More of 17 - Big Summer Project

My BIG project for this summer was to paint most of our pulled-together-from-here-there-and-hand-me-down bedroom furniture the same color - a warm, distressed black was my plan.  I never listed this project on a published blog post, but it is one of the 17 projects - OK, it was one of maybe 35 projects swirling around in my head. 

After
Once I started painting, I realized I did not get before pics of everything, so I'll just have to describe the "befores" for the most part.


I don't have "befores" for the 2 little chests, but the one on the left was an unfinished piece originally planned for Earthgirl's room.  She now has a bigger chest of drawers (one my parents started housekeeping with over 50 years ago!), because she is a T-shirt clothes horse.  The chest on the right used to be in Nanny's sewing room.  It originated in the 70s, maybe even the 60s, and sported a home finish of reddish-brown stain, maybe oak?


The "before" headboard was a pickled-look finish veneer headboard.  My Mama picked it up at a second-hand store for her guest house, and I traded my brass headboard for it.  (The very plain very 1980s brass headboard, purchased when a store was closing,  was always supposed to be for just a little while, but we slept against it for about 17 years.) 

See what I mean about the furniture being second-hand-and-hand-me-down?

Headboard before:

The shelf is part of a 3-piece entertainment center, a Sauder piece, in a similar pickled look to the headboard.  The entertainment center was our family Christmas gift around 1995.  We put it together ourselves. 

The headboard, the 2 chests of drawers, the cedar chest, and the bookshelf are painted with Annie Sloan chalk paint, in Graphite, then distressed and waxed with both dark and clear wax. The inside color of the shelves is Chateau.  All the new drawer and door knobs came from Hobby Lobby, and are a purposely eclectic mix.

This chest started as an old, plain, not valuable cedar chest from Nanny's closet.  Daddy says he thinks the FFA boys made it in shop and sold it as a fundraiser, maybe back in the 60s?

Cedar chest before:

The doodad on front of the cedar chest also came from Hobby Lobby.

It add a little something, doesn't it?

Ahhh...Honey, we're home!

More of 17 - Buffing the Buffet

Christmas 2005

My buffet is the bottom portion of a hutch handed down from my mother-in-law. They had it made about 45 years ago, when they lived in a nice old house with hardly any storage space. 

We've had it for 6 years.  When we first hauled it home, we thought we'd paint or refinish it immediately, but once we put it in place, it looked OK, and we decided to live with it for awhile as is.  Or as was?

I took these pics back then to show Mom how good it looked with the reindeer she gave me.  Isn't he elegant?  Since the hutch really had some beat-upped-ness to it, I usually kept some kind of cover on top.

Christmas 2005

But finally the time has come to make it my own, now that I have some cool Annie Sloan chalk paint that can be painted right over almost anything without stripping or priming!

I painted the buffet inside and out  in Chateau Grey, a soft gray-green. ( I also painted the back in some leftover dark gray latex so that all the outer wood would be sealed.  ("wood would," clever, huh?) I painted inside, too, because the hutch had lived for a few years in the basement where some flooding has occurred, and it still had a bit of that mustiness that would not go away.  It's gone now!

 We have 2 pieces of furniture from the sixties that have 60s-type wood paneling used as a backing and drawer sides.  I guess it just made for good wood scraps.

Then the real fun began.  I clear-waxed it, then dark-waxed and wiped off, waited overnight, then buffed until my shoulders hurt.  I rewaxed the top just for some extra protection. 

And here is my "new" buffet.

More of the 17 - Birds

I've been painting away - a chest, a buffet, a chair, but the finished, buffed, and photographed projects are the little starter projects.

I decorate with birds all over the house.  I think there may be a bird or birds in every room. 

After I painted my first blue frame (see 1-2 posts down), I had this nervous paintbrush wanting to spread the pretty Annie Sloan Provence color paint...and I had these 4 birds.  They have always travelled as two pairs.  Sometimes one pair has been on the back porch while the other pair fluttered on a bookshelf.  Most recently, one pair perches at my bedside while the other pair makes its home in my bathroom on the way too big "plant shelf." 

