TROPHY LAMP BASE TO PARIS GREY

I am in Illinois readying our home for the real estate market.  I am up to my eyeballs with fix it projects, and cleaning as the house was left in very poor shape.(thanks to a pathetic tenant)

I am going to load up the next few posts, so you won't think that I abandoned you.  Enjoy and I will be back in a few weeks.




Finding this trophy-like lamp base at an estate sale was a great find.  For only $25.00, the base was a great piece to try Annie Sloan chalk paint.  I have read that this particular paint could be used on metal.  This was going to be a challenging experiment.  The newer shade was bought at Target.





And a closer look of the base.



Wanting to continue the grey look in the great room to compliment the off white slipcovers was the beginning of this experiment.  I started with one coat of Annie Sloan Paris Grey chalk paint.

 

 

The  coverage was pretty good, but one more coat was necessary.  Then, one coat of white Annie Sloan paint was used to coat some of the bands of the base.

 

You will also notice that I began to distress the piece with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper.  After a visit to the store who supplies the Annie Sloan paint, I was told to paint the item two coats, then apply a clear coat of wax.  Then distressing the piece will give you more control of sanding.

 

 

Another coat of paint was applied.

 

 

Now, a coat of clear wax is applied.  It gives the piece a bit of sheen.
This great waxing brush is used with the clear wax.

 

 

 

Then I applied a dab here and there of the silver gilding wax.  

 

 

 

 Now the shade.......

Something was missing.  I grabbed some off white tulle ribbon and a vintage brooch.

Tying the ribbon around the shade gave it that extra oomph.

A future project will be painting the pair of urns to match this lamp and filled with spring bouquets.
 

 



THRIFT STORE COFFEE TABLE

My youngest daughter begged me to stop by a  thrift shop that we had passed many times during carpool. 
  It was the first thing I laid eyes on walking in the shop.  This table was $37.50 and solid wood.



                                          Here is a close up of the top of the table.

                                    Look at the close up of the intricately carved legs.

 

                                  I also love the braided trim going around the top of the table.

 

This is what the table looked lightly sanded with all imperfections filled with spackling compound.



I am going to give the whole piece two coats of Annie Sloan pure white paint.  I still haven't decided if I'm going to stencil the top or just add a coat of clear wax.


Getting a bit bored with off white and white furniture, I decided to go with 2 coats of Annie Sloan Paris Grey with sanding in between coats.

Using a water color brush, I used Annie Sloan Old White to paint inside the intricate carving of the legs.  It brought out so much of the detail.

Using 20 grit sandpaper, I knocked off some of the paint on the edges.  It is so easy to sand Annie Sloan paint.  You do not need much pressure to get the distressed look.

Once finished, I only waxed the top of the piece, using a clear wax.  When applying wax, it is easier to work in small sections.  As soon as your rub it on, immediately buff it out.  My mistake was waxing  almost the entire piece before starting the buffing process.  The wax becomes harder to buff the longer you leave the wax on. 

This next picture shows the richer gray as the wax is applied.

I left the bottom of the table un-waxed.  I like the idea of two finishes, the top having a sheen and the bottom, a matte-like finish leaving the piece subtle but distinct.



The completed table fits well with the ecru couch and matelassé slipcovers.
Notice the sheen on the top of the coffee table.

                                                                                        
Layering an old framed vintage mirror with painted white frame, a few old books, my lady bust, a cross necklace by Tara and Maureen and some cobalt blue pieces complete the setting.

 

I feel relieved that working with the grey shades gave a warmer feel to the room.



Pink and grey look so calming.

I'm anxious to try another project using the Paris Grey paint on a $25.00 trophy like lamp base.

 Stay tuned.

 

REFURBISHING A TIME WORN QUILT

I was thrilled with my find of 3 vintage, worn quilts  found at a neighborhood garage sale.  As you may recall, I bought the first two quilts for $20.00 a piece and the third quilt was thrown in free.  This was the one that was in desperate need of repair.  There was no binding on two sides and the other two sides were worn. It is shown thrown over the back of the couch.



It didn't look too terribly bad thrown over the back of the couch because I folded it in a way that showed the least imperfections.  The white binding that is blurry was very frayed.

Here is another view of the quilt. Thinking about all of the nimble fingers that worked to make such a masterpiece was absolutely the reason to rescue this vintage quilt.



