Oh How Romantic

I wanted to post the updates of my bedroom as soon as it was finished. Its not a big change but a nice change. As you know we rent the house we live in while hubbys company is working in Kamloops. The landlord had blinds on all of the windows, and I hate them but can not remove them. So I am trying my best to work with them and still have the look I want. I am also trying to not spend alot of money because we don't know how long we will live here. The bedroom is very small and can not accomodate a headboard and the curtains can't hang down to the floor because the baseboard heater is there. yes lots of fun So working with that I had put white sheer curtains over the blinds, but it still looked too blah.

 This is what the bedroom looked like when we first moved in, dark curtains and colourful quilt and cheap ikea lamps, was willing to live with it like this when we thought we would only be here for a few months.Can you say yuk ............................... yes Maggie thinks it is her bed

               Then after being here a while longer I decided to brighten up the room more to my taste.



So then came the idea of using the half shelf that came with the white mirror I have on the wall. I glued some sheers to the inside of the shelf and draped them over the window. If you try this let the glue dry over night, don't try to staple or tape the sheers to the shelf, trust me it does not work. The tape won't hold and these shelves are hard plastic and staples won't penetrate the hard plastic. Yes they were my first tries and after flying staples and sheers that kept sliding out of the tape, I tried the glue, much easier and more productive.

So after some coaxing to get hubby to help me hang the shelf (ok nagging) the shelf and curtains are up. I paid 2.00 dollars for the mirror and shelf, and 2.00 dollars for the sheers, both bought at thrift stores here in Kamloops. So for a very low price I get more of a romantice look in my not so blah anymore bedroom.

Half shelf with sheer curtains

Mirror that goes with shelf and picture frames turned into chalkboards

Well now the bedroom has a little more of a romantic look, too bad I can't give hubby a romantic makeover lol

Happy Monday

take care
Tobey

And on the 7th day she rested

It's been a busy week and yesterday I decided to take a day off from painting and working on projects. I also took some time off from yard work, and decided to go do some shopping. I wanted to check out the antique show that was going on in town. I saw alot of nice things there, but I am so used to finding bargains that some of the prices at an antique show are scarey. I did buy one thing that I could not resist and it was in my price range. I have always wanted a vintage street sign and when I saw this porcelain one I could not resist. When I saw it, it made me feel all tingly lol

I just have it on a shelf for now, it is quite heavy,but will put it on a wall when we move back to Ontario. Isn't it cute, going to have to find out where Tingley street was in BC.  I love embroidered table cloths and pillow cases, so when I saw this embroidered pillow cover for a few dollars I had to scoop it up. I had a pillow at home that fit it perfectly, isn't it adorable.

I also stopped at Salvation Army and found this beautiful picture, at first I just wanted the frame but now I am in love with the roses. picked this cutie up for 4 bucks. looks great in the diningroom where the look is more formal, with the black hutch and black and walnut table.

I was browsing kijiji yesterday, and remember I said I wasn't going to buy any more furniture, because the house is full. Well........ I saw an ad for an antique dresser for a great price and I could not resist,  I jumped on that one pretty quick, and would love to post a pic, but hubby still has it in the back of the truck. I guess I should be happy that he at least went with me to get it after working a 12 hour day, poor boy, the things I make him do. Will post a pic when it makes into the house, now where will I put it lol
update: dresser never made it into the house, sold it right out of the truck, thanks Gille, Brian will be so glad he doesn't have to carry it into the house.

I finished two of my chalkboard projects for me and am still working on the ones I will be selling. I think these chalkboards will be fun and hopefully they will sell this summer at the flea market. If they don't I am going to have a heck of alot of chalkboards.

Here are the two that are finished

Before

                                                                           After

Before

                                                                              After

Love this chalkboard it fits in nicely with the white colour scheme I am trying to achieve. And now Brian can leave me little love messages on the chalkboard, ya right lol

I thought I took a before pic of this mirror, but can't find it, it was a goldie brass colour. I thought because it had so many adorable little roses on it, that it deserved to be pink. Not my colour but will look adorable in a little girls bedroom.

Finished chalkboard, I think it turned out great, have painted a couple more and will have them on here in a few days.
More projects to come, have a great day


Tobey

Chalkboards made from mirrors

Today was a gorgeous day and Maggie and I were outside all day, as I type this post she is sound asleep beside me snoring like a freight train. I raked leaves leaves and more leaves, having acreage and trees is nice but not in the fall and spring when you have to clean up all the leaves.

Had to share this pic of Maggie, I put up and filled some of the bird feeders today and hope we can attract some of our birdie friends back again this year. here is Maggie awaiting her little bird friends, she loves to watch them,she never barks or chases them, She really is a gentle soul. The stand up ashtray was a big hit with the birds last year so I decided to put it back out this year.

When I was outside I also worked on a few chalkboards. I bought 3 mirrors where the frames can stay just as they are, and all I had to do was make the mirrors into a chalkboard. I am thinking I may pick up some magnetic spray paint and make a few of the chalkboards magnetic as well.