 

Before birds:

A pair of birds in blue?...happiness!

After birds:  the one on left is finished, while the one on right only had paint, and is still waiting for a coat of clear wax, then dark wax, then a rub-off and buff.

The finish, both color and texture remind me a bit of McCoy pottery. 

More of 17 - Framed!

This collection of empty frames have been designated to decorate the guest room. They have just been waiting for me to paint them all the same color. 

The biggest one I purchased at a thrift store for a whoppin' 25 cents (notice the red crayoning in the left bottom corner).  It's already seen duty as a photo framer.  The others I bought at twice that price.  Yup, that's $1.75-worth of frames.

I considered painting them all bright green, like my cool chair.  But then I got some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and Annie Sloan wax, and these seemed like the perfect starter project!  I used Provence, a pretty blue-green, and antiqued them with dark wax.

I purchased my paint and wax at Alice and Jay, right in downtown Sasser, GA, which is on the way between here and my family's fame up in south Georgia.  I had a great visit with them on a Monday, when they are not officially open.  I contacted Alice ahead of time, and they opened up for us!  I met Jay, up on a ladder, (Jay, not me) and spent quite a while with Alice, learning about applying the paint and wax.   Pluto Boy got to see the old bank vault.

Alice was so helpful - opening up her paints and painting and waxing a few paint-stirring sticks so I could see what the color would do.  Fun, fun, fun.  I'd have taken a picture of us together, 'cause that would've been cool, but my camera was still AWOL. 

As soon as we arrived at home, I was itching to start painting.  One of the HUGE draws for me was the promise that I would not need to strip, sand, scuff, or prime anything beforehand.  I would only sand if I wanted to distress a piece.  Yay!

Love the detail in that formerly-gold frame.

After I painted the frames, I read up on recommended techniques for painting, waxing, distressing, buffing, color combos...I am indebted to many generous bloggers, including Perfectly Imperfect, Southern Institue of Faux Finishing, and Modern Country Style. If you search using terms like "distressing with Annie Sloan chalk paint," you get a kabunch of places to look. Since some of these have link-up parties devoted to Annie Sloan chalk painted peices, you can waste spend the entire day reading up. Thanks, everyone!

I am now an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint fan. More to come!

First of 17

OK, maybe I did not really get 17 projects done this summer, but I did accomplish a few crafty, sewy, cook-y, painty things. Actually, by the time I toss in some sewing for friends, I may have more than 17 projects.  Here are a couple of the 17-ers:

A Red Front Door!

This was our Independence Day weekend project. I have hesitated to paint the door a color (it was white) because of the glass insert with internal white blinds.  I thought it might look funny.  But we went for it, and I am glad.  I can hardly wait for Christmas and the hanging of a bright Christmasy green and red wreath!

By the way, this door with the miniblind inserts was here when we bought the house.  At first, I did not care for it - not my decorating style.  But this type door is very easy to live with.  I can let light in, just as much as I want, and the blinds stay clean.

...and a patriotic wreath!

I got the idea from Landee See Landee Do.  I didn't like mine as well as hers, and when I looked back, I realized she had some solid color ribbon and paper, too, and it broke up the business of the patterns.  But I did not want to take anything apart, and now the little fireworks wreath is growing on me.

more to come...

17 More Projects - Part 3: More wall art

Project ideas are really stacking up in my head.  It would be so much fun to take a week off, just stay home and do fun projects. 

I have an impressive stash of scrapbook paper, thanks to a store closure about 2 years ago. I'd prefer the store to have stayed in business : (  When it's time to make a card or do an album layout, I have the goods, and some of my prettiest papers I bought for pennies.  {At the same store closing I picked up 2 reams of nice-quality 11"x17" plain white paper for $3 total, and Earthgirl, her friends, and all the Sm'Arties have been drawing, coloring, painting, and writing on it for almost 2 years here, here, here. }

I've already done a couple of pieces of scrapbook paper art, hung in the multipurpose room (office, craft, school, home theater), but I want to add some to my bedroom.

