by the end of the week.
The Southern Belle asked me to look for small ornate frames for her June wedding. She wants to turn them into chalkboards to write menu items and information to guests. Because the chalk boards are black, I am painting the frames white until I get instructions from the Southern Belle.
Here is how the beauties started:
Bought for $1.00 each
Bought for 25 cents each
The top two are Home Interiors specials from the 70’s. The bottom two are plastic faux wicker. They will all make great chalkboards.
I am determined to become a better spray painter, and I believe I am on the right track finally. I have discovered the spray paint handle.
This is the best thing since sliced bread. I love it.
It is amazing how they turned out. I did not take a picture of the larger one when bought. It was southwest style teal and salmon. I bought it for a dollar. Hubby already cut the chalkboard for the large one. I am going to spray the mirrors for the narrow ones with chalkboard Sprint. I can see them as direction signs at the reception. On my way to collecting some frames for the girl. It is nice to be able to help with her wedding- even from a distance.
I finished the chalkboard tonight and by using the word I, I really mean we because while I did the chalk part hubby put in something called window points in the back to secure the board to the frame. Let me publicly say: Thanks, Honey for all you do. Most of it without a complaint. 😉
This project began as a huge “painting” like my grandmother had over her couch when I was growing up was leaned against the wall. When I say huge I mean 48 inches by 24 inches. It had a solid wood 4 inch frame. Hubby said that picture moulding that big would be $3.00 a foot. 12 linear feet of moulding. I got it for $5.00
The picture itself was too warped to use as the chalkboard part ( I want to try that one day with another picture) but we had a piece of hardboard big enough to make a chalkboard in the hoard. A good cleaning, then liquid sand for the frame got it ready for paint. I had some flat white latex paint in my stash. Following directions from Red Hen Home Blog I added two tablespoons of plaster of paris to a cup of paint then added enough water to the paint to be able to paint with it. the results were great. It took a couple of coats to get the frame looking smooth but it really looks like chalk paint on the frame.
I really am getting better with the chalkboard paint. I have discovered the secret. Sandpaper just didn’t work for me between coats because I sand unevenly. Steel wool does the sanding job like nobody’s business. Thin coats of chalkboard paint with a foam roller, wait for each coat to dry then steel wool between each coat and it came out smooth as a baby’s bottom. It took four coats of chalkboard paint. You have to wait three days to season the board by rubbing chalk over the whole surface then wiping off with an eraser or dry rag according to the directions. After it is seasoned it it good to go.
The first coat of chalkboard paint did not completely cover the hardboard. No worries.
Last week as I searched Pinterest for guest room ideas I ran across this saying: Where there is room in the heart, there is room in the house. By Thomas Moore
I thought that would be a great sentiment for a guest room.
I decided to write it out freehand with traditional chalk for a couple of reasons. If I make an error I could erase easily (I did need that option). Also, the cost of the chalk markers was too high for me to stay in my $150.00 budget. I plan on working with the chalk markers in the near future.
I could not get the color right on the pictures tonight. The wall is gray and the frame is white.
I love my little owls. I will go show off all my accessories soon.
Trying out my photo editing program. The colors are correct here!
Project number two from the weekend was to turn a frame that Sweet Amanda and her mom found at a thrift store into a chalkboard. That girl is quite the thrifter! She found an amazing gilded frame in the trash that will make an appearance at the wedding and I think she paid $3.00 for this one:
The frame was in overall good shape. I believe it once held a large mirror and is made out of particle board. It is HEAVY! There was some damage to the front of the frame that allowed the particle board to show through in a couple of places.
Sweet Amanda plans on having her wedding program written out on the chalkboard as everyone enters the wedding chapel so she wanted it to be fancy yet rustic/vintage… just her style. I could not figure out how to fix the damage to the front of the frame without totally redoing the finish…so I repainted and refinished it. I sure wish I were more talented and could have just touched it up but it would have not looked right with my lack of skill.
Between showers I laid the frame outside and got out spray paint. I am not the best spray painter in the world. I tend to spray too much in one spot. I really focused on thin even coats of gold spray paint this time. I also had some shiny silver paint in the cabinet so I very lightly sprayed a coat of the silver over the gold.
The frame looked a little scary at this point. I had visions of having to call Sweet Amanda to tell her I ruined the frame.
After the frame dried and before the rain came, I brought it in to the Garagemahal. The frame is really divided into four concentric rectangles so I decided to work on applying the antiquing glaze one whole rectangle at a time.
Working with such deep detail on a large frame meant really working fast. Even as humid as it was the glaze dried quickly. I use cut up t shirts to wipe off the excess because the cotton really seems to pick up any puddles and it allows me to get into the small spaces. I have two t shirt towels going at one time. One is for the first wipe over and it is really gross, the other is for the second wipe over and is more clean. When the second rag starts to get dirty I demote it to the first wipe over rag and get a new second rag.
After I finished the entire frame, I went back over everything at one time with a fresh rag… really rubbing hard. Some gold and some silver shows through the glaze.
I loved the results. The frame really does look like an old plaster frame for $7.00 in gold paint and left over silver paint I would have to say the frame was a success.
The next step was to make the chalkboard part. Hubby cut a piece of hardboard to fit the frame on his table saw. We buy tons of hardboard. It comes in 4 X 8 by 1/8 sheets and costs about $8.00 a sheet. I use it to put backs on furniture we recycle, I paint on in like canvas and about a million other uses. I primed the hardboard with Kiltz primer before I started painting on the chalkboard paint. I bought Rustoelum chalkboard paint in a can to use and got out the foam roller and small paint tray. My advice is that if the chalkboard you are making is small, go with the spray paint version. The paint on version of the paint was a pain in the neck. I wanted the finish to be smooth so I rolled on thin layers of the paint. It took 4 coats to get the finish I could tolerate and it is still not perfectly smooth.
The picture above is after coat number one.
After the chalkboard paint dried over night I put the board into the frame. We were really lucky here, the frame had some easy to use tabs that made putting the board in a snap. I was pleased with the results. According to the directions, I have to wait three days for the paint to cure then condition the chalkboard by rubbing the entire board with chalk then wiping it off. After that it will be ready for use. I will make sure to post a picture from the wedding.
On the Internet there are several crafters who have posted making their own chalkboard paint by adding un-sanded powered grout to regular latex paint. I may try that down the line.