            Aren't these frames cute, I bought them at a liquidation store that is closing and got a great deal on all 3 frames, They kind of have that shabby chic look to them already, so I will leave the frames as they are and just add the chalkboard.

Mirrors with one coat of chalkboard paint, the oval one is for another mirror which is in the process of being painted, will show that one when its finished. Remember my white mirror in my bedroom that had a half shelf that came with it, that I could not put up because of where the mirror is. Well I got an idea from a friend, hang the half mirror up by the ceiling and have sheered curtains attached to it and draped down behind the bed. I have the shelf painted and have found some sheers I think will work, just need to get hubby to help me. Will post a pic when I have it up and completed, thats a few pics I owe you guys, don't worry I won't forget.
I also had an idea for two frames that I have on my bedroom wall that go with my mirror. They have old cardboard pictures in them and I thought why not make them into chalkboards too and draw our initials on them. I will post pics of them when they are finished too.
This is what they look like now, and here is the mirror that I have them with

will show these cute little chalkboards when they are all finished.
here is the shelf that I am going to add the sheers too, so you know what half shelf I am talking about. finished pics and shelf and sheers in a day or two,

This is what the shelf looked like before the paint job. I love these mirrors and shelves and am always on the lookout for one. If Desi is reading this, yes I am still looking for one for you my dear lol.

Vintage Finds

Yesterday was a sad day, a close friend of mine Scott-t died and my friend Sandi's dog Rocky died, so I did not do much yesterday. I was sad and went for a drive in the country and mourned. Losing people at a young age is hard to deal with.You think you will see them again and then they are gone, its heart breaking. The loss of a pet is very painful and I feel Sandi's pain, losing Maggie is going to break my heart, she is like my child, my best friend and my shrink all in one.
Today a friend here in Kamloops invited me to an estate sale today to cheer me up. Did I also mention that I fell on the ice yesterday and hurt my tailbone and my left wrist, more reason not to work on stuff at home and to go shopping.
The estate sale was about half an hour from Kamloops, apparently the father inlaw had died and he was a bit of a picker too. His son in law has been slowly cleaning out the house and garag. He will probably have more stuff, but some of the stuff he had was gorgeous and reasonably priced.
I scored a desk that matches my white vanity, an old license plate, cute chair and storm window. He says he has lots more so we will definetly go back. If I had my store out here or if I was living here permantly I would have bought alot more than I did because his prices were incredible. But the more I buy the more I have to move back to Ontario and hubby is already stressing over what I have accumulated in the year we have been here. poor boy lol
I love this desk and will probably leave it just the way it is for now. It is very similar to the white vanity that I bought last year and I hope I will have a bedroom big enough in Ontario to house both of them

This is the vanity that I scored last year, I have it stored in sunroom for now because the bedroom here is too small for it, I think the desk and the vanity will look great together.

This chair is oh so cute, underneath the paint is a pressback design, but I think it looks adorable with the layers paint over it and will leave it like this for now.

I cleaned out the basement the other day and have everything packed and ready as soon as the outside flea markets start here in the spring. So that makes hubby happy that some stuff is going, he keeps calling me a hoarder, but I have explained, that if I sell stuff I am not a hoarder.lol Hey thats my story... But between you and me I have filled almost every nook and cranny in this house and the garage. I can not resist a bargain, including the stuff I bought today. Which was paid for with the money I received from selling a mirror yesterday.
I sold my black mirror because I fell in love with one I had bought from a friend and it looks great where the black mirror was, and the buyer loved the mirror she bought from me, so we both win.

black mirror that I sold

new mirror to replace the black mirror the pics do not do it justice is really is a gorgeous frame and colour

The Crackle Look

I had read about how to crackle furniture and wanted to give it a try. Crackle is sold in craft stores but can be quite expensive, so I decided to try another method I read about online. I chose a old wooden toy box that I had bought for a few dollars. This way if I screwed it up I would only have wasted a few dollars and not an expensive piece of furniture.

I started by painted the toy box with a primer and sanded any rough areas. Once this was dry I painted the inside with the brown colour I had chosen, I had chosen white for the exterior. The method I chose to crackle the outside is done with the use of white glue. You apply white glue to a small area, making sure the glue is fairly thick.  When the glue is sticky you paint over the glue with a coat of  paint, in this case I was using white. When the glue and paint dry together they crack, for more of crackle look and larger cracks make the glue thick. Because you have to work with the glue when it is sticky you have to do small areas at a time.

 I had glued on some wooden appliques to give the top of the box more character. Once I had crackled the whole box I left it to dry for a day. I wanted it to have an antique or aged look to it, so I applied a gel stain over top. Just dip a cloth into the gel and rub it on to the paint, rubbing it off so it would not go on to dark. The gel settled into the cracks and gave it a nice aged look. I applied a new handle to the top and put the original hardware back on after cleaning it up a bit. I was quite happy with the finished look and plan on trying this procedure on a larger piece of furniture in the future.
I use this box to store all of our DVD's and CD's, its quite a transformation from what it was before. A 3.00 dollar toybox gets a new look.

