My New Booth!

As my followers know, I have recently been questioning you guys on possible booth locations.  Welllll.....I found one.  I am not quite ready to tell where it is, but I will soon.  I know, I know.  That's not fair to tell you I have one, but not let you know where it is, but I have a good reason.  It's not ready yet.  I am hoping to have it done by this weekend with items and all.  Here are a few little hints. 



I'll post more later this week, when I have hopefully finished it!!!

Jaida's Antique Bed Re-do

When I was first asked to refinish Jaida's bed I was excited.  We were going to leave

some of the original stain and then paint and distress it. 

The bed had this really interesting stain technique on it that looked like tiger stripes/zebra stripes, and we wanted to keep that on the footboard. 

As you can see, it also had some rather eyecatching (maybe in a not so good way) design stained onto the main body of the bed.  So, I cleaned, prepped, and painted away.

Here is the after photo!

Pretty, right?  We all thought so, but upon further discussion, I realized the headboard was actually intended to match the footboard and have the same design across the top. 

No problem, we can fix that!  I'll be honest.  I was a little frightened about the task of stripping the paint.  I haven't had to do that yet, and I wasn't sure what I would find underneath.


As it turns out, it wasn't too hard to strip it. What I found underneath was another story.

If you look hard at the original photo, you will see a strip of light color

on the headboard. This is a place that had been rubbed by something in it's past life, and left a gash in the stain. When I stripped the paint, it only made this look worse. I had to strip off the

original stain too!

Now, you may ask, why wouldn't you have stripped it all away before painting?

That's for another post, but basically when painting you don't necessarily have to remove all of the previous finish. You only need to rough it up enough to cause

the paint to stick.

I'm sorry, but I don't have a pic of this stage.

SO, I ended up having to restain the top strip of the bed, and hand paint the striping effect.

I actually used the same stain that I stained the bed with to paint the stripes.

LOVE!!

Here is a close-up of the original (below).  The part I painted didn't show well in this photo though.

Again, LOVE!!

I am pretty proud of myself, and I can't wait to try this on something else.

The details are beautiful!

Custom Chalkboard Tutorial

I love thrifting/junking/garage saling!!  Whatever you want to call it...I love it!  I have since my mom and Nana took me as a little girl.  I would have my own money in a little purse or bag and try to find the best deal.  Now that I'm a little older, my styles have changed, but the thrill of getting a good deal never fades.  Now I have added a new dimension to this fascination.  Upcycling.  I really like to take old things and make something newer and cooler.  This chalkboard tutorial is a perfect example.

Here goes...First, you go to Goodwill or some other such store and buy an old picture with a cool frame in the size you want your chalkboard.   I wish I had the foresight to take a pic of the frame I bought, but I was so excited to try this I forgot:( 

I searched and searched for the perfect backboard, and I finally thought "Wouldn't it be great if I could just use the glass that came in the frame?"  Well, as it turns out, You can!!  Just sand it a little with 100 grit sandpaper and clean with alcohol.  It's the little things that make me happy!  lol

Go get you some flat paint.  You only need one cup.  I had some leftover turquoise that I used.  But if you don't have any you could just buy that little tester sample they sell for a few bucks at the box stores.  This batch will cover approx. the size of one door. 

Then you add in 2 TBSP of unsanded tile grout and mix, mix, mix.

Be sure to get all the lumps out.  Get a small little roller and roll your paint onto the glass.  Do thin layers and keep it as smooth as you can.  It's not hard at all.  I did about 4-5 layers and made sure to let each layer dry completely in between.  It will look like this.

Let it dry overnight, it's hard to wait, I know.  But it's worth it. 

When it has completely dried, sand it with 220grit sandpaper.  This smooths it out and gets rid of any bumps.  Now, get a piece of white chalk and rub the edge all over to prime the chalkboard.  This prevents a permanent engravement of your first message!

And Voila!! You're done!

I really want to try some other colors, but I just had to show you guys!  Of course, you could also buy the pre-mixed chalkboard paint at Hobby Lobby and other such stores, but they will only be in your basic green and black. 

Finally, pick out a coordinating color for your frame or leave it as is, if you like it.  Have fun and be creative!  The possibilities are endless.  I have a few color schemes I am dying to try, with gray and yellow at the top of my list! 

 What's your favorite color combos right now?

LIttle Baby Blogger!

This is my very first blog post and I'm super excited about it!   I guess you could say I'm a baby blogger, lol.  I took a verrry long time getting it just right and I hope you all like it.  I changed backgrounds like 87 times, and just when I would almost get it done I would see something I liked better.  Or I didn't like the way it was turning out, so there I would be.  Back at the beginning.  I finally LOVE it.  And I could settle for nothing less than the best!

I tend to feel the same way about my furniture.  I want it to look a certain way, and unless it gets there I don't like it at all.  I usually feel that way at some point on every piece, but forge on through and eventually get to that love it stage.  Which makes it totally worth all the blood, sweat and tears.  Kinda like having a baby!  Well, not quite the same.  I've had 5 babies, not all at once thank Heavens, but there are certainly some similar experiences in there! lol

Although my kids and husband are pretty much my life, this blog is devoted to my furniture business.  I am just starting up, and I thought this would be a great place for you to see what I've been doing, as well as what I plan to do.  But there will still be bits here and there that include my family.  I plan to show you current pieces that I am working on and list ones that I have for sale.  I also have a place to put before and after pics, as well as a price list.  If there is ever anything you would like to see added, by all means let me know.  I aim to please!