Thrift Store Treasure

My children are growing up too fast.Way too fast. My daughter is a college grad and lives way too far away.  My son is in college and isn't home very often.I could write many blogs on my wonderful kids, but that is for another day.

My sweet babies 1993

  With my daughter living in another state,her tiny bedroom is in need of a makeover. I would love for her to come home for a visit and have a comfy pretty room to relax in. I just happened to have inherited a full size mattress and box spring set which would be great if I had a pretty bed for it. Enter the Thrift Store Treasure :)

The headboard was very scratched up, but petite in size which was perfect for the room.












The footboard was splintered at the bottom and was a mess. Part of the side rail supports were broken off.

After wood glue and c-clamp, wood filler and sanding

My husband gave me a lesson on using the drill press and I repaired the side rail supports. I spent a little time prepping. I washed w TSP, did a little bit of sanding, but I spent most of my prep time on the splintered footboard. Ok, ready to paint. I went with an antique white homemade chalk paint recipe and some distressing.

I love how the pretty details become more obvious after painting and distressing.

I really love the petite-ness of this bed.

The footboard is one of my favorite parts of the bed. Its small size does not eat up the limited room space, but it gives the bed a nice ending.

So happy with this bed :)

I gave the bed a good sanding between coats and used a tack cloth before the next coat of paint. I finished the bed with a coat of Fiddes and Sons light wax polish which I LOVE. It gives a beautiful sheen with no glossy shine.

This was a pretty quick project. It was super fun to transform it from dark dreary and beat up to light and fresh in a short time. One of the best parts of this treasure was the price....$15!!

The repaired splintered footboard.Looking good.

Things I learned from the Thrift Store Treasure:

• How to use the drill press
• How to counter-sink screws which I'm sure will come in handy in future projects
• How much I really LOVE Fiddes and Sons wax! 
• How I love the chalk paint "forgiveness". It seems to fill in some of the scratches I don't sand.
• How much I love the finished super smoothness of the chalk paint after coverage and light sanding. 

Sister Visit :)

My sister, Karen, was able to come to Florida last week for a short visit. We didn't have much time, but I really loved having her here. In our short time together,we survived a trip to the beach in 50 degree weather w 25mph winds to search for sea beans (not much luck), we shopped in our quaint local downtown, and we ate and sampled our way though a local farmers market. I hope that we will be able to get together again soon! Here is a picture of us in honor of our recent time together. 

Karen and Mary 

Karen is very cool in that she is one of those rare people who always seemed to know what she wanted to be when she grew up. She knew it in high school, followed that path in college, and has had a long career in that same area. She and her husband live in the country with dogs, a pig ,and a donkey who thinks he's a dog. She makes amazing jellies. She gardens. She has spent endless hours helping her family and her church. We always have a good time when we are together and we always laugh a lot!

I hope we are able to get together again soon :)

Estate Sale Buffet

There is an estate sale store in my town that I found last year. I love it there. Unfortunately it is more expensive than our thrift stores, but they always have great items and will occasionally have a good sale when inventory is high. I had been looking for a bigger piece of furniture for my entryway when I found the perfect piece.I stalked it for a few months. I went weekly to the estate store and made the same offer every week. After a few months of the item not selling I was finally able to make my purchase:)

 It was really dinged up, but it was interesting w nice legs and lots of storage. There were pieces of trim around all of the drawers that had been broken off, but most the broken-off pieces were in a drawer available to be glued back on. My "before" pictures really don't show how much repair was needed. 

Black wooden trim around edge of drawers mid-repair. All drawers had sections of missing trim.

Trim around drawers after repair, paint and glaze.

I spent lots of time cleaning, sanding ,gluing and sanding again. I primed w an oil base primer, then painted the body off-white followed by an antique glaze.  I used a semi gloss black for the top.

Pretty legs

I love how the pretty details are more obvious after glazing.

 One of the original wooden knobs was missing and I couldn't find another knob close enough, so I used all of the original knobs which I painted black, then found 2 small black metal knobs for the top center drawer. 