The Pink Piano stool

I found this piano stool at an outside antique flea market sale in Hanmer Ontario. I saw the piano stool as soon as we got there, how could use miss that pink. I negotiated with the dealer and got the piano stool for $40.00. Who ever had painted this piano stool did a horrible job, I am thinking a kid did it . They even painted the feet, for those of you who don't know, these piano stools have brass feet like a birds claw, with a glass ball in its grasp. The glass ball is flat on the bottom side that touches the floor. And every nook and cranny had pink paint in it.
I knew stripping it was going to be alot of work but I was excited about taking it back to its original look.

This is what the piano stool looked like when I got it, the mirror frame and step stool are other projects for the future.

If you have never stripped furniture I will let you know it is a messy messy job.
First do all stripping outside because most furniture strippers have strong odours that will make you sick if you inhale it in an enclosed space. Also if it can strip paint and layers of stain and finishes then it can also take layers of skin off too, so wear protective clothing, long sleeves, thick rubber gloves and safety glasses. I hope I didn't scare you off there, just want you to be safe, I am still here and there are lots of people that do this so you will be fine.
Follow the directions of the paint stripper and take your time, working in small areas at a time because the stripper dries fast and then its too gooey to work with. Scrape small areas but be careful not to gouge into the wood. Depending on how much paint and varnish is on your project you may have to deal with a few layers at a time. I used a small paint scrapper, cloths and steel wool. Dispose off all waste in a sealed container, so no one will come in contact with the paint stripper.

After I removed the pink paint I had to deal with the stain and varnish underneath. The stripping on this was very time consuming because of the design on the legs and all the little grooves, plus the feet and thick thick coats of paint on them.

here is a pic of the stripping process

Finally got all the pink paint off

Now to deal with the stain and varnish, using more stripper working in small areas I just kept applying the stripper and wiping it off, using cloths with no lint, j clothes worked good and steel wool. I went through alot of cloths and alot of steel wool. And yes I cursed the person that painted this a few times, ok more than a few times

Once I was finished with the stripping I let the stool sit for a few days to dry, also I needed a break from it lol.  I was seeing pink paint in my sleep for a few days.

Once the stool was dry I sanded it down to remove all the bumps and left over paint chips, I did not use an electric sander because I did not want to take away any of the shape of the dip in the stool seat, and with the curved legs had to be sanded by hand.

Once your finished sanding clean off your project with a cheese cloth to get all the dust.

I chose a dark stain for the piano stool, I used min wax walnut stain. I used two coats of stain sanding in between coats.The min wax I used had a clear polyurethane finish already in it.

You can buy stain that has polyurethane in it for a nice shiny coat or you can apply polyurethane over the stain after it is dry. I also used a brass cleaner on the feet to bring up the shine on the brass.

Here is the finished product, notice the nice brass feet and the glass balls. I am so glad I was able to restore this piano stool to its original glory. Underneath the seat is a metal inscription from the company that made this piano stool. After researching it online I have estimated that this stool was made in Woodstock Ontario somewhere between 1915 and 1930. Removing the pink paint was a real pain, but I love the finished product.

Now the piano stool looks like it did when it was first made.

Mirrors Mirrors Mirrors

I have started to look for mirrors and unique picture frames for my new chalkboard projects. I came across a few mirrors that a friend had that are too big and too nice to make into a chalkboard, but I could not resist them and plan to hang then in my home. It's so nice to start out looking for something unique for a current project and find such a good deal on some fabulous mirrors. She did have a few mirrors that will be perfect chalkboards, now I have to figure out what colour to paint the frame.

 I also scored some incredible lamps for the bedroom, which I found online when I was looking for mirrors. These lamps are my valentines present from me to me.

They look incredible in bedroom, the base is very clean white which makes the shades , which are off white look dirty, so I will have to either change them, or paint them. I saw this painting of a lamp shade on another site and I did not know you could paint lamp shades. So I am curious how that works and how it will look after, and I think these shades are the perfect time to try it, and if I wreck them I guess I buy new shades.

Back to the chalkboard frames, I have small frames that will make great small chalkboards, and the larger ones I will make into chalkboard and fabric pin up boards. I am hoping to design them to be able to be hung either length ways or vertical, depending on how much space people have. I have read online ways to make my own chalkboard paint which I may try.

The first two mirrors are the ones I bought from a friend at a great price. The last two mirrors are gorgeous as well, I found one at a thrift store and the last one I found for sale online.  I will probably paint the frames on the first 3 mirrors and resell them, the last mirror is gorgeous as is and I will most likely leave it. But you never know I may look at it for a while and decide it needs to be painted as well.

These last few pictures are the mirrors that I will be making into chalkboards. I also came across a mirror, shelf and candle holders that are very similar to the ones in my bedroom pic. I plan on painting them and will most likely sell them online or bring them back to ontario to sell.

My mirror looks great in white, but I would like to try a different colour on this set. I guess I could go a little wild with the colour since I am selling it, Pink Turquoise ?