My first thought was to buy a cute vintage like calico print that would compliment the existing fabrics in the quilt.  After searching for 30 minutes, nothing worked.  I proceeded to the seam binding section and found an almost match to the existing squares on the quilt.  The 30% sale price gave me a price of $l.29 per package.  I purchased the only three packages of the double binding that they had in the canary yellow and prayed for the best.  It had to cover the perimeter of the quilt.





For a total of $4.51 new life has been brought back in the time worn quilt.

Once home, I opened the package of binding, ironed them well and then sewed them all together in hopes of keeping a continuous band to finish the quilt.

Prior to attaching the binding, I had to trim off one entire side of the quilt. 

 The original top, batting and bottom pieces were shredding. 



 

More trimming

 



 

 

Because of the previous damage, one whole side was trimmed drastically.

 

 

 

 

To be honest, it isn't the prettiest sewing job I have done, but it was the simplest way to attach the binding.

 

 

In the end, the refurbishing of the quilt was well worth the expense of the project.  More importantly, more years have been added to this time worn treasure.

 

 

SUMMERY QUILTS

While having our spring neighborhood garage sale, one of my neighbors stopped by to tell me that a neighbor around the block was selling vintage quilts.  I handed off the sale to Mr. Thrifty and hopped in the car.  We drove around the corner and stopped.  This family was in the process of downsizing--in a major way.  He had a stack of 6 quilts laid in a heap on an old church pew.  The church pew would have gone home with me but I didn't have the room.  But the quilts.......

Five years ago, you couldn't have snatched up one of these for $75.00.  His price was $20.00 a piece unless I bought two, he would throw the third one in for free.  There was no hesitation at all.

Once the weekend was over, I rushed to the Laundromat to wash all three quilts.

 

Here is the first and my favorite one.

 

 

As you see, there is some wear on these.  I think more about the nimble fingers who first sewed this masterpiece.  I decided to drape the three quilts over my great room furniture for a summer look.

 

 

 

Here is the second one......

 

 

And my free one  lays over the couch and needs new binding, but that can wait for now.

 

 

 

The whole room now has the feel of a summer porch.  The bright punches of color infused into the room bring about lazy days of summer.

 

 

 

Welcome Summer!

 

 

SUMMERY FRONT PORCH WICKER

At one of the first estate sales of the this season, I picked this wicker plant stand up for a very reasonable $20.00.

 

 

 

The wicker plant stand was in good condition so I did not repaint it.

 

I pulled the vintage wicker rocker out of the garage from last season.  When I bought it, it was a lovely dusty green color.  My herbs were planted for the summer.

 

 

I pulled out my old Blue Diamond paint and gave it a coat of paint.

 

New Guinea impatience and a pink flower trailer were planted in the pot.

 

 

 

Pink and lavender geraniums and Sweet William were potted in three different pots.

 

 

 

 

With the blooming of the azalea bushes, there is a lot of bright pink color added to the front porch.

 

 

 The writing of this blog was done in the last part of April.  I hope the summer will be kind to the glorious pinks on the front porch and may they bloom exponentially.

 

THE VEILED MAIDEN

 I can hardly believe that the kids are out of school and it is June again.

June is the wedding month.  To celebrate, I wanted to honor the bride by creating a vignette.

I have a picture of a very famous sculpture.  It is called the Veiled Maiden sculpted by an English-based Italian named Raphael Monti in the 1850's.  This piece has intrigued me.  I wanted to change it up my way.

 

 

You might recall my 'lady' bust.  It won't take much to turn her into the veiled bride.

 

 

Purchasing a yard of organza was the first layer in this creation.

Adding a triple strand of estate sale pearls gave her some bling. 

 

 

The next step was to create a crown of fresh flowers that reminded me of the dandelion chains we used to make in the summers of my youth.

 

 

I bought a bunch of baby's breath.

 

 

Using floral tape, I began making a chain.

 

 

Now I have my own veiled maiden to display for the wedding month.

The babies breath wreath will dry nicely and last the month.

 

 

As I was writing this post, I had the ceiling fan on in the great room.  The organza billowed and added intrigued to the statue.

 

 

Situated on top of the porch post stand, she will stand in her glory.

 

 

Let us honor all of those summer brides.