This is the biggest project I have done so far when you consider the repairs and the painting. It is just the right size for the space I have. It has wonderful storage as a bonus.

Things I learned from this project:

• Take more pictures throughout the entire process.
• Don't be afraid of a piece with some needed repairs.
• Look into chalk paint as an alternative to cut down on prep/priming!
• I don"t like semi gloss on my furniture
• Don't overdo the glaze! A little goes a long way.

Dreary Desk- AKA my first sale!

Last summer I was on my way home from an estate sale with my decorating guru/coworker friend, Laura. She was shopping to furnish a home she and her husband had purchased. I was on the lookout for something to paint. I am always looking for a piece of furniture that is inexpensive but interesting. I'm still working on my painting "how to's", so price is important. We stopped about a mile from home at a garage sale, and there she was...

"before" garage sale desk

This desk had been in a garage a long time! It was a real mess but I loved it. It was finished on all four sides w interesting braided trim, and I loved the hardware.I spent a good bit of time cleaning and sanding this piece.Eventually I decided to paint it the color of silly putty and stain the top. I ended up painting the top black instead because the top was too far gone to refinish. I used 2 coats of my homemade chalk paint on the body and the top w sanding after each coat.I distressed the desk a good bit to try and disguise how beat up it was. I lined the drawers w pretty paper, I waxed the entire desk w Fiddes and Sons wax, and I sprayed the hardware w spray paint to finish it up.Here she is after many many hours of work:

I've had the desk in my garage for a few months trying to decide what to do with it.I decided it was time to pass it on and make room for another project. Plus it was in the way of my husband's roadbike. I listed it on craigslist. Ugh.  Craigslist is a story for another day...Anyway, a wonderful woman came over and bought it today saying those beautiful words , "it's just what I've been looking for." Aaahhh. Plus she gave me money. Not a lot, but more than I paid for the pleasure of painting it.I liked her so much that I threw in the ugly glossy red chair from my first post for free :) Yes,it was great to get some $$ for a piece of painted furniture.

Things I learned from the dreary desk:

• Learn to take better pictures!!
• look a piece over carefully before buying. This one was almost too far gone!
• craigslist buyers are very unreliable! My desk purchaser was an exception!

Drop Leaf Table

I love my drop leaf table "after" product. I found this little table at a local thrift store. I had been looking for something small to paint. I had read about chalk paint and wanted to try a homemade chalk paint recipe. I actually found a local supplier of Annie Sloan products and had gone to check it out. My biggest beef was the price. I was just getting started painting furniture and I wanted to try different colors, styles, etc. I didn't want to be stuck w a quart of 1 color and feel like I had to paint everything that 1 color. I loved the idea of chalk paint and cutting back on prep work, i.e. no oil based primer for adhesion. Anyway...I found the somewhat beat up drop leaf table at a local thrift store. 

thrift store drop leaf table

drop leaf table before

One of my boards on Pinterest is called "furniture rehab" and I've pinned lots of pics of painted furniture. I love looking through them and reading the links about how they were painted and seeing the" befores" and "afters". Anyway, I decided to try a homemade chalk paint recipe with this little table. I stripped the top of the table and gave it a good sanding and found the top to be very pretty. I stained it w a light minwax stain for starters. I cleaned the body of the table with tsp and water. Once it was dry I used my homemade chalk paint. I painted a thin coat, let it dry and lightly sanded it because it was pretty gritty. I used a tack cloth to wipe it down and painted a 2nd coat. After it was dry I lightly sanded the gritty surface again, then distressed the edges. I again wiped it w a tack cloth. The paint was dull looking. Not very pretty at all. I applied Fiddes and Sons wax, buffed it up and voila! A very cute table.

The table is smooth and has a nice sheen to it. I love this soft easy-to-use wax. I tried Minwax paste wax on another project and I think there is no comparison. I love Fiddes and Sons, both the ease and the beautiful finished product.