The 2 papers in the multipurpose room, mounted on 12' vinyl tiles, Mod-podged.

Scrapbook paper auditioning for the roll of wall art.  Here are the 3 finalists.  The floral fabric is auditioning for the role of pillow cover.  I think it is a shoe-in. And imagine that headboard painted black and distressed...

Here are some places with cool ideas:

Frugal life Project's Wall Art - my original inspiration

Sew Can Do's wall art - another good use of pretty paper

Here's some more from sealed with a Kiss

and more from 31diy: easy peasy wall Art, using frames...

...which reminds me of my friend Science Geek's decor, and here .  She gave me 2 pieces for Christmas:

I love the sentiment on this one.  I love that she gave it to me. She's making the story of my life, too.

...and just when you think you've seen all the cool stuff your wall could take, I run across somethings like this pinwheel art.  ...which reminds me of this recycled magazine gift bow from How About Orange that I intend to make one day.  I've got plenty of magazines...

17 more projects, part 2

I'd like to have some curlicue doodads above a few of my pictures, but don't want to spend much money on it. Well, I don't want to spend ANY money.

Here is a picture hung in my dining room with a metal curlicue doodad over it.  (Were you wondering what the definition of "curlicue doodad" was?)  These little toppers help the look of a rectangular picture hung under a vaulted ceiling.  Like I said, I don't want to spend much on these, so I am looking at some ideas. 

I just found out that curlicue is spelled with a "c" rather than a "q" - curlique.  Thank you, Mr. Spelczek.

I picked up one little piece of metalwork from the 90%-off section at Hobby Lobby - my kinda price tag!  The catch is that an end is broken off.  I think I can recreate the end with a craft stick, Mod Podge papier mache and Rustoleum's hammered-look spray paint.

That will take care of one little picture.  But I want to take care of a BIG picture, so I am looking at some DIY inspiration - a real trash-to-treasures story:

Something like this project from Suzy's sitcom.  Pretty cool, huh?

Or How-To Gal's version.  Her fabric wall art here is simple, and the variety is unlimited. I might have to make one of these, too.
OK, it turns out there are TP roll rescuers all over - I like those wreaths. 

But now THIS TP roll art is just outrageous! - and fascinating!  The tree is delicate and lovely, but the faces are a little creepy, though still fascinating.

17 More Projects

I have that whole 17 Projects vibe goin' on in my head again. I am wanting to do it myself!  Today I'll show you some home decor inspirations that are calling my name.  Maybe later this week I'll show you some more, including crochet and sewing.  Hey, maybe I'll even get crazy and post recipe inspirations!  Here is the today bunch:
 We painted Earthgirl's room LAST YEAR, but have yet to add a new bedcovering, window treatment, and accessories.   - We already have purchased enough polka dot fabric for a duvet or quilt top, and enough floral for pillowcases. 

We found this inspiration from Hobby Lobby

The pillowcases may even get You Go Girl's posh pillowcases treatment.


I have the plainest white cabinets.  I'd like to mess with them a little and give them some kind of character:
It would be a good idea to close the pantry door before taking a picture, huh?

Kitchen re-do, especially using that beadboard wallpaper.

 Maybe I could beadboard the cabinet doors, then mould them?  I like how they upgraded the cabinets without purchasing new cabinets:

Drab to Fab's kitchen re-do

A blog post link-up on kitchen cabinet re-do's is brewing over at Funky Junk Interiors.  I'm looking forward to perusing the results - I could find some heavy-duty inspiration there!

I want something aqua, like this:

Sweet as June Aqua re-do.

or this for Flea Market Trixie

OK, that's all